Opal Run & Hide

It's not often that I get the chance to mix my travel blog with my philosophy-politics thoughts. You'd think it would happen more often, but I don't often whinge about public transport, let alone politicise my journeys ... until now!

After many people had warned me it would happen, the government has finally decided to make the Opal card a formal joke of a system. It was meant to provide a simpler, cheaper mechanism for the regular traveller (that is, peak-hour commuter) to avoid the weekly ticket-office line-up & potentially save money with encouraging off-peak travel costs.

Even better, as someone explained to me shortly after the system was put in place, you could cover your eight paid-for train trips by doing off-peak short journeys - say, at lunch-time - & save a few dollars more.

Indeed, it was a well-thought-out system for the entrepreneurs & those with free time. Not your average commuter, but someone would get a bonus & some exercise out of it.

... until now. Real soon, those commuters using the system during the day will be slugged not only with the full fare for the trips on the first four days of the week, but will get a bonus expense on the fifth! No more free-day Fridays. I don't care how much of a discount it is, it will no longer be free.

How did this happen? How did a system that seemed to be working (with minimal complaints) suddenly turn into something that is an embarrassment & possibly an election issue? Or was this the evil plan all along?

I would love to see some stats on how many "Opal runners" there are, as a percentage of "regular" users - broken down, if you like:

1. How many people take at least a return journey on each of Monday to Friday?
2. How many of those take ONLY a return journey on each of Monday to Friday?
3. How many people take "extra" short trips during the middle of the day (or at night)?
4. How many of those ONLY take such short trips from Monday to Wednesday?

It is my contention that the fraction of defrauders is #4/#1

If there are 292million journeys on Sydney trains per year, that has to equate to close to a million journeys - or half a million return journeys - per day. I wish I could find better numbers. The state government seems to be claiming that a VERY large number could be Opal runners - that is, at least one in ten people who use the train can get to a station during their lunch break & do a round trip back to the office, or else can hand off their card to a friend (or professional) to do likewise.
Actually, what they're saying is that the light rail seems open to abuse, & that trains ... could be.

We should not be discouraging this practice! This is entrepreneurship at its best! I commend those who intentionally put that "loophole" in place. Let's face it, it doesn't take a very clever person much to work out that the system can be beaten easily. If it takes a bit of walking or running or whatever, then so much the better.

Boo! to the government that punishes free thinkers & those with spare time in their lunch breaks.

The solution, by the way, is to simply count at most two journeys per day to the magic count of eight. It's that simple. It gets rid of the opal runners' ability to load a card a Monday & pass it on with no responsibility. It forces people to travel on four days to get the fifth free. Problem solved!