The NSW Government is being encouraged to create an Opal card specifically for tourists
The Opal smartcard in New South Wales needs to be more accessible for tourists, according to peak national industry body Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).
The call comes as unregistered Opal cards are being made available to public.
TTF Acting Chief Executive Trent Zimmerman says having unregistered cards available is crucial to allowing more visitors in Sydney to use public transport.
“The tourism industry would like to see a visitor version of the Opal card available in one, three and five-day versions, offering the same daily cap and free travel benefits as a regular Opal card,” he says.
“We need to make travelling on public transport as simple and convenient as possible for visitors from interstate and overseas. “
Zimmerman says having a pre-paid tourist Opal card will allow visitors to avoid having to register or top up their cards, or to work out Sydney’s complex fare structure.
“A tourist Opal card should be available for sale at hotels, youth hostels, serviced apartments, airports, visitor centres and for pre-purchase online to further encourage use by visitors to Sydney,” he says.
“Ultimately, we’d like to see pre-paid Opal cards available through travel agents for both domestic and international visitors to give visitors easy and immediate access to Sydney’s public transport network.
“It’s also time the Government looked at multi-lingual ticketing machines, tourist information and transport apps.”