The following article by Jessica Cortis was first published in The Daily Telegraph
Australian media icon Ita Buttrose was in Penrith on Wednesday, to encourage senior transport users to jump on board the Opal ticketing system.
Paper tickets will be removed next week, and Ms Buttrose urged senior travellers to be prepared.
“I see older Australians all the time, and I see that change comes in and a lot of them are really resistant,” Ms Buttrose told the Penrith Press.
“I like the [Opal] system because you can use it across all modes of transport. It’s just so much easier.
“When I speak to friends who are now using the gold senior Opal card, they tell me that they wished they had done it sooner.”
She said she preferred to top up at newsagencies: “That way I can get the daily newspaper as well. It’s all in the one place.”
For those who don’t have a card, Opal single-trip tickets will be available from August 1 2016.
To get a card, visit opal.
com.au or phone 13 67 25.
Jessica Cortis 