PET Loss

Issue resolved

Offshore residents will be able to take advantage of the Gold Opal program. “From 1 January [2016] eligible offshore residents will simply have to present their Gold Opal Card and Private Ferry Pass when boarding.” Read more on your MP’s website.

OPAL card means loss of pensioner $2.50 tickets for Scotland Island and the Western Foreshores

The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, has announced the intention to do away with most paper tickets used within the public transport system in NSW.

This is in line with the general move to greater use of the OPAL card system. A consequence of this is that pensioner excursion tickets (PET) will no longer be available on the Church Point Ferry Service. For the majority of eligible users this presents no problem, other than the need to obtain a gold OPAL card,in NSW as the PET fare structure is incorporated into the OPAL system. Our problem is that private ferry services in NSW have not, as yet, been included in the OPAL system. Meaning this change will result in the denial of access to PETs for private ferry service users.

The advice from Transport for NSW to date is: “Seniors and pensioners will be required to buy a concession ticket as per the ferry operators concession ticketing system.”

We do not feel that this is fair or equitable and is most likely an unintended consequence of the desire to move away from paper tickets and more an issue of administration than policy. So the Church Point Ferry Service has been in contact with Transport for NSW, with our local members and with the other private ferry operators to try and facilitate a solution to this.

What to do if you wish to voice concern about the loss of access to the PET system