NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Transport for New South Wales, Australia, the authority that oversees transit in and around Sydney, has taken a step toward phasing out its closed-loop contactless Opal fare card, today extending nearly all of the discounts it offers on Opal to users of open-loop Visa- Mastercard- and American Express-branded contactless cards.
The transit agency also says that next week it will begin accepting open-loop payments for fares on board Sydney buses, which account for at least 40% of mass transit rides in the service area. The bus rollout is scheduled to be completed by late September. The agency has accepted contactless open-loop cards on the Sydney Metro, ferries and light rail since December. But it did not offer all the same discounts as riders could get with the closed-loop Opal card.
