I need your Help! - Opal Card survey - Black or Gold? Am I an 'Adult' or a 'Senior'?

We have found great courtesy in Melbourne with the offering of seats to us on EVERY occasion when we oldies used the trams or trains. We visit Melbourne fairly regularly.

Great to hear Neil. Melbourne is such a civil city - I lived there for a few years in the 1980s, and again in the 1990s - through the depressing Cain-Kirner years, and then the much more optimistic Kennett years.
Melb is very different from the other cities I have lived in (mainly Sydney now). We happen to live a couple of stops from the local TAFE college and it is a real challenge trying to place the current batch of young-uns in the half dozen gender categories between M and F these days. Bit like RSL Bingo!
The world is in good hands i hope! Don't really know - I won't be here!
cheers

Gosh I thought April fools day must have been moved when I saw this post.

Take my comments as tongue in cheek maybe ;)

Wild categorizations regarding age and what it infers/means. Nobody knows or cares what card I use. Now if they had a platinum card for say 70 plus then maybe that would say something. 80 and over would get a black card :)

Crucifying kids is not a good thing :) Give money saved to your kids so they feel a little less crushed. Give it to charity. Buy homeless people lunch and eat with them i.e. don't just give them money etc.

If you want to be even more torn checkout the free Country link trips :)

There's just so many things
That I can't touch, I'm torn

The issuer determines your eligibility, not you, therefore apply for the gold card.
I suppose others have pointed out that NSW is not the largest State?

Well spotted Brian! I started out with 'most populous' state but somehow I shortened it to largest - my bad.
Thanks for the pickup
cheers

Both California and Texas each have a larger population than all of Australia.

If truly /largely retired, most use of the public transport system is generally out of rush hours, so there are usually seats and not at capacity . So, go the benefit.

My brother, with a neuropathic condition , replies to any hostility with a "Swap, then: you can have what I've got" in the Disabled carpsrk.

hi john. thanks for the comment. I am on the trains, metro, buses around Sydney most often during peak hours, so its pretty busy normally. Having a Gold card, or health condition doesn't get you a seat. Most folk are in their own little bubble with earphones so they pretend to be oblivious to the rest of the world!
cheers
ao

Hi Ashley.
Go the gold card, you have effectively pre-paid it and if you have to wear the bad goverment decisions you might as well enjoy the few benefits. You can use your savings to go towards a part time role for a research assistant to help you produce an updated version of your exceptional book : How to give your kids a million dollars which if used by every parent will change their childrens lives. Thanks for your contribution to so many lives.
Regards
Michael

No public transport where I live so not a dilemma

Ashley,
60 seems a bit young to me as you are probably better off than most if you been able to retire early, but if it were say 67, the current pension age, some other arguments for:
1. society as a whole is better off if we get people off the roads and older people in particular since they are more prone to accidents - overall the cost is probably be pretty low, especially if the discount did not apply to peak periods;
2. older people can get isolated and encouraging them to get out and about is a good thing.
Frank

Hey frank - thanks for the comment - how are you keeping?
you make some interesting points. In December last year an 86yo driver ran into the back of my car when I was stationery at a red light in broad daylight - said i didn't see me! Public transport was not an option where he was going, so not an issue there.

Also, there is a case that cheaper public transport encouraging old folker to take a bus instead of walk 2 blocks could end up being a negative for their health and fitness, mobility, etc - accelerating their decline. for an analogy - a few houses ago, I bought a 3 storey house from an 80+ year old lady who said that going up and down the stairs several times per day where what kept her fit and healthy. She downsized to a ground floor unit up the road and she did not last long after that. (true story). Reducing costs of transport to get more people out and about certainly sounds like good policy, but if people who can afford it and donn't need a discount - it achieves nothing (except puts more cost onto taxpayers).
cheers
ao

Love the commentary that you provide but for todays article
Interesting comment but the part not stated is an extra condition not mentioned to Get a NSW seniors card the following requirements for Eligibility
You must be:
aged 60 or over, or will be turning 60 within 3 weeks / living in NSW / an Australian citizen or permanent resident

>>>not working at all or averaging 20 hours or less a week of paid work across a 12-month period (if applying for a NSW Seniors Card) <<<
averaging more than 20 hours a week of paid work across a 12-month period (if applying for a NSW Senior Savers Card).
Note: If you reduce your paid employment to 20 hours a week or less (averaged over 12 months), or you retire completely, you can convert your Senior Savers Card to a Seniors Card.

Note: NSW Senior Savers Card holders are not eligible for a gold Opal card.

Claim the Gold Card.

Hi Owen,
My vote is to take the gold opal card.
There are few perks in getting old in Australia.
I humbly feel that through my working life, I have paid my way as a citizen of our great nation, having worked hard and paid taxes, along with the additional risks and worries that come with being a small business owner.
If now, in self funded retirement, I can partake in the luxury of getting a discounted train fare to use my local Metro service, maybe once or twice a month to save me from driving into the city for an occasional night out, I don’t feel I am abusing the system.
Rather, I feel it encourages me to use our public transport system more than I otherwise might have.
I don’t have the benefit of living close to the city, so the normal black card fare to travel into town would be otherwise higher for me than for those retirees living closer to town, so I think of the gold card as a way of the Government saying ‘thank you’ as a senior citizen.

Hey Ray - it sure would be nice if Governments said 'thank you'! But implying a 'thank you' from a discount for past taxes paid is not a bad way to think about it! Save travels!
cheers
ao

Hi Ashley
I've gone with the gold card ( a few years ago ouch!). Like you I reckon the taxes I've paid at least justify a $2:50 train fare and also a slightly reduced seniors ticket to the football!!

We won't get much if anything else from the taxpayer for our years of hard work
(Although I could start on the ABC subsidised by our hard working children and also the many workers who never watch or listen to the ABC - the ultimate in upper class welfare)

hi Dave - and I thought Opera was the ultimate upper-class welfare!
cheers
ao

As a capitalist I took up the Gold (I assume the product modelling would also assume I would and I have plenty of other ways I'm paying taxes). My dillema though was/is, it encourages me to use public transport more than I might have, ie it discourages walking across shorter trips, which is counterproiductive to my (ageing) health and wellbeing, so I still try not to use it unless nec and prefer to walk to/from places as often as I can!