Opal card still facing challenges on buses
Close to 8000 Opal card reader breakdowns on Sydney buses each year are being blamed on major glitches in computer equipment and staff shortages at the contractor hired to run the system.
Bus Division secretary Chris Preston told the Daily Telegraph that drivers are fed up dealing with passenger complaints about the faults.
“Every depot in Sydney and Newcastle has the same issues with the system,” Mr Preston said.
“Drivers have lost their patience with the constant hardware crashes that cause safety problems and delays.
“The government is clearly missing out on millions of dollars of revenue because commuters aren’t able to pay their fare when a machine isn’t working properly.”
Commuters on the city’s 5000 buses are constantly faced with Opal card readers malfunctioning, forcing drivers to let passengers ride for free.
It has been revealed that servers meant to link bus drivers’ Opal consoles to the electronic ticketing card system’s main computer fail on a regular basis.