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[NSW] Free Travel on Sydney Public Transport (4am 14 April to 4am 26 April) - Opal or Contactless Credit/Debit Card Required

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Commuters will travel for free across Sydney’s entire public transport network for 12 consecutive days during the Easter holidays as the government seeks to spur a return to city centres and make amends for widespread disruption.

When will free fares start and end?
Free fares will apply from 4am on Thursday 14 April 2022 to 3.59am on Tuesday 26 April 2022, immediately following Anzac Day.

Which services will be free?
Fare free period covers all Opal network services in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra, and includes metro, train, bus, ferry and light rail services.

Note: Sydney Ferries services (F1-F9), Newcastle Ferries, Manly Fast Ferry and the NRMA electric ferry between King Street Wharf and Pyrmont Bay Wharf will be free during the fare free period. Other ferry services (including the F10) will continue to charge as usual.

Terms and conditions: To take advantage of free public transport travel for 12 days offer you must tap on and tap off with a valid Opal card with a positive balance or an American Express, Mastercard or Visa card. Offer excludes On Demand, Single Trip Tickets and Sydney Airport Line station access fees. A $1 pre-authorisation charge will appear on participating credit or debit cards and will be reversed at the end of the day.

Related Stores

Transport for NSW
Transport for NSW

closed Comments

  • +4

    This is actually pretty cool ngl. Thanks OP!

    • +69

      Nah, it doesn't make up for having to pay for hiked up Uber and petrol prices during peak hours when the Sydney trains were down on a regular basis due to terrible infrastructure and maintenance.

      Trains were down basically every day due to floods or strikes. Cancelled or delays of an average of 45 minutes, packed like sardines.

      I've been to every major city in Australia and from my experience Sydney transport is the absolute worst, a total shitshow.

      They need to sort it out and stop using NSW commuters as hostages. It affects work, affects lives and mental health for commuters and everyone they take care of and work with.

      Completely useless. I don't care if I get negged to oblivion, I want everyone to know that commuters are really fed up, and it's not really in our power to do anything, and yet we're the ones affected.

      I've talked to a lot of higher ups and heard what the heads of Transport NSW are like, and I hope my tone conveys what I've heard.

      • +1

        The train network is crap. Just delete the whole thing build subway/metro

        • +4

          Ctrl+Delete will delete it faster for ones interested

        • +3

          Metro for sure! The metro line from tallawong to chatswood is so nice and convenient. Comes every 10 mins (5 in peak?), driverless, doors open in the same safe glass barrier like in Japan, clean & quick etc.

          • @Shammy111: Yeah exactly. They are stuck with trains in the 70s and people will lose jobs if they switch. But that's the way how it works. Current train system is so prone to failure and affected by weather. Not convenient for most people and when the weather is bad everything just delay or stop all together. Not to mention fights between unions and politicians all over the place. Even free I won't bother with the train.

            This free train 12 days is a super spreader event for covid

            In all honesty if they stopped investing after Sydney 2000 Olympics, we would all have metro by now 20 years for them to build metro did not do it

      • +1

        Well liberal always wanted to privatise transportation and they already did that with buses but Sydney train is difficult so to do that they will first built metro all over Sydney as alternative and then privatise trains also but it will take a decade if not more to implement it…. In my opinion.

        Melbourne has worst transportation while I think Perth is best out of all states thanks to mining royalty received over the years. IMO.

      • +9

        Management shut down the trains. Not striking workers.

        • +6

          Yes, for one day. The other weeks of disruption was mainly due to workers taking industrial action (whether right or wrong).

      • +6

        Yep. Went to a musical the other week (thanks promotix), was looking forward to getting the train home so we could relax, have a good debrief, etc and stroll home. Waited for over an hour, no train. On the PA: "we will inform you as soon as we know of a train coming in." WtF? It's 2022, we are swimming in radiowaves, and you don't know where your own trains are? Ended up cabbing it home. Got a CC statement at the end of the week, Transport NSW charged me $2.65 for waiting on their platform. What a joke.

