Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian today provided an update on the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card that will be introduced later this year.
Ms Berejiklian said it was important that pensioners and seniors understood that they will still have a choice after the Gold Opal card is introduced, when it comes to buying tickets for travel on public transport.
When the Gold Opal card is introduced, pensioners and seniors will not have to use it if they don’t want to.
“The NSW Government will later this year roll out the new Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card, but at this stage the card is not available,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is made available, customers will have the choice to either use Opal or keep buying paper Pensioner Excursion Tickets (PET). I really want to make that very clear - the choice is yours.”
Ms Berejiklian said the NSW Government is retiring 14 paper ticket types on September 1 – one month from today, however this change does not impact pensioners or seniors. PET paper tickets will still be sold after September 1.
“You can keep buying and using PET paper tickets today, after September 1, after the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is introduced, and well into the future.”
“When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is introduced later this year, fares will remain capped at $2.50 a day for seniors and pensioners.
“You will not need a credit card or access to the internet to use your Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card. The Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will not cost anything to get, and customers will be able to manually top it up with cash if they want to.
“I can also assure pensioners and seniors they will have a much smaller start-up and minimum top-up value than the Adult card.”
Some pensioners and seniors may choose to link their Opal card to a credit card or debit card and set it to auto-top-up, like having an e-tag in your pocket.
Pensioners and seniors will be given a lot of information about how to get a Gold Opal card and how to use it before it is released later this year.
Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card - Fact sheet
Later this year the new Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will be released. It is not available yet.
When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is made available, customers will have the choice to use a Gold Opal or keep buying paper Pensioner Excursion Tickets (PET).
The NSW Government is retiring 14 paper ticket types on September 1 – however this change does not impact pensioners or seniors.
Pensioner Excursion paper tickets will still be sold after September 1. Customers can keep buying and using PET paper tickets now and after September 1, and well beyond the introduction of the Gold Opal card.
When the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is introduced later this year, fares will remain capped at $2.50 a day for seniors and pensioners.
Opal fares are calculated based on distance, so some pensioners and seniors may even pay less under Opal for short trips that don’t reach their $2.50 cap.
Customers will not need a credit card or the internet to use or obtain a Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card.
The Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card will not cost anything to get, and customers will be able to manually top it up with cash if they want to.
Some pensioners and seniors may choose to simply link their Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card to their credit or debit card and set it to auto-top-up, like having an e-tag in your pocket.
Seniors and pensioners will be given a lot of information about how to get a new Gold Opal card, and how to use it, before it is released later this year.
The Adult and Child/Youth Opal cards are available. Paper tickets will continue to remain in place as the rollout of Opal continues.
Update on Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card (pdf 147KB)
Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card fact sheet (pdf 61KB)