What travel card / pass to use in Sydney, Australia?
I'll be in Sydney next week from Monday to Saturday. I'll be doing some tourist stuff, visiting friends, some who are central, others in the suburbs. What is probably going to be my best option for transport, and what ticket options are likely to be suitable for this situation?
Best Answer
Good news! After a long time when the only option was daily or weekly MyMulti tickets, Sydney has recently launched a pay-as-you-go smartcard ticketing system called Opal. They have an explanation page on Opal for tourists whick gives quite a good intro.
Similar to the GoCard system in Brisbane, you can't load a daily or weekly season ticket onto an Opal card. Instead, you pay-as-you-go during the day or week, and your maximum spend is capped when it hits a certain cost. Currently, those numbers (for an adult) are maximum $15 in a day Mon-Sat, maximum $2.50 on a Sunday, and a maximum of $60 a Monday-Sunday week.
Because of that, you might find that for some tourist trips (eg just a few days heavy use, in central area week), a MyMulti ticket could still be cheaper, but less flexible.
If you want to go down the MyMulti ticket route, you'd want to buy a week long one for your trip, about the only question is which zones to get. The zones only apply to trains and ferries (all buses covered), so just look up where all your friends live and buy the one that covers it. That said, I'd almost be tempted to say you should get a MyMulti3 no matter what - it's only $17 more than the central zone one / $9 more than the central + ferries one, and lets you visit the blue mountains and the beaches to the south and north.
Otherwise, you could get an Opal card, and pay-as-you-go up to the various caps. You can find the various costs, by mode of transport, on the Opal fares section of their website. You can basically hit the daily pricing cap with a return trip on the Manly-Circular Quay route, so basically any day you head out that way on the ferry all public transport after that is effectively free. Likewise, a trip out to the Blue Mountains with one way on-peak pretty much hits the cap.
The only slight thing to be aware of is that the Opal and MyMulti tickets have a surcharge to use the airport stations, which is quite substantial. If you have a MyMulti or have already hit the Opal cap, and want to avoid paying extra, you can however take the 400 bus from the airport to the nearest non airport line station, which doesn't need the surcharge.
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Can I use my go card in Sydney?
Residents and visitors to South East Queensland can use go card to easily explore the region. It's easy to use: simply touch on at the beginning and touch off at the end of each trip onboard your bus or ferry or at your train or tram station.Is it cheaper to use bank card or Opal?
Opal is cheaper. using the Opal card gives you a discount on the full fare. using a credit card means you are charged the full fare. note that each traveller in the group needs their own credit card to pay for the fare ie you cannot use one credit card to pay for three tickets.Is it worth getting an Opal card?
For the OP, it will absolutely be worth it to have an Opal card rather than pay individual trips. The daily cap is $15.80. A trip to and from Manly on the traditional manly ferry will use that cap. Then all other travel that day is free.Can you use visa instead of Opal?
Look for the contactless symbol on your cardIf your Visa, Mastercard or American Express credit or debit card shows the contactless payment symbol, you can use it to pay for your travel. You'll pay an Adult Opal fare.How to Buy a SIM Card in Australia in 8 Steps 🇦🇺 - So Many Amazing Options (15+ SIM Cards)!
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