      • South Western line seems fine, I think outages are pretty rare although I can't account for the last 2 years. Has it really gotten that bad since covid? I guess what do people want when it comes to delays due to floods? Everytime I've encountered train delays, bus options seem already available at stations.

      • I catch ferry (I live in Ryde, but walk/drive to Meadowbank so not being bouji). It's much quieter, you get your own seat and not impacted by the usual train stupidness. I haven't been catching as much lately, but used to catch regularly pre - covid.

      • Can’t agree more

    • +113

      For the sake of our 5.3 million population, how about the useless government pays it's workers decently and stops jerking them around.

      Ftfy 🙂

        • +11

          Yeah, let's just abolish unions and outsource everything to the Philippines.

          • +16

            @Fybre: Which is exactly what P&O have done in UK. Sacked their entire staff and looking to employ foreign workers at cheaper rates. They don’t seem to realise that they are going to get seriously burnt. People/workers cannot be treated as disposable

            • +2

              @cashless: P&O are a shit cruise mob anyway.

            • @cashless: lmao my real estate agent has done this. went to pick up keys for my new place and the whole building was locked up, called the number and asked what the hell was going on and if the woman I'd been talking to could come and help and she said 'I'm sorry sir I'm in the Philippines I can't help'.

              if she was local (or competent lmao) she would have known that the keys were being held at a different office in another suburb. so I had to sit around waiting for her to do what I would have done if she didn't exist, which was call someone aus based to tell me what to do haha.

          • +2

            @Fybre: Australia used to have an auto industry. Then the unions demanded ridiculous conditions. Now there is no auto manufacturing in Australia. What a pack of clowns.

        • +2

          Reminds me of this Dorkly sketch:

          Mob: "Why don't you bring the real crooks to justice!"
          Batman: "there's already a superhero for that.. it's called the invisible hand…of the free market"

          https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/…

        • +38

          Nah, in a developed and prosperous nation the working class deserves a fair share of the pie, including actual wage growth regardless of whether your boss can convince someone more desperate to accept less so they can increase their profits.

          Amazing that people will actually still champion a race to the bottom 🤦

          • +2

            @Dandaman21: I agree with you. I had thought my sarcasm was evident, I guess it wasn't.

            • @Fybre: @Fybre, yep sorry it was, was replying to Taneda :)

        • +8

          Except when it doesn’t suit the corporates and they want to import cheap labour. The wealthy have conned you into believing ‘the market’ but then manipulate that same market when it suits them.

        • You're wasting your breath arguing basic economics on here. The horde have no idea.

        • There are worker shortages.

          So you are right bosses should be paying more.

          • +24

            @AsukaST: its not even about the pay, its the overreliance on overtime that is the main point of contention. its an unsafe situation the government is forcing on the workers, and by extension, commuters

        • +41

          The base pay isn't anything flash, the penalties bring the wage up to $100,000.
          The job is 24/7, almost no one operating the trains works Monday to Friday 9-5.
          You might start at 1am one day, the next at 3am then 2am for a fortnight and the next fortnight you are finishing at those times.

          While most people are out enjoying the weekend they are working, same on Xmas day or NYE or any public holiday.
          The staff turn over is high as a lot of people find the shifts to difficult especially if they have families.

        • +42

          Try dragging yourself up instead of dragging others down.

          "If you don't like it get another job". I assume you're just parroting this conservative talking point, but if you actually believe this is good policy let me know and I'll be happy to educate you.

          • +4

            @Dandaman21: You can tell me what you like, but it's very simple and I know I'll get negged but tbh I don't really care. If I am not happy with my job I'll change it. I'm not going to 'stop work' and cause others pain and inconvenience and then just turn up to work the next day to continue working. I consider myself to be considerate to others. All I am saying is protesting for pay is unacceptable especially provided the amount they are paid.

