Apply for a SmartRider card

A standard SmartRider card costs $10 and you must add a minimum of $10 credit. Standard cards give you a 10 per cent discount off normal fares.

Check the other types of SmartRider cards first. If you are not covered by any of those categories, you may be eligible for a concession SmartRider card.

Download and complete the application form (PDF) and take it to a Transperth InfoCentre or one of more than 60 retail outlets that stock SmartRider cards. You also need to show proof, such as a health care card, that you are entitled to a concession.

The cards cost $5 and you must add a minimum of $5 credit.

When you apply for a WA Seniors Card you automatically get a seniors SmartRider on the other side of your card.

You can travel free on any Transperth bus, train or ferry:

• before 6am Monday to Friday
• between 9am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday
• after 7pm Monday to Friday
• all day Saturday, Sunday and public holidays
• during WA Seniors Week.

If you want to travel outside these times, you need to buy a minimum $10 of credit and will receive a discount on your fare.

If you receive a carer, aged or disability support pension, you are entitled to a free pensioner SmartRider card. If you have a WA Seniors Card, you automatically get a seniors SmartRider and do not need to apply for this category.

With a pensioner SmartRider card you can travel free on any Transperth bus, train or ferry:

• before 6am Monday to Friday
• between 9am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday
• after 7pm Monday to Friday
• all day Saturday, Sunday and public holidays.

If you want to travel outside these times, you need to buy a minimum $5 of credit and will receive a discount on your fare.

Download and complete the application form (PDF) and take it to a Transperth InfoCentre or one of more than 60 retail outlets that stock SmartRider cards.

Anyone who has a Companion Card and is with someone on a disability support pension can travel for free.

The following types of pension are eligible for a veterans SmartRider card, allowing for free travel at all times on any Transperth bus, train or ferry:

• disability pension 70 to 100 per cent
• extreme disablement adjustment 
• intermediate rate pension
• prisoner of war
• totally and permanently incapacitated
• occupational injury or disease
• temporarily totally incapacitated.  

If you are a wholly dependent partner, war widow or war widower who doesn’t receive the income support supplement you can also get a Veterans SmartRider card for discount travel. These cards cost $5 and you must add a minimum of $10 credit.

Download and complete the application form (PDF) and take it to a Transperth InfoCentre or one of more than 60 retail outlets that stock SmartRider cards.

As part of the application, you need to give your consent for Transperth to verify your eligibility with Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Primary and high school students can use the student SmartRider for student fares for any Monday to Friday journey during the school year. It also provides for concession fares on the weekend and during the Christmas school holidays.

If your primary school is registered you can order online. You can also download and complete the application form (PDF), get it authorised by your school and then post it to:

SmartRider
PO Box 10
Westminster WA 6061

The card is free when posting your application and $5 when ordering online. 

High school students should check if they belong to a school that processes Student SmartRider applications for all new students, receives the cards and issues them to students.

Some high schools are also registered so you can order online. If not, download and complete the application form (PDF), get it authorised by your school and then post it to the address on the form.

You can apply for a tertiary SmartRider if you are:

• enrolled in full time studies at a Western Australia university, TAFE or polytechnic
• attending high school in the year you turn 19 or older 
• an interstate primary or high school student.

You cannot apply if you are a part time student, studying by correspondence, a visiting interstate or overseas tertiary student or enrolled in an interstate or overseas school, university, TAFE or polytechnic.

If you attend Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University or the University of Western Australia you need to follow their application process to get a tertiary SmartRider.

Metropolitan students at Notre Dame University, TAFE or polytechnics should download and complete the application form, then take it to a Transperth InfoCentre or one of more than 60 retail outlets that stock SmartRider cards.

Regional students at Notre Dame University, TAFE or polytechnics should download and complete the regional application form and post it with a $5 cheque or money order to:

SmartRider
PO Box 10
Westminster WA 6061

Student identification cannot be used to get a discount on a cash ticket. A tertiary SmartRider is the only form of identification accepted.

Asylum seeker hub concession SmartRiders are available to people holding or applying for a bridging visa as an asylum seeker or appealing a determination of status as an asylum seeker. They also need to live in WA and not be in full time education or employment.

Download the application form and take it to one of the following places so it can be completed:

• Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors, 286 Beaufort Street, Perth
• Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees, 245 Stirling Street, Perth
• Australian Red Cross, Migration Support Programs, 110 Goderich Street, Perth
• The Humanitarian Group, 445 Hay Street, Perth
• Welcome to Australia, 1 Thorogood Street, Burswood
• Mercycare, 6 Cecil Avenue, Cannington.

Once complete, take the form to the Transperth InfoCentre at Elizabeth Quay Bus Station. An asylum seeker hub concession SmartRider card costs $5 and you must add a minimum of $10 credit.