Sydney Opal Card travel hacks

[marty998]

I know there's not many Harbour City dwellers here but for the few that are this one is for you.

Been mucking around the past couple of weeks trying to figure out how to optimise and take advantage of some of the Opal Card* quirks. After 8 paid journeys, the rest of your travel is free for the week. Normally on a return commute this means you get Friday free but it got me thinking....

How would you go about racking up a lot of cheap fares early in the week so that you get to take advantage of longer free ones? My cost per trip is currently $6.30 one way, for $50.40 per week (not counting of peak discounts I get sometimes). But now....

Monday $6.30 + $6.30 and get off 2 stations before my stop on the way home. Walk to the next station,  tap on after 6:30pm for an off peak fare and ride the next train home to my usual stop for $2.31.

Do the same on Tuesday, and then ride normally on Wednesday and I've got my 8 paid journeys with Thurs and Fri being free.

Total cost reduces from $50.40 to $42.42. A saving of $8 a week or about $350 a year. Of course I could do a few more trips on Monday :) but this is good for now.

* I used to be a luddite, buying weeklies and quarterly paper tickets, however.....nothing like a hip pocket incentive to move me into the 21st century

[happy]

Huh! I do use an Opal card if I venture into the big smoke and its feasible.  The best I've done is to try to exploit the off-peak pricing, like catch the next train if it doesn't matter.  Not likely to make 8 trips in a week though.

I like the system, but recently  I had an experience where the tap-off thingy was not functioning, requiring the traversing of platforms and flights of stairs to find one that was. Good mustachian exercise, but if I was  rushing for a bus or something I would not have been happy.

[Nudelkopf]

There used to be people in Brisbane (with a similar system of free rides after x trips) who would take your Go-Card on various short trips around the city on the Monday, and then you'd get free trips for the rest of the week. This was mainly beneficial for people travelling a long way (from the Gold Coast, for example) to warrant paying someone to use your card and still stay out ahead with the free trips.

Or another way would be to use 2 cards. Here's a link that explains down the bottom what I mean, but it's Queensland-based of course, so it might be totally different to how the Opal cards work. But I think your trick of getting off earlier, and it counting as a second trip would work the same way.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/go-card-tricks-to-keep-costs-down-revealed-20130724-2qiub.html

Edit to add: Have you read this reddit? This might change you getting off the train earlier, because it won't add to your 8 trip count.

Another thing to note is that after you reach the daily cap, which is $15, journeys are no longer counted for that day.

http://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/289kx1/opal_loophole_if_youre_determined_enough_you_can/

[Primm]

The other thing I do (because I can't get away from work during work hours to make up my short trips) is game the penalty system.

Gocard in Brisbane charges you $10 if you "forget" to swipe off. If I'm taking a trip that costs >$10, like Gold Coast / Brisbane for example, I swipe on at the start, get off at a station without gates, forget to swipe off, then instead of a $12 trip I pay the $10 penalty next time I use the card.

Doesn't work for Airtrain though, their penalty is $30. Which pretty much wiped out any gains I made this year, but I know better now and won't do it again.

[Nudelkopf]

Doesn't work for Airtrain though, their penalty is $30. Which pretty much wiped out any gains I made this year, but I know better now and won't do it again.

I used to get on at a station with no guards or turnstile, and then tap off at the airport when the guard isn't watching. Or fakey-tap-off so it makes a sound, but not a legit sound. I got caught once, but got away with it maybe 3 times.

[marty998]

The other thing I do (because I can't get away from work during work hours to make up my short trips) is game the penalty system.

Gocard in Brisbane charges you $10 if you "forget" to swipe off. If I'm taking a trip that costs >$10, like Gold Coast / Brisbane for example, I swipe on at the start, get off at a station without gates, forget to swipe off, then instead of a $12 trip I pay the $10 penalty next time I use the card.

Doesn't work for Airtrain though, their penalty is $30. Which pretty much wiped out any gains I made this year, but I know better now and won't do it again.

Penalty here is the maximum fare ($8.10). So unfortunately it won't quite work for me.

[marty998]

Edit to add: Have you read this reddit? This might change you getting off the train earlier, because it won't add to your 8 trip count.

Another thing to note is that after you reach the daily cap, which is $15, journeys are no longer counted for that day.

http://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/289kx1/opal_loophole_if_youre_determined_enough_you_can/

I should know by now there is always someone out there who takes it to the ultimate extreme LOL

[marty998]

OMG have to share this haha.

