Smarter ways to pay fares on Sydney trains

Passengers on Sydney trains can now pay for fares in more ways, including Mastercard, Visa, and American Express cards, plus smartphones, smart watches, wearables, and other electronic devices linked to those three brands of credit card. All of these can now use the train network’s contactless payment system, on top of the existing Opal card.

This follows a trial project of an expanded contactless payment system earlier this year on ferries and light rail by Transport for NSW and Cubic Transportation Systems. In this trial passengers could use other methods of payment over and above the Opal card, including Mastercard, Visa, and American Express cards.

Since the trial project began in 2017 on only the Manly ferry, before moving to all ferries and the Sydney light rail system in March, more than 235,000 trips were paid for using the new payment modes.

“Expanding contactless in Sydney is a game-changer for transport and represents one of the biggest advancements in ticketing technology in years,” said Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director of CTS, Asia-Pacific. “We’re very proud that Sydney is helping to lead the way by embracing new technologies to provide the best services possible for passengers.”

“This effort is a tremendous achievement, driven by New South Wales Transport and Infrastructure Minister for Transport Andrew Constance’s vision of using the most advanced technologies available to improve transport for commuters,” added Walker.

The new contactless payment modes are set to be added to the Sydney Buses network in 2019.

For any questions you have about the new payment modes, visit the Transport for NSW Contactless Payments information page.

This is the latest in a bout of recent work in Sydney by Transport for NSW working with Cubic Transportation Systems, with the new transport management centre going live in September.

Update, 4 January 2019

Fitbit today announced that owners of Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Versa, and Fitbit Charge 3 smartwatches can now use their devices to pay for journeys on Sydney’s ferry, light rail and train networks. All they need do to use the contactless payment system on these forms of public transport is connect Fitbit Pay on their devices to their Mastercard or Visa debit and credit cards.