Transport infrastructure: Opal card rolls out to more buses
The Opal card is going live on another 520 buses, benefiting thousands of customers in Sydney’s west and Northern Beaches.
Customers catching 220 State Transit buses in Brookvale and the Northern Beaches can now use an Opal card to access cheaper fares and more convenient travel.
From 11 August 2014, commuters on 300 Busways buses can use an Opal card in Penrith, Blacktown, St Marys, Mt Druitt, Kellyville, Quakers Hill, Riverstone, Windsor, Richmond and Kurrajong – taking the total number of Opal buses to 2,300.
As of today the NSW Government has issued 500,000 Opal cards, and Opal is already available on all suburban and intercity trains, Sydney Ferries, and will be live on around 5,000 buses by the end of the year. Light rail will follow early next year.
Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian said Opal take up had been extraordinary, and that she was delighted customers were embracing Sydney’s modern new ticketing system.
Opal fares for buses provide the following benefits:
- Cheaper adult single bus fares of between 2 to 9% compared to MyBus paper tickets.
- Opal Weekly Travel Reward, earned after 8 paid journeys, makes it cheaper than a TravelTen for customers travelling to and from work Monday to Friday.
- A more customer-friendly bus-to-bus transfer fare system – if your transfer is within 60 minutes you will only be charged one fare corresponding to your whole journey.
- Never queue for a ticket again or realise your TravelTen has run out.
From 1 September, the government will retire 14 paper ticket types.
Source: News Release NSW Government media release 07 August 2014