The Opal card rolled out across New South Wales public transport services from 7 December 2012 until December 2014. Additionally, from December 2017, OpalPay was introduced and can be used as payment on selected third party services. This article contains all the dates of official Opal card and OpalPay rollouts.
This marks the completed rollout for all Sydney Trains stations.
As of November 2018, the rollout began where commuters can use their credit card & mobile devices to 'tap on' & 'tap off' on the Opal Sydney Trains network.[15]
NSW TrainLink intercity
Opal was rolled out on all NSW TrainLink intercity stations within the first 2 weeks of April 2014. However, some stations on the Central Coast & Newcastle Line was rolled out earlier as part of the Sydney Trains T1 rollout:
20 August 2014: Sydney Buses' Northern Beaches (Region 8) routes that operate out of North Sydney depot. The Ministerial release for this also appears to have covered Mona Vale depot by default, but readers were noticed active only about a week later.[28]
10 November 2014: All of Sydney Buses' North Sydney (Region 7) routes that operate out of Ryde and Willoughby depots.[31]
20 November 2014: Sydney Buses' routes E32, E35, E36 and E41. These were not rolled out as part of the Region 8 rollout because Opal card users and/or Manly ferry passengers could ride these services for free until the end of 12 month free travel promotion in November 2014.[32]
This marks the completed rollout for all Sydney Metropolitan Bus Contracts.
Regional & Outer Metropolitan public buses
The first Opal rollout on outer metropolitan buses was in August 2014. The following is a list of rollouts for regional buses, including school services of any region mentioned:
15 October 2014: All of Port Stephens Coaches' Outer Metropolitan Region 3 routes. This rollout was never officially announced and was not mentioned on the Opal website until a week later. It is believed that the rollout happened on the date stated on the gazette which was 15 October.[37]
This marks the completed rollout for all outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Contracts.
Routes stated on the gazette
Often, some routes have also progressively become partially Opal-enabled because they are run by different depots. These rollouts are only stated on the New South Wales government gazettes and are not announced through ministerial announcements. It is not compulsory for bus routes to be partially Opal-enabled on the dates stated on the gazettes. However it allows some buses to be Opal enabled even before the ministerial announcements.
By the Order, Opal can be used on gazetted routes if buses carry an "Opal bus" or "Opal on this bus" sticker. In other words, Opal cannot be used on bus routes that are not stated in the gazette, or on a bus without the "Opal bus" or "Opal on this bus", even it is running a gazetted route.
The routes and the dates stated on the gazettes are (excluding those covered by official ministerial announcements):
28 April 2014: Sydney Buses' Waverley depot routes 200, 300-396 (except 341, 392 and those announced by the government), 400, 410, 890–895, L94, M40, X10, X39, X40, X73, X74, X77, X84, X89 (includes routes from Randwick depot and Port Botany depot)[40]
23 June 2014: Sydney Buses' Randwick depot routes 341, 392, 399, 418, L09, M50, X09, X92, X96 (includes routes from Port Botany depot and Tempe depot)[41]
9 July 2014: Sydney Buses' Port Botany depot routes 397, M10, M20, X03, X94, X97, X99[42]
11 July 2014: Sydney Buses' Moore Park special services 1, 3, 32[43]
24 July 2014: Sydney Buses' Brookvale depot routes 131-190 (except 187 and 189), 201, 227, 228, 230, 243, 244, 246–249, 253, 263, E32-E88 (except E85 and E87), L60-L90 (except L84, L87) (includes routes from Mona Vale depot, North Sydney depot and Willoughby depot)[44]
8 August 2014: Sydney Buses' Mona Vale depot routes 130, 187, 189, E85, E87, L84 and L87[46]
15 August 2014: Sydney Buses' North Sydney depot routes 202, 204, 225, 229, 236, 238, 245, 257, 265, 269, 273 and M30 (includes routes from Willoughby depot and Tempe depot)[47]
25 August 2014: Sydney Buses' Burwood depot routes 401, 407, 408, 423, 436, 438, 439, 440, 443, 458–466, 480, 483, 502, 504, 525, 526, L38, L39 and M41 (includes routes from Leichhardt, Kingsgrove depot and Ryde depot) [48]
3 September 2014: Sydney Buses' Kingsgrove depot routes 406, 412, 413, 415, 422, 426, 428, 431, 441, 444, 445, 470–479, 490–495, L23 and L28 (includes routes from Tempe depot and Leichhardt depot)[49]
17 September 2014: Sydney Buses' Leichhardt depot routes 433, 442, 448, 501, 508, 510, 998, L37 and X04 (includes routes from Ryde depot)[50]
2 October 2014: Sydney Buses' Tempe depot routes 425 and 430[51]
10 October 2014: Sydney Buses' Ryde depot routes 206, 209, 251-256 (except 253), 258, 261, 285–297, 500, 505, 506, 507, 513–524, 533–553, M52, M54, X00, X06, X15 and X18 (includes routes from Willoughby depot)[37]
31 October 2014: Sydney Buses' Willoughby depot routes 203, 205, 207, 208, 267, 272 and 275[52]