00:03Opal's been part of our lives for more than 13 years.
00:06It was based on London's Oyster card, cutting edge technology at the time, but it's had
00:11its day.
00:12Just like the BlackBerry or the Blu-ray player which were invented at the same time, they've
00:19done their job, it's time to move on to the latest and the greatest.
00:23Enter Opal 2.0, 25,000 new card readers will be rolled out.
00:28You'll be able to use a physical Opal card, a digital Opal card, a phone, smart watch
00:34or credit card.
00:35And as long as you're registered, you'll be able to use any combination to qualify for
00:40the $50 a week cap and other concessions.
00:42Major people use multiple cards and multiple devices and don't hit those quite generous
00:48caps.
00:48There'll also be better real-time tracking of buses that passengers can follow on their
00:53Opal apps.
00:53We've heard repeatedly about phantom buses on the network, an app that seemed to indicate
00:59that a bus was on its way, but it never arrived.
01:02Jo Howland promised to fix ghost buses in 2024 and yet still nothing's happened.
01:07In 2022, the Opal upgrade was expected to cost $570 million.
01:12It's now worth more than $800 million.
01:15The government says the project will now include the installation of these information screens
01:19on 5,000 buses in Greater Sydney.
01:22The new system will also let commuters fix incorrect fares on the app rather than having
01:27to contact Transport for New South Wales.
01:30And if you forget to tap on or off, there'll be a feature to do so on your phone.
01:35Installation starts next year and is due for completion in 2028.
01:45In the end of this video, I'll see you in the next video.
01:45If you go to the next video, I can see you in the next video and let me see you
01:46in the next video.
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