            • +13

              @JungliChilli: Mildly inconveniencing people isn't causing others pain, and there's an easy solution, the government can agree to their claims and then no one will be mildly inconvenienced any more. Protesting for conditions is an essential part of our democracy, and is a right enshrined and protected in our fair work act (despite coalition attemtps to destroy it.)

              If you don't like that, just keep on being "considerate" to others (except those being screwed over by their employers obviously) and continue just getting a new job every time your conditions are eroded and/or your employment rights are violated. Thankfully you probably won't suffer too much for your selfishness becase plenty of others are actually willing to stand up for the employment rights of themselves and others. Personally i'm not a fan of the "bugger you i'm alright jack" argument, and would rather see all workers protected rather than just protect myself.

              • +1

                @Dandaman21: Lol yeh cool if you think mildly inconveniencing others, but there are others who wouldn't not agree. It's still very very simple, if one thinks they are being screwed (which they are 100pc not), well leave skill up and find another job. We are very lucky in this country to have the opportunity to re-skill and head down another career path.

                I don't think there's any point going in circles, it's ok to agree to disagree on both sides :)

                • +10

                  @JungliChilli: Ah got it, so your opinion = facts and the opinions of the workers = lies.

                  It's still very simple, if the people don't like being mildly inconvenienced (and yes, not having public transport for a couple of days is a mild inconvenience) then they should petition their government to agree to the workers demands. Doesn't get much simpler.

                  You're just demonstrating your privilege if you think every worker in this country can just off and upskill and get a new job if they're mistreated. Lucky you I guess.

              • +4

                @Dandaman21: No. I am sorry. I am paying tax. I don’t want my tax go to a group of people who can’t do their job properly and ask for more pay all the time.

                Trains get delayed when it rains, when it is sunny, when it is too hot, when it is too cold. It should run by timetable but you need to check before you go out to make sure you can still catch a train or get to where you want to go in time. This is wrong.

                Proof to me the trains are no delay for a 90 days period then let’s talk about your pay. You don’t get paid before you proof your value. So far, it is proofed not worth it.

        • +4

          There is a fundamental issue with your job value proposition if you are dependent on people working overtime.

          Why would you stay in the job when:
          - you can go to other states and get paid better, with a generally lower cost of living
          - horrible hours that impact work life balance - a key value proposition in today’s workforce
          - dependent on overtime to boost your base pay

          Telling people to look for another job if they don’t like it doesn’t address the root cause. While your statement is true (i.e. people are open to seek alternative employment), the transport network will continue to have employee retention issues if they don’t address the cause.

          • +2

            @Diko83: Yeh we need to remember no one is forced to work overtime. And also remember that they are compensated for working overtime with penalty rates. So they say yes to working overtime, take the extra pay and still want to complain?

            Maybe am alternative option to not agree to overtime when requested? Though I don't believe the employees will like the loss of income.

            • +17

              @JungliChilli: "no one is forced to work overtime"

              Absolutely false. Just goes to show how little you know about the conversation you're trying to inject yourself into.

              • -2

                @Dandaman21: You still don't get it mate. If one doesn't like the terms of their employment, well get another job, no one is forcing them to work where they are working. And therefore no one is forced to work overtime. Really it's as simple as that. This is how the real world works, well atleast that's opinion, and you can have your own opinion no point arguing.

                • +9

                  @JungliChilli: You still don't get it mate. If the government doesn't like workers taking industrial action they should just give them what they're asking. No one is forcing them to refuse the workers their claims.

                  Let's break this down though. You're seriously suggesting every train and bus driver could just say "no thanks, I'm not working new years or Christmas or Easter this year" and their employer would just go "oh ok then no dramas, the trains will just drive themselves!" 😂

                  Not to mention, their EBA, like most workers, requires them to perform a "reasonable amount of overtime" and in this day of conservative government influenced fair work, guess who decides what's reasonable.

                  Oh, but I forgot your brilliant solution. Anyone who doesn't like anything their employer does can just go grab a new job from the unlimited jobs pool! It's just that simply Guyz!

