Deadline To Tap On

YOU can no longer board a Sydney Trains service without tapping on with an OPAL card.

Normal adult and child OPAL cards can be purchased in town, but people entitled to concessions need to apply for an OPAL card which can take time, explained Lee Watts manager of the Scone Neighbourhood Resource Centre.

Tapping on with OPAL. Lee Watts, manager Scone Neighbourhood Resource Centre and Marion Bambach.

“If you are a senior, pensioner or war widow you can’t just walk into a shop and buy your OPAL card, you need to plan ahead to order your card,” said Mrs Watts.

“You can order a card online, call 13 67 35 or drop by and see us at the Scone Neighbourhood Resource Centre,” she said.

“When you order the card it can take a while to arrive, so it’s important to plan ahead if you are going to use a Sydney Train soon.

“Once you have your card it’s easy to top up with a list of retail outlets throughout the state, in Scone you can go to the Scone Chemist or the local BP.

“We had at least 20 people last week come in to order their OPAL cards and I really encourage people to get them ordered because it is a $200 fine to travel without using the card,” Lee Watts said.

Marion Bambach travels to Newcastle to see family every couple of weeks and ordered her seniors OPAL card three months ago.

“It took about ten days to arrive, but we knew the paper tickets were being phased out so we ordered ours online,” said Mrs Bambach.

“It’s a bit off a hassle getting the card out all the time to tap on and off, but we still get to travel for $2.50 and we top ours up at the BP,” she said.

“What is really difficult for seniors now is getting off at Hamilton, if you want to go to Sydney you need to carry your bags up over the railway line, whereas we used to be able to go to Newcastle and wheel our bags to the next platform,” she said.

“They haven’t considered country people at all, much less seniors when they planned that at Hamilton,” Marion Bambach said.

Paper tickets for Train Link services are still sold through the Scone Neighbourhood Centre.

For more information on local train services visit our Community Resources section.