CBA pushes for 'everday card' payments on Sydney's Opal network

Commonwealth Bank is keen to build on its work as a member of the Pearl Consortium, which has developed Sydney's Opal public transport payment system, to open the city's electronic ticketing system to a wider cardholder base.

CBA group executive, institutional banking and markets, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, said the bank's vision was that its customers would be able to use their transaction cards, including PayTag (on a smartphone) to make payments at Opal terminals on trains, buses and ferries.

"There would be no need for additional infrastructure or for the government to issue cards or tickets - you could use your everyday cards and wallets," Bayer Rosmarin said.

CBA has been part of the consortium, headed by Cubic Transportation Systems, working on the Opal system since 2010. Other consortium members include the prepaid card company epay, engineering company Downer Group and bus equipment supplier Parkeon.

Opal was launched earlier this year on trains and is being added to buses, ferries and light rail. Earlier this month NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian announced that one million cards had been issued.

Bayer Rosmarin was speaking at the opening of CBA's Innovation Lab in Sydney yesterday.

The NSW Minister for Finance and Services Dominic Perrottet, who was a guest at the opening, said the Government was "focused on a digital pathway that would enable core services."

The Sydney public transport network has a long history of failed attempts to introduce electronic ticketing. Despite complaints about glitches and high charges, Opal appears to have cracked it at last.