Sydney-based Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, has no plans to phase out or de-emphasize its closed-loop Opal card, despite strong adoption of contactless open-loop payments by customers, especially with mobile wallets, according to Kurt Brissett, executive director for connected journeys for the agency.
Brissett, speaking today at the Mobility Payments Asia Pacific 2021 conference, reiterated figures on contactless adoption, first reported by NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments last month, that NFC wallets now account for 55%–or more than half–of all contactless open-loop payments on the Sydney Metro, buses, trams and ferries. All told, contactless payments–both from mobile wallets and contactless EMV credit and debit cards–make up more than 30% of all adult trips, and is growing. The stored-value Opal card accounts for the rest.
“Opal is a well-loved and trusted brand within New South Wales, so the Opal card is not going anywhere soon,” he said, in response to a question from Mobility Payments. “What we tried to do is really to provide customers with choice, so the implementation of contactless payments was just really another way for customers to pay, particularly infrequent travelers and tourists, who may not necessarily have an Opal card.”
