New Gold Opal card to offer seniors $2.50 daily travel cap

From Monday 3 November, seniors and pensioners can order the new Gold Opal card, which is capped at $2.50 per day.

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian said the launch of the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is another major milestone in the Opal rollout.

“The new Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card means eligible customers won’t pay more than $2.50 a day for travel on trains, buses, Sydney Ferries and light rail when it is rolled out,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The benefits of the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card include:

• Fares are capped at no more than $2.50 a day
• Top up the card’s value with a minimum $2.50 cash at one of more than 1,400 Opal retailers
• You don’t have to worry if you lose your card – simply cancel the card and your balance will be transferred to a new card and mailed out to you.
• Set the Opal card to auto top up, just like having an e-tag in your pocket
• If you travel more than 8 paid journeys in a week, you get free trips after that for the rest of the week, like all Opal customers.

Seniors and pensioners can still buy and use paper Pensioner Excursion Tickets (PET) if they don’t want to use the Gold Opal card.

“From Monday November 3, seniors and pensioners can access all the benefits of the Opal card – including the convenience of never having to queue for a paper ticket again. Gold Opal customers can use cash to top up their card with as little as $2.50”, Ms Berejiklian said.

The Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card is available for NSW Seniors, Pensioner Concession card holders and NSW War Widows. Customers only need to get the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card once, and the card itself will cost nothing.

To order a Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card simply call 13 67 25 (13 OPAL) or visit the Opal website. It takes only minutes to apply, and then it takes about one week for the card to be mailed out to your home.