Opal card is the easy, convenient way of paying for your travel on public transport in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and surrounding areas.
Opal allows you to travel on Sydney and Newcastle Light Rail, buses and ferries, all Sydney Trains and Intercity trains between Sydney and Bomaderry, Goulburn, Lithgow, Bathurst, Hamilton, Dungog and Scone. You can even catch the train to and from Sydney Airport and the airport station premium surcharge will be charged to your Opal card.
You can now also tap on and tap off at Opal station gates at ferry wharves and on light rail and buses using your contactless credit or debit card without having to purchase an Opal. Contactless cards will charge full adult fares, but all fares and conditions of travel listed here are the same whether you use an Opal card or you use your contactless card.
With an Opal card or contactless card you can enjoy travel all day for no more than $17.80 per day for Adults on any day (Monday to Thursday) or $8.90 on any Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and your weekly total cost is capped at $50.00 (all caps exclude the Sydney Airport station surcharge).
You can buy an Opal card at railway stations, or you can order an Opal Card online, and it will be mailed to you.
If you want to start using your Opal card right away there is also the option to pick up an unregistered Opal card from more than 1,500 retailers. There is no charge for an Opal card, however the minimum value is $10 for an Adult Opal card and $5 for a Child/Youth Opal card. You can use the minimum value to pay your fare for travel on public transport within the Opal network.
Fares are charged by distance travelled. There are no zones or zone boundaries to worry about, your journey distance is automatically calculated by Opal based on where you tap on and tap off. Trips that include transfers between Sydney Metro, Sydney Trains and/or Intercity services are considered a continuous journey. No need to tap off and on again between services, and you’ll be charged a single fare.
Note however that Opal fares are not fully multi-modal, so even though you can use Opal cards on Trains, Light Rail/Trams, Buses and Ferries, fares charged on each mode are separate from the fares charged on other modes and there are no discounts for transfers between modes. However, the daily and weekly caps DO apply across travel modes.
Fares vary between peak and off-peak times. Peak times are 7am-9am and 4pm-6:30pm Mondays to Thursdays only. All Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are off-peak. Morning peak times for Intercity Trains* are however one hour earlier ie 6am-8am. *Intercity trains are those that travel from beyond the Sydney suburban boundary ie Waterfall, Macarthur, Emu Plains and Berowra.
Opal Fares | ||
---|---|---|
Train / Metro | Peak | Offpeak |
Less than 10km | $4.20 | $2.94 |
10km - 20km | $5.22 | $3.65 |
20km - 35km | $6.01 | $4.20 |
35km - 65km | $8.03 | $5.62 |
More than 65km | $10.33 | $7.23 |
Light Rail / Bus | Peak | Offpeak |
Less than 3km | $3.20 | $2.24 |
3km - 8km | $4.36 | $3.05 |
More than 8km | $5.60 | $3.92 |
Ferry | Peak | Offpeak |
Less than 9km | $7.13 | $7.13 |
More than 9km | $8.92 | $8.92 |
Travel Caps | Mon-Thu | Fri-Sun |
Daily cap 4am-4am | $18.70 | $9.35 |
Weekly cap Mon-Sun | $50.00 | $50.00 |
Airport Surcharges | ||
add to fares | no caps | |
Domestic to International | $4.70 | |
Airport - Mascot | $9.03 | |
Airport - Green Square | $11.43 | |
All other stations | $17.34 |