The Opal card has been pitched as an easy, convenient way of paying for public transport, including trains, buses and ferries.

Cooranbong resident John Fulton bought and has been using an Opal card, yet was asked to get off a bus in Sydney that was not equipped to take Opal cards when he refused to buy a paper ticket for the journey.

Mr Fulton commutes from Morisset to Sydney every day.

Last week he tried to board a bus in Chatswood, only to find the bus was not Opal-equipped, and was asked to buy a ticket.

Mr Fulton said he refused to pay for an extra ticket, arguing that it was not the commuter's fault that the bus did not have an Opal swipe point.

Mr Fulton said the driver turned off the ignition and insisted he get off the bus if he was not going to buy a ticket.

Mr Fulton and two other people with Opal cards got off the bus and waited for the next one, which accepted Opal cards.

Mr Fulton said being forced to pay a separate fee for buses that did not yet accept Opal Cards was an unfair cost to commuters.

"If you paid the fare every day it's only $2.30 each way, but over the week that's nearly $25 extra on top of the $60 [on the Opal card]," he said.

"So a ticket that should be costing $60 is costing almost $85 - and that's wrong."

Mr Fulton said he rang Opal Customer Care and Transport NSW to find out whether he was required to pay separately when there was no Opal reader, but could not get a clear answer.

When the Lakes Mail rang Opal Customer Care with the same query, an assistant said: "If the bus is on an Opal-enabled route but has no Opal reader enabled, you would have to buy a paper ticket."

The route Mr Fulton takes is Opal-enabled. He said another driver had explained to him that some buses on the route "came out of Willoughby depot, which was not yet Opal-ready".

After his experience, Mr Fulton has decided not to continue using his Opal card for now.

"I'll stick with the paper tickets because there are less hassles."

The Lakes Mail has fielded a number of calls about the new system's failures. The most common one is the lack of retail outlets to buy the Opal cards in western and southern Lake Macquarie.

The only retailer who sells them in the state electorate of Lake Macquarie is R & N Petroleum in Boolaroo.

For people in Morisset and Morisset Peninsula it is quicker to travel to Wyong, which has a number of sellers.

The cards can also be bought online, but many callers told the Lakes Mail they felt uncomfortable entering their bank details.

Member for Lake Macquarie Greg Piper wrote to Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian about the lack of retail outlets for Opal cards in the Lake Macquarie electorate, requesting it be immediately addressed.

"I believe it is a glaring omission to not at least have retail outlets in the electorate's main towns, Morisset and Toronto, which are closest business centres to the two busiest stations," Mr Piper wrote.

Ms Berejiklian told the Lakes Mail on Tuesday the number of Opal retailers would increase over the coming months.