Opal Next Generation market sounding

  • January 16, 2023
  • Posted by: Madrigal Admin
  • Category: Tender News
No Comments
Ferry going under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The NSW Government, through Transport for NSW (TfNSW), is looking to improve their public transportation system by upgrading the Opal ticketing system with Opal Next Generation (ONG)

The NSW Government, through Transport for NSW (TfNSW), is looking to improve their public transportation system by upgrading the Opal ticketing system with Opal Next Generation (ONG).There is an investment of $568 million promised over the next five years to upgrade the Opal system.

The aim of the new system is to improve the service including greater fare personalisation, payment options, and a seamless travel experience for customers. The goal is to make travel faster and more convenient for customers and better enable customer-oriented transport outcomes.

TfNSW is inviting local and international organisations with experience in account-based ticketing systems, software and hardware products or services for an operating transit network, and large-scale systems integration projects to provide input and feedback to help shape the new system.

The market sounding process, which is a way for the government to gather information and ideas from industry experts, will be open until 25 January 2023.

There have been more than 56 million Opal cards issued and 4.5 billion trips taken on the Opal network in the decade since it was introduced, an average of 1 million trips on public transport system each day.

The first tap-on was made on the Neutral Bay to Circular Quay ferry route on 7 December 2012 and since then the Opal network has expanded to operate on the Metro, rail, bus, ferry and light rail networks across Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Hunter, Illawarra and Southern Highlands.

During market sounding process, there will be an industry briefing by the government and organizations will have the opportunity to respond to a questionnaire.

To accommodate local and international time zones, TfNSW has scheduled two separate virtual industry briefings to provide an overview of the ONG Program and provide an insight into future expectations and opportunities.

The industry briefings will take place via Microsoft Teams and will present the same content. They can be accessed on the NSW etendering site.