The Weekly Cap on Opal Fares Is Set to Drop to Make Your Commute a Bit Less Costly
Spend more than $50 a week on public transport? You could save an extra $13 a week.
Usually we only have bad news to report on the topic of Sydney's public transport fares — either they're going up, getting stricter or cracking down on loopholes. But, this time, it's some positive news: today, the NSW Government announced that it will reduce the weekly travel cap on your Opal card by $13.20.
The cap change was buried in the 2019–20 Budget Papers, which were released by the recently re-elected Berejiklian Government today. At the moment, if you have an adult Opal card, it maxes out at $63.20 within any calendar week — but, when the changes come into effect from June 24, 2019, it will be capped when you hit $50.
The cap will come into play no matter what mode of transport you take, but probably won't impact you if you have a shorter commute (that is, less than 20 kilometres on train, bus or light rail).
But if you already hit the current cap in a week — say, you catch the train from Cronulla to the city each day — you'll save the $13.20 straight-up. It's also good news if you don't currently reach the cap — for example, if you catch the ferry from Circular Quay to Balmain to and from work every weekday, you'll stand to save at least $10 a week.
Which is pretty substantial when you consider that could potentially see you save over $500 a year — or at least have the freedom to spend that cash on funner places than Central Station.
The Opal weekly cap will change to $50 from Monday, June 24, 2019. Find more info here.
UPDATE: JUNE 20, 2019 — This article initially reported that the weekly would cap would come into effect from July 1, 2019, but Transport for NSW has since brought that forward a week. It will now start from June 24, 2019. The article has been updated to reflect this.
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