The NSW government has struck a deal with United petroleum to give seniors a discount on their fuel following the suspension of the $250 regional travel card scheme.
Seniors will be eligible for a 4-cent-per-litre discount at participating United outlets once a day on a maximum of 150 litres.
The scheme differs significantly from the regional travel card scheme, which was suspended last month, where $250 was pre-loaded onto a card that could be used at any petrol station.
Minister for Seniors Jodie Harrison said the government had invited several companies to offer a seniors discount and United had come back with the best offer.
“This brand new discount has been added to the wealth of seniors card savings to help keep more money in seniors’ pockets and ease price pressure at the pump,” she said.
“We know people who are on fixed incomes have real challenges with cost of living so this will certainly assist.”
There are around 10 United service stations in the Greater Sydney area.
In order to receive the discount, NSW seniors card and senior savers card members must sign up for a United digital or plastic fuel discount card online.
This card is then scanned at the time of purchase and the 4-cent-per-litre discount is applied.
Last month, the Minns government suspended new applications for the regional seniors travel card program, which was a Visa card with $250 pre-loaded to pay for travel related expenses.
The card could be used to pay for a range of transport needs including fuel, taxi trips, pre-booked NSW train and bus services and Opal card top ups.
Nationals leader Dugald Saunders says this card represented a far better deal for seniors and the United offer was “laughable”.
“Mathematically if you had a car with a 60-litre tank you’d get $2.40 saving if you filled your car from empty. So you’d have to do that 105 times per year twice a week to save more than the $250 you get from the regional travel card.”
Mr Saunders called on the government to re-commit to the regional travel card.
“Rather than putting up this silly idea of saving cents per litre at participating stores, let people have what they need.”
Anyone with a regional senior travel card can continue to use the pre-loaded money until the card expires.