If you’re used to spending your Sundays enjoying bargain travel on Sydney’s public transport network, brace yourselves, because a dramatic restructure to ticket costs on the Opal network is set to more than triple the cost of a Sunday fare from July 12.
While this is bad news for Sunday travellers, there is a silver lining for those taking public transport on Saturdays. The ticket price restructure, which will affect all modes of transport on the Opal network, will introduce a flat daily rate across Saturday and Sunday of $8.05; just half the current cap of $16.10 on Saturdays, but up from Sunday’s capped rate of $2.80.
It's hoped that the changes to capped fares will even out the number of passengers travelling throughout the weekend, as physical distancing protocols have proved hard to enforce on Sundays. According to NSW transport minister Andrew Constance, the number of passengers taking the ferry on Sunday – which typically increases to more than three times the number of ferry users during the week – was one of the primary concerns prompting the price hike.
The new weekend capped fare will come into effect across the Opal network from July 11.