Permanent project revision

Opal Card & Contactless Tap and Pay

Revision 2026-08-12-sydney-evidence-baseline · effective 2026-08-12

Superseded. A later revision exists: 2026-08-20-source-dates →

unreviewed

Created the first structured Evidence Passport with 2 claims and 7 source dossiers.

sha256:725d99b59b59214839f5166b569a018f9d97214df33f007f46386fba6b727e7f

All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

add /evidencePassport — Added claim-level evidence mapping and source dossiers.
add /revisionHistory — Established a permanent, hash-addressed baseline revision.

2: of 2 claims mapped
7: source dossiers
0: publication dates recorded
0: archives linked
0: exact locators
0: content captures hashed

Claims, one by one

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-7d0da65926be60a9 quantitative

Transport for NSW rolled out the Opal smart card across Sydney's trains, ferries, buses and light rail in stages from December 2012 to December 2014.

Published field: snippet · verbatim
Mapping: mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says: ITS International dates the first ferry trial to December 2012 and its related completion report dates the all-mode completion to December 2014; Cubic's retrospective confirms the staged rollout across ferries, trains, buses and light rail and completion in 2014.
Caveat: Cubic is the system vendor; the two ITS International reports provide the independent timeline anchors.

Sources carrying this claim

Milestone for Opal smart cards in Sydney
Sydney's Opal card rollout completed ahead of schedule
10 Years of Opal

Claim 2 clm-41b73dedb3e25fbd quantitative

From 2017, a gradual rollout let riders tap on with a contactless bank card or phone instead, completing across all modes by September 2019 for most fare types.

Published field: snippet · verbatim
Mapping: mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says: Cubic dates contactless trials to 2017 and completion across all modes to September 2019; Transport for NSW documents current card, phone and watch payment and the applicable fare coverage.
Caveat: The rollout dates come from the system vendor; the operator pages substantiate current functionality and limitations.

Source dossiers and revision state

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-12-sydney-evidence-baseline effective 2026-08-12 · created 2026-08-12

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:725d99b59b59214839f5166b569a018f9d97214df33f007f46386fba6b727e7f

Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →

2: of 2 claims mapped
7: source dossiers
0: publication dates recorded
0: archives linked
0: exact locators
0: content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator: Transport for NSW
Actor types: regional-government, private
Funding model: public
Funding description: NSW Government-funded under the 2010 Cubic Transportation Systems contract; a further $820 million was contracted in 2026 for the ‘Opal 2.0’ upgrade to replace readers and add app-based digital Opal cards by 2028.
Cost: $1.2 billion over 15 years (original 2010 system contract with Cubic Transportation Systems)
Ownership: Not recorded
Decision rights: Not recorded
Exit conditions: Not recorded

7 source dossiers

Sydney's Opal card rollout completed ahead of schedule itsinternational.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-75a8a0ec608273ab
Publisher: Name not classified · itsinternational.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Independent trade press confirming the staged 2012–2014 rollout completion.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-7d0da65926be60a9

Milestone for Opal smart cards in Sydney itsinternational.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-34563748841b4b77
Publisher: Name not classified · itsinternational.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Independent trade press on rollout progress.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-7d0da65926be60a9

Contactless payments — transportnsw.info transportnsw.info · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-be50025e9fd922cd
Publisher: Name not classified · transportnsw.info
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Operator's own page confirming current contactless coverage across Sydney and connected NSW regions.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-41b73dedb3e25fbd

Opal — transportnsw.info transportnsw.info · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-2105b66bded5e078
Publisher: Name not classified · transportnsw.info
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Operator confirms contactless bank card/phone tap works for most fare types, not universally.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-41b73dedb3e25fbd

Modern ticketing upgrade to deliver more reliable, everyday public transport for NSW nsw.gov.au · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-43d4ee261b61d73d
Publisher: Name not classified · nsw.gov.au
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
NSW Government release (28 Apr 2026) on the $820m Opal 2.0 upgrade; hardware rollout 2027–2028.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

10 Years of Opal cubic.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-940b15ba6bc2738b
Publisher: Name not classified · cubic.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
System vendor's account of the contactless rollout timeline (trial 2017, completed September 2019).
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-7d0da65926be60a9
clm-41b73dedb3e25fbd

Review: Sydney's Opal smartcard itnews.com.au · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-20e82ffcd216b9b4
Publisher: Name not classified · itnews.com.au
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-08-12
Dossier created: 2026-08-12
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Independent IT trade press on the original 2010, $1.2bn/15-year Cubic Transportation Systems contract.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Known limits of this passport

Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.