Sydney commuters can use contactless payments on trains, ferries and now buses

1 August 2019

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) announced on Sunday 28 July 2019 that contactless payments will be rolled out across all Opal-enabled buses in Sydney starting today.

The first trial for contactless payments began in July 2017 and has since been expanded to include all modes of public transport: buses, ferries, light rail and trains.

Commuters will now be able to tap and go on all modes of public transport in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra using their debit and credit cards, and mobile wallets on their smartphones, tablets and wearable devices instead of carrying their Opal card.

Contactless payments were first trialled on the Manly to Circular Quay ferry in July 2017, before being extended to the rest of the ferry network and light rail in March 2018. Contactless payments were then introduced to trains in November 2018.

Benefits from 1 August 2019

For adults, the fares and travel rewards are the same for both contactless payments and an Opal card:

• discounts of 30 per cent for off-peak fares;
• daily caps ($16.10 a day across all networks);
• $2 discounts for transfers made within 60 minutes of your last tap off on metro, train, ferry, bus or light rail; and
• single-fare journeys if travelling on the same mode of transport within 60 minutes of your last tap off.

Concessions, Children/Youth and Seniors will still need to use their Opal cards.

Andy White, CEO of AusPayNet, said, “The roll-out of contactless payments in Sydney is an Australian-first. AusPayNet continues to be the home for cross-industry collaboration to support such innovation and I look forward to AusPayNet’s open loop transport payments framework being used by more transport operators across Australia as they implement contactless payments.”

The framework for open-loop transport payments was designed by AusPayNet to ensure a seamless consumer ticketing experience and help TfNSW and their partners successfully implement open loop transport payments.

The Framework – which has been developed in collaboration with the payments industry and transport authorities – is available to organisations working with local transport authorities/operators to implement open loop contactless payments. If you would like a copy of these documents, please submit your request and details via our Contact Form.

Click here to read our previous blog post on the expansion of the TfNSW Contactless Transport Payments Trial in March 2018.