The government of New South Wales in Australia today announced that the Opal ticketing system now supports Express Mode for Apple Pay payments, allowing the fare card to be added to the Wallet app on a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch for tap-and-go payments across the public transport network.
Express Transit mode allows users to pay for rides without having to wake or unlock their iPhone or Apple Watch, or open the Opal app. The mode also bypasses the need to authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. Users simply need to hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the contactless payment reader until a checkmark appears on the display.
Transport for NSW undertook a staggered rollout of Express Mode across the 25,000 card readers on the Opal network, starting with ferries and light rail, then train stations, and then the thousands of Opal readers on buses, which finished this week.
"Commuters in the Hunter, Illawarra, Blue Mountains and everywhere in between will benefit from being the first public transport users in Australia to benefit from the mass roll out of this initiative," said NSW transport minister Jo Haylen. "It will make life so much easier for the almost two million transport passengers who use contactless payments with a digital wallet in NSW."
How to Set Up Express Transit on iPhone
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap Wallet & Apple Pay.
Tap Express Transit Card.
Tap one of your cards in the list to use it with Express Transit. A tick will appear next to the card you select. The default option is None.
Authenticate your device using Touch ID or Face ID.
If your bank card doesn't support Express Transit, you'll get an error message telling you that the card is incompatible. If no error message appears, you're good to tap-and-go.
How to Set Up Express Transit on Apple Watch
Launch the Watch app on your iPhone.
Tap Wallet & Apple Pay.
Tap Express Transit Card.
Tap one of your cards in the list to use it with Express Transit. A tick will appear next to the card you select. The default option is None.
Authenticate by entering your passcode on your Apple Watch.
If your bank card doesn't support Express Transit, you'll get an error message telling you that the card is incompatible. If no message appears, you're all set.
Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models.
In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB.
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Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips.
The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip.
Gurman...
Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by Juli Clover
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below.
MacBook Pro
M5...
Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version?
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Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band.
The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM.
With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac.
M5 Chip
The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip.
The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store.
In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
It's very smart of Apple to do this. They won't make any money from this kind of deal but it eventually locks people into their iPhones further so they can't switch away easily. Use your iPhone as a transit payment method, credit card, driver's license, car key, house key, etc. Suddenly, one day, you depend on your iPhone for pretty much everything and it's impossible to switch.
Luckily, I'm an AAPL shareholder so lock away.
Nope. In NYC, the system works with NFC-enabled credit cards and Android phones with NFC -- as well as the dedicated OMNY card you can buy (with cash, even, for users who don't have access to banks). I'd imagine this Australian system works much the same way, and even just in the article photo you can see the credit card logos above the reader.
So, no, nobody is "locked" into using an Apple device, fortunately. As a transit user and a taxpayer, I'd be rightly pissed if any one company had a monopoly on contactless fares, regardeless of what it means for your stock holdings.
