Commonwealth Bank has extended its sponsorship of the Opal digital card trial to enable commuters to pay for rides with both public and private operators, including ride-share services.
In a world first, this expanded pilot will reward commuters who combine public and private-operated transport to complete their journey with a rebate delivered straight to their Opal digital card.
From the middle of this year up to 10,000 Opal digital card users will be able to pay for trips on participating private transport services using their Opal card. If they catch public transport within 60 minutes, they will receive a credit to their Opal account of up to $3.
“We’re excited to support the further development of the transit ticketing ecosystem in NSW and help collectively improve the customer experience. We are committed to driving ongoing innovation in transport infrastructure, particularly given the influence our transport networks have on the overall effectiveness and health of our economy," said Andrew Hinchliff, Group Executive Institutional Banking & Markets.
The pilot is an expansion of the Opal digital card trial run by Transport NSW in partnership with Mastercard, CBA and EML Payments Limited. The Opal digital card is a virtual card that sits in a digital wallet on a commuter's smartphone, allowing them to tap their phones and charge their Opal card to travel.
CBA has developed the core payment infrastructure for Opal card transactions across the public transport network in NSW.
Image L - R: CBA Relationship Executive for NSW Government, Simon Johnson; Transport Minister Andrew Constance, CBA Transactional Banking Manager for NSW Government, Monica Antony Pravin; and CBA Executive Director Government, Emmanuel Alfieris.
