Final countdown as Sydney public transport ticketing goes paperless

For Sydney's public transport users, the Opal deadline is looming.

In less than two weeks, 14 commonly bought paper tickets will be scrapped in favour of the Opal card.

Commuters who normally buy weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and yearly train tickets to take advantage of savings will no longer be able to do so from September 1.

Monthly, quarterly and yearly tickets across the networks (MyMulti passes) will also come to an end along with ferry travelten passes and yearly light rail passes.

Some paper tickets will still exist beyond September 1, but there are concerns passengers will be unable to board a bus or train because they won’t have an Opal card. 

Transport minister Gladys Berejiklian said while 14 paper tickets would be retired, 20 would remain.

And she said the Opal card now sells at 1000 retail outlets and 48 pop-up kiosks.

"I do accept there still could be people who might be caught out on 1 September so we’re doing all we can," she said.

"We’ve said from the beginning that we anticipate at least 90 per cent of people will be the same or better off under Opal and we’ve always accepted that some people might feel they’re worse off."

Secretary of Action for Public Transport Allan Miles said there would always be winners and losers, but people need to study the system to use it to their advantage.

He said he was worried people won’t be able to board public transport on September 1 without an Opal.

Tickets that will no longer exist from September 1, 2014 are:

Train:

Adult off-peak return

Adult weekly

Adult fortnightly

Adult monthly

Adult quarterly

Adult yearly

Concession monthly

Concession quarterly

Concession yearly

Train/bus/ferry:

Mymulti adult monthly

Mymulti adult quarterly  

Mymulti adult yearly

Ferry:

Adult travel ten

Light rail:

Annual pass

For further information, visit http://www.transportnsw.info/ticketretirement