You'll Soon Be Able to Ditch Your Opal Card When Catching Sydney Buses

If you want to catch a bus in Sydney, the Opal card has been the main way to pay for your trip for a while now. But that's about to change. After rolling out card payments on light rail and ferries back in March last year, and on trains in November, Transport for NSW has announced that contactless card payments — and devices that have the service enabled — will be rolled out across all Sydney buses this August.

Yep, you can leave your Opal in your wallet/on your desk/down the side of the couch — with this new technology, you can just tap your card or phone (Visa, Mastercard and American Express are all accepted in credit or debit) right onto the regular Opal scanners. Doing this will charge you for an Adult Opal single trip ticket, and if you use the same card each time you travel, the daily, weekly and Sunday caps will automatically be applied to your fare.

It's expected that all buses will be able to accept credit and debit cards by the end of September.

In another win for commuters, other fare discounts will now be available on all credit card transport payments for the first time, too. Which means if you transfer between services, travel off-peak, usually qualify for the Weekly Travel Reward (where, after eight trips in a week, you get half-price fares) you'll get those discounts on your credit card across the train, light rail, ferry and bus network (when the latter is rolled out, of course).

Moving away from dedicated transport cards — or adding other payment options — will make things easier for tourists and travellers (and people who, god forbid, leave their Opal at home), who shouldn't have to buy a new piece of plastic just to catch a bus or train (or pay extra for a paper ticket if they don't) when they're visiting. However, if we're moving towards a contactless future, ensuring the new system remains accessible for anyone that doesn't have a smartphone, smartwatch or bank card remains a concern.

Contactless and credit card payments will be rolled out across Sydney buses from August, and it's expected all buses will accept it by the end of September. 

Top image: Stephen Rees via Flickr. Updated: August 29, 2019.