So I had a little fun today. Drew up a plan, and it worked a peach!

Left home and went to work in the morning, traveled off peak (Journey 1: $3.29)

Took my lunch with me, and hopped around the CBD. Town Hall to North Sydney (Journey 2: $2.31) then walked back to Milsons Point and got on another train back to Town Hall (Journey 3: $2.31).

Then on the way home took the train and got off 2 stops before my home stop (Journey 4: $4.70), walked to the next stop, tapped on after 6:30pm for off peak and went home (Journey 5: $2.31). Total for the day $14.92

Now I need all the motivation that I can to get off my arse and exercise LOL. What better than taking advantage of the daily travel cap. I went home, changed out of the suit and into the something more appropriate and went for a 4k run to the next suburb. Took the train back (Journey 6: $0.08) to bring me up to the $15 cap.

Tomorrow will take 2 trips ($3.29 and $2.31) then everything after that for the rest of the week is free. Total all up will be $20.60.

If I were to have done what I normally do (2 journeys per day Mon-Thurs) I'd be up for anywhere between $40.80 and $50.40. So I figure I've saved $20+ per week. Yay.

Over a year this is $800+. At my marginal tax rate that equates to over $1300 a year pre-tax!!! Bloody hell. I thought I'd cut all the fat out of my budget and yet I could still find this...

[deborah]

AWESOME!!

[Andy_in_Aus]

AWESOME!!

+1, that's some serious BadAssity, 800 bucks...

 My hat is doffed to you Sir!

[happy]

So cool Marty998, so cool.

[Nudelkopf]

Woohoo! That's awesome! Do you think you'll keep it up over the coming weeks, or was it too much of a hassle?

[marty998]

That's what's so brilliant, it wasn't much hassle at all :)

Apart from getting a train 20 minutes earlier in the morning on a Monday it really isn't an inconvenience, and the forced walking between stations is a good thing because I sit on my arse all day in front of a computer screen.

[arebelspy]

Hah, I love it.  Way to go, marty!  :D

[marty998]

Thanks

It's such a stupid thing to get all giggly about but since Tuesday afternoon I keep chuckling everytime I tap off and the screen says "-$0.00"

The last time I paid $20.60 for a full week of travel was in 2004 when I could get student half fares.

[happy]

You're such a dag,  Marty! But I get it.

[marty998]

I had some more fun today - got lots of annual leave - taken Monday and Tuesday off as sanity days :)

7 trips on the opal card with 1 scheduled for tomorrow and my weekly total bill will be $17.31. Trips in to work which would have been $37.80 for Wed-Fri will be free.

In between all those those trips today I went to the beach, did a 5k run along the boardwalk, passing by my dream houses owned by the local multi squillionaires. I ended up running about 11k's all up today, felt really good, and saved $20 which feels just as good too!

Actually quite insightful to see so many people who looked FIREd out and about. Some spending time with their kids, some fishing, others just doing gardening. Some also just sitting on their balconies looking bored having a smoke - appears to be a lesson in what not to do.

[Primm]

Actually quite insightful to see so many people who looked FIREd out and about. Some spending time with their kids, some fishing, others just doing gardening. Some also just sitting on their balconies looking bored having a smoke - appears to be a lesson in what not to do.

Might not be FIREd. Might be shift workers - I do 3 x 12s a week and every 2nd weekend, so I have 2 - 4 weekdays off every week even though I'm working full time. I've had a couple of jobs where I worked 8-5 Mon-Fri - couldn't stand doing my grocery shopping with the hordes. Much nicer shopping with a few other people on a Tuesday morning.

[marty998]

3 weeks into this little game and my travel total is $60.82.

In the previous 3 weeks it was $114.36. A saving of $53.54 or 47%!

This time last year I seem to be recall buying weekly $52 tickets, a saving of 61% from then.

[mrcheese]

It has made it to the mainstream...
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/frugal-opal-card-users-beat-the-system-for-cheaper-fares-20141125-11t4r0.html

[marty998]

Didn't take long did it? But they didn't mention you can squeeze 7 train trips under the $15 cap, not just 6


This week's total is $22.91 (just finished my 8th journey for the week earlier today). For the month it is $83.73.

If I behaved myself and did the customary round trip Mon-Thurs I would have spent $161.80

I <3 opal :D