Perth passengers weeks away from tapping on public transport with card and contactless payments

The Western Australian government has announced that card and contactless payments will be available on public transport in a matter of weeks.

Passengers will be able to tap on and off with their physical or contactless debit and credit cards in Perth, Bunbury, Busselton, Kalgoorlie, Esperance and Albany from December 8.

The rollout will then be extended to passengers in Geraldton, Karratha and Port Hedland before the end of the year.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said this was the biggest change to public transport since the introduction of SmartRider 18 years ago. 

"The start of new payment options represents one of the biggest and most important changes we've ever delivered on public transport in Western Australia," she said.

"This will give people another option, as most peo