[NSW] Seniors Regional Travel Card $250 @ NSW Government

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Sunshines bright on 18/11/2020 - 08:39 service.nsw.gov.au (379 clicks)
Last edited 19/11/2020 - 08:03 by 1 other user

The regional seniors travel card provides eligible seniors in regional, rural and remote areas with a $250 prepaid card to help ease the cost of travel. You can use the travel card at certain retailers across Australia to pay for fuel, taxis and pre-booked NSW Trainlink Regional trains and coaches.

To be eligible…, you must:

have reached the Age Pension age
live in a designated regional area of NSW outside of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong
be receiving support from either Services Australia or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as follows:

EDIT:
The travel card is valid for 14 months from the date of issue. The expiry date is available on the front of the card.

The regional seniors travel card program is available for a 2-year trial period (2020-2021). Eligible seniors can apply for a card in 2020 and for another card in 2021.

Applications for 2020 will close on 30 November 2020.

NOTE: Applications for 2021 will open on 18 January 2021 and close on 30 November 2021.

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• 

  RubenM on 18/11/2020 - 08:51

  I wonder whether the Central Coast counts!
  Passing on to my parents, thanks OP!

  • 

    greygum on 18/11/2020 - 08:54

    +2

    Yes It does, - we live in Gosford, My wife received this beginning of this year

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  mskeggs on 18/11/2020 - 08:52

  -7

  I think you can make an argument for discount or free non-peak hour public transport for seniors, as the buses and trains are running anyway. But paying for petrol is just a hand out and another expense to carry for all tax payers.

  • 

    aussea on 18/11/2020 - 09:07

    +4

    Yeah, just as similar for all bank account savers, particularly Pensioners who once relied on the interest from their paltry savings - subsidising residential mortgages via way of pathetic non existent interest rates. We all need a break.

    It all comes out in the wash hey.

    Pensioner's modest bank savings have been decimated over the past years so why not a bit of community support? Especially in regional areas where the price of petrol can be substantially higher than that in the cities. Unreasonably so. Additionally, Pensioners whose only income is the pension, are not the recipients of any tax breaks etc as the general community is.

    Hey were are all hurting. Right?

    • 

      mskeggs on 18/11/2020 - 10:50

      -2

      I’m not against pensioners and other welfare recipients getting increased payments if they need it. And I’m not against giving them access to public transport for a cheap fare.
      But paying for fuel is a bad policy that subsidises private transport funnelling profits to private operators at the expense of funds that could improve public transport.
      Everyone in NSW can access taxis, buses/coaches and train link transport, even if you live in a very remote location that is underserved by these transport options, it is no reason to subsidise private fuel.
      We can’t square up all the differences between urban and regional living - the choice of where you live is yours, and you can trade off reduced access to public transport against lower housing costs and a better quality of life.

      • 

        aussea on 18/11/2020 - 16:40

        I guess you will be first in line to hand back your NSW budget vouchers when issued to you after Dec 1 (which provides $100 for dining and entertainment purposes to stimulate the economy).

        Your disapproval must extend to any other multi billion dollar COVID support payment program to small business etc? Right?

        Some additional support to regional Australia is sorely needed. After all the billions spent on stadiums, tunnels, light rail have starved regional Australia. $250 petrol voucher is a pittance.

        • 

          mskeggs on 18/11/2020 - 18:22

          +1

          @aussea: I live outside the city, and agree there has been some dumb spending in town. But that doesn’t make other dumb spending good.
          The $100 dining voucher is dumb. The problem restaurants have here is occupancy restrictions, not demand. I have been turned away several times, and been refused bookings too.
          Adding more demand to a limited supply is a bit silly.

          And I haven’t been up the coast for a while, but farming NSW is having one of the best years ever, and domestic tourism has come back strong. So just pouring untargeted money is a bad idea.
          I think JobKeeper could have been spent much, much better. Paying the wages for every business that had a bad March all the way through to September gave plenty to businesses that didn’t need it. You can see it in the bonuses being paid to bosses who banked the savings.

          But I will overlook it because in the urgency of the moment, you do what you need to (pink batts, school halls etc).

          I don’t buy the argument that because the government has made other bad decisions the next one should be overlooked, if it is a pittance comparatively or not.

• 

  JoelT on 18/11/2020 - 09:12

  +2

  For the folks in the Newcastle area - Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens & Maitland are considered regional, so you might still be eligible.

• 

  shaybisc on 18/11/2020 - 09:25

  +1

  My father has one of these and he lives in the country. You can use it for petrol.

• 

  GG57 on 18/11/2020 - 09:52

  +2

  A great initiative.
  Public transport is not always frequent or reliable in some areas, so the option to use for petrol seems justified to me.

• 

  dynaflow on 18/11/2020 - 22:09

  We were grateful recipients of this card during 2020….note this one is for 2021.
  "NOTE: Applications for 2021 will open on 18 January 2021 and close on 30 November 2021."
  Cheers

  • 

    Sunshines bright on 19/11/2020 - 08:01

    +1

    The travel card is valid for 14 months from the date of issue. The expiry date is available on the front of the card.

    The regional seniors travel card program is available for a 2-year trial period (2020-2021).

    Eligible seniors can apply for a card in 2020 and for another card in 2021.

    Applications for 2020 will close on 30 November 2020.

    Applications for 2021 will open on 18 January 2021 and close on 30 November 2021.