                  I can't decide if it's more hilarious or depressing how incredibly uninformed you are on something that you're willing to condemn others to endure, just because you're personally not affected.

                  • +2

                    @Dandaman21: In the long term, Government should make alternate arrangements like metro that is driverless.

                    The current system is unsustainable.

                    I personally don't like people striking.
                    Personally, I don't like overtime as a concept, as I see it as a disincentive to complete work on time.

                    In fact, I regularly work more (approx 25% more) because of the volume of work and not charge a cent.
                    Yes, I am at a fairly senior position.
                    I presented at a conference, and was asked if I wanted to claim more as travel time etc.
                    I didn't claim anything extra.

                    We should not abuse the system- and I have seen people jumping at the idea of trying to earn extra money by not completing their work on time, and frankly, in the long term we should move towards abolishing the overtime or penalty rates all together.

                    Some people may argue that Trains is different, but it is rostered work.
                    Similar to healthcare and police work.

                    No one should be overworked, as overworked humans make errors. Hence, the AI driven machines should take over.
                    Give them what they want in the short term, but prepare for the long run to make all the squeaky wheels redundant.
                    Australia could learn a lot around work ethics from a few of the Asian countries, including the subcontinent.
                    Why are the unions concerned about privatisation? Rhetorical question. We all know- it will bring even more stringent work conditions and KPI.
                    No one ( except robots) wants to be monitored on how well they do their jobs.

                    Work will always expand to fill the time available.

                    I continuously upskill to make my skills pertinent in the industry, mostly with my own money. Take leaves to attend conferences.
                    It is not making money now, but the end game.

                    These are my views.

                    bringonthemachines

                    • +1

                      @darkmattersunB6c0MV: Lol, i'm loving the neckbeard vibes in that, brilliant copypasta. Thanks for that.
                      But, just because you're willing to work for free doesn't mean everyone else is silly enough to.

              • @Dandaman21: LOL you're going to claim that workers who voluntarily accepted a job are being held at gunpoint to do overtime?

          • +3

            @Diko83: This is a free market. Supply and demand. If people starts to leave this job because it is too bad, government will have to consider to make changes. If there are other filling up the jobs that would mean it isn’t that bad.

            But you don’t sit in the job and threaten to or actually strike to get a pay rise.

        • +16

          The typical Sydney Trains Train Driver salary is A$86,018 per year.

          Sounds pretty good, but remember this is inclusive of weekends, overtime and late shifts.

          Should someone who works until 3am on the weekends be paid well? Yes

          • +2

            @ribze1:

            Should someone who works until 3am on the weekends be paid well? Yes

            I mean, this alone should be enough. But let's not forget that train drivers, maintenance staff, everyone else involved in the whole 'train' shindig is also:

            1. piloting a vehicle with hundreds of lives within it and responsible for their safety; and
            2. enabling all the other economic activity in our city to go ahead.
            • +1

              @jrowls: Good point. The safety piece is one of the reasons pilots are paid so well.

      • +1

        Genuine question?

        Why do you say they are not being paid decently?

        • +5

          @gimli there's been significant media coverage of their claims so i'm sure you can track it down. The most relevant to their pay being no pay rise for over 2 years, plus future pay increase capped at 2.5% with inflation currently at 3.5% and climbing ie. like most workers in this country, no real wage growth yet again.

          • +1

            @Dandaman21: They've had pay rises under the 2018 EA of 3.0% pa, even when other public sector workers had a measly 0.3% increase during covid. A lot of focus from both the union and government though is on train drivers and guards, when the real issue is other staff with mediocre wages.

      • +2

        how about the useless government pays it's workers decently and stops jerking them around.

        The irony of being on a bargain website, then criticising others for getting a bargain…

        I assume that you will now pay full price for everything from now on, because you know, pay them decently and stop jerking retailers around…

        • +3

          I'm sorry, I don't think I have the acrobatic ability required to do the mental gymnastics you have to perform to make that analogy. All the best with your career though.

