After the South Australian government launched free all-day travel for Seniors Card holders two years ago, residents have saved more than $16 million in public transport fares.
Prior to this initiative, Seniors Card holders were previously charged for services during the morning and afternoon peak periods on weekdays from 7am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm.
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Since launching, new data shows seniors have embraced the expanded free travel, with an average of 637,270 seniors travelling for free across the Adelaide Metro network every month.
In the 12 months to end of August 2024, Seniors Card holders took 8,798,846 trips, up on the almost six million trips taken in the same period of 2021 – an increase of almost 50 per cent.
In the 2023-24 year, 7,524,310 free trips were taken with a Seniors Card.
The 2022-23 year saw 7,338,675 trips taken, and 5,091,118 trips were taken in 2021-22.
Of the free trips taken by seniors over the past 12 months, more than 2.5 million trips were during morning and afternoon peak times – where they were previously getting charged.
There was an increase in journeys taken by seniors during the week, with over five million trips taken from Monday to Friday in the past year, proving the introduction of free travel all-day, every day has provided those seniors who may otherwise have stayed home with the independence to get around Adelaide with no fuss.
As well as this, more than 35,000 Seniors Card holders have signed up to receive further cost-of-living relief, saving 4c per litre on fuel at participating United service stations Australia wide.
Since the discount launched in February this year, SA Seniors Card holders have purchased more than 4.9 million litres of fuel, saving a collective $200,000.