The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) is seeking community views about future Opal fares for public transport.
Opal fares cover public transport in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra.
IPART is looking at the best way to set maximum annual fares to apply from July 202o to June 2024. The NSW Government then decides what actual fares will be within the maximums set by IPART.
Currently public transport fare revenue accounts for around one quarter of the cost to provide the service. The remainder is funded by taxpayers.
Feedback is now being sought on all proposals released last month that would allow for a maximum annual increase of five per cents for singles trips across all train, bus, light rail, metro and ferry services.
IPART proposed the increase to single fares to provide the state government with more options to provide discounts to more regular transport users and off-peak fares to bus and light rail services without impacting the sustainability of transport services.
Both regular and occasional public transport passengers, transport providers and taxpayers in NSW are encouraged to come to the public hearing at IPART’s office on Tuesday 11 February at 10am.
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