      • +1

        It's not pay alone (which would be easy enough to solve), but other claims that have made this situation so complicated. Aside from the money issue, both sides have put up some quite crazy arguments over almost every part of their work. Examples:

        • management banning workers from wearing shorts and sitting down while working (why were they being forced to stand?)
        • the union not wanting drivers to control opening/closing the doors on new trains (even when other cities, both in Aus and worldwide have done this safely for decades)
        • management shutting down the network without prior notice or even organising replacement buses
        • the union claiming that their actions would have only resulted in minor delays, then having services quite disrupted even when the network wasn't shut down by management (union has said during previous actions they want to "create chaos across the network")
        • management attempting to refuse pay for worker representatives to attend negotiations (hardly in good faith)
        • the union asking for extra cleaners to be hired full time to do performative cleaning of handrails, handles, buttons etc. (even after it's been established Covid doesn't spread via surfaces)
        • on non-porous surfaces, viable virus can be detected for days to weeks

      • -1

        LOL! more than 100k to open some train doors? I think they are being paid just fine.

    • +3

      I get the impression that all these strikes are in part motivated by the fact that previously negotiated awards are getting to the time where they are up for negotiation. I have no idea about the pay and whether they should be paid more or less. I wouldn't be surprised if they do deserve more pay but I think the fact that strikes like this happens and a city like Sydney just shuts down is crazy.

      There must be better way for the Government and Unions to negotiate a deal?

  • +30

    It would be even better to return peak and off peak times back to what it was.

    • +26

      Yep or to even switch off peak pricing for a while since they've been charging peak pricing the whole time despite having no peak services throughout Covid.

      • +2

        I'm okay with paying peak pricing without peak services for times like during the recent floods where it was both unsafe and impossible to retain normal services but having one train every 30+ minutes during peak and having to pay a full fare while no major obstacle was present I'm not.

    • +2

      If they do that then you the customer will benefit not the liberal government so they won't do it…IMO.

  • +3

    Free tolls as well?

    • +21

      Dont think so
      But I can provide free trolls

      • -3

        Forget that, all you have to do is mention Ukraine and the trolls come to you, it's like an automated delivery service

      • Yeah, that’s easy, just post a link to the OzB forums;)

      • +1

        And my axe!

        • +2

          You better watch out
          Been doing 100 push ups, 100 sit ups ,100 squats and 10km run everyday this week

    • Actually, those are in increasing :)

  • +12

    Great, do it when plenty of people are on holidays.

    • It is during holidays. (Pretty sure its easter school holidays)

  • +10

    "to spur a return to city centres and make amends for widespread disruption."

    That's an interesting way of saying to avoid further industrial action 😂 but I guess the Gov needed a way to take credit for the idea away from unions.

  • +8

    This would be a good deal.. if the Sydney trains are running on time/service

  • +14

    Thank you unions for valuing the travelers.

    • -3

      Thank you unions for spending other people's money.
      So brave… so courageous…

      • +9

        It was LNP's fault for installing proLNP stooges as executives who were trying to make unions look bad. LNP should cough it up with their negligent decisions. Not taxpayers.

        • +3

          It was LNP's fault

          It's always someone else's fault…

  • +5

    Sure, do it during off peak season when a lot of workers are on holidays

  • +19

    Is there a state election coming up in NSW?

  • +17

    They wanted a decentralised Sydney for years, but when they finally got it, they didn't like it. lol

    Good find OP!

    • What do you mean plonking millions of people hours away from the CBD with patchy public transport and congested toll roads will stop people wanting to go in to the CBD?

  • Isn't it 13 consecutive days? Apr 14-26 inclusive is 13 days.

    • Yeah it is, I see this common mistake a lot lol

      • +1

        Especially as a software developer, the fencepost error

      • -1

        No, it's 12 days.

        Actually 1 minute short of exactly 12 days.

      • Yes, common mistake indeed. haha

    • 13 consecutive days but only 5 working days

      • -1

        No, it's almost 12 days.

    • +1

      Technically yes but until 3.59am 26 April

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