Discovery Pass

With a NSW TrainLink Discovery Pass, you can

• get unlimited booked travel to more than 365 destinations on the NSW TrainLink Regional train and coach network

• choose a pass that suits your travel plans: 14 days, one month, three months or six months

• choose a class of travel that suits your style: Economy or First Class (Premium).

Please note that you cannot book a child ticket online with a Discovery Pass. You will instead need to call 13 22 32 or visit a sales agent.

Before purchasing a pass, please read the relevant terms and rules. A NSW TrainLink Discovery Pass is non-refundable and it cannot be assigned to another person.

Prices

How to purchase a pass and book trips

Step 1: Purchase a Discovery Pass

Choose a time limit and class of travel that suits your needs.

Step 2: Book your trips

After you purchase a Discovery Pass, you have up to one month to book your first trip. The time limit on your pass will start from the departure date of your first booked trip. All trips must be booked and taken before the expiry (到期) date indicated on the pass. You must book each trip before you travel.

Find out more about ways to book your ticket? Visit our website:

https: /transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/regional-tickets-fares/ways-to-book-your-ticket

I was the only kid in college with a reason to go to the mail box, because my mother never believed in email, or cell phones in general. I was literally waiting to get a letter to see how the weekend had gone, which was usually the warmest comfort for me.

So when I moved to New York and got sucker-punched in the face by depression, I did the only thing I could think of — writing letters like my mother for strangers. I blogged about those letters and crazily promised I would write you a hand-written letter if asked to.

Overnight, my inbox became this harbor of heartbreak — a single mother in Sacramento, a girl being bullied (恐吓) in rural Kansas…, all asking me to write them a letter and give them a reason to wait by the mailbox. And this is how the act The World Needs More Love Letters was born, fueled by those trips to the mailbox. But the thing about these letters is that most of them have been written by people, who have grown up into a paperless world where some best conversations happen swiftly on a screen.

I’ve been carrying this mail crate (大木箱) with me these days, which is a magical icebreaker. So I get to tell total strangers about a woman whose husband was traumatized (受精神创伤) from war in Afghanistan, and how she left love letters throughout the house as a way to say, “Come back to me.” And the man, who had decided to take his life, tonight slept safely with letters just beneath his pillow, handwritten by strangers who were there for him.

These are the kinds of stories that convince me that letter-writing will always be needed, even in these days, because it is an art now.

Research found that when people saw others in their herd (群体) hesitating before making a choice, they were about twice as likely to break from the group and make a different choice.

The findings have meanings for group behaviour in finance, fashion—any situation where there might be herd behaviour, Krajbich said. “Even if it appears at first that everyone is following the same trend, hesitation may show that they are not all on the same page,” he said.

The research studied 72 college students. They participated in groups of eight. When their predecessor (前任) responded slowly, participants chose against the herd about 66% of the time, compared to only 33% of the time when their predecessor chose quickly. In cases where the group was making the wrong decision, this often led people to break from the herd and make the correct choice, he said.

“A couple of bad decisions at the beginning can lead everyone to the wrong road. That’s the herd behaviour,” Krajbich said. “But what we found is that if people can see the hesitation in others’ choices, that can help them break the chain and change the course of the herd.”

Fast decisions by others can consolidate one’s own belief. For example, if a person sees their friends quickly choose to get a vaccine for COVID-19, that may make them more comfortable making the same choice, Krajbich said. If friends hesitate before getting a vaccine—even if they eventually get one—that may make a person less sure about whether to get the shot, he said.

Krajbich said the findings in the research aren’t necessary a universal rule. There may be some decisions for which taking longer to choose could indicate a more thoughtful choice. “It will be important to figure out when fast decisions signal confidence or when instead they signal thoughtlessness,” he said.

It’s commonly acknowledged that our lives are ruled by algorithms (算法), but have we really collectively understood how they have transformed our culture and personality?

In Filterworld: How algorithms flattened culture, Kyle Chayka argues convincingly that the rise of algorithm-driven feeds, used everywhere online from Instagram to Spotify, has led to a more uniform culture. Our tastes and desires increasingly don’t belong to us, but to algorithms that are designed to keep people engaged at all costs. If the collection of our tastes truly shapes our entire personality, then this loss is more psychologically damaging than it first appears. Aimlessly scrolling (滚屏) through Netflix or TikTok may seem harmless, but over days, months or years, we lose touch with what we like and enjoy.

Taste-making algorithms are inescapable. Chayka shows this by working through all corners of life: what we wear(TikTok), where we eat(Google Maps), music we listen to(Spotify), even who we date or marry(Tinder). This universe of algorithm-driven decisions has society-wide implications: “It extends to influence our physical spaces, our cities, and the routes we move through…flattening them in turn.” No one gets out of the Filterworld untouched.

If you’re lucky enough not to need any sort of algorithm-based system for your work, then you have the option to step back from algorithms for a while. But if your friend suggests a film recommended on X/Twitter or you feel the need to buy those shoes suddenly everyone has started wearing after social media advertisements, what are you to do? It all feels fruitless.

This Filterworld may be inescapable, but there is hope. You can start by engaging more with the media you do choose to consume. This could mean reading up about a film you watched or paying artists you like directly. Even the thoughtful act of recommending an album (专辑) to a friend is more rewarding than a random TikTok feed. As Chayka says, resistance to algorithms “requires an act of willpower, a choice to move through the world in a different way.”

It’s no secret that reading good news feels a lot better than reading bad news. Like, would you rather bite into a lemon, or sip on a fresh glass of lemonade?

    16    The world is full of problems and conflicts and we need to stay informed and alert (警觉的) to what’s going on around us. While reading traditional, more negative news is important, consuming good news is also part of staying informed.     17    And it also brings meaningful benefits, like reduced stress and anxiety, higher rates of engagement, community building skills, and inspiration for creating a better world. Plus, knowing what to look for in the good news landscape is a key part of improving our media literacy skills and being thoughtful news consumers.

In fact, good news, known as solutions journalism, is becoming more popular, as publishers and news stations discover the benefits of sharing positive stories. Good Good Good is one of them.     18     A team of reporters and editors there work daily to deliver stories that make readers feel hopeful and equipped to do more good with possible solutions.

“If it bleeds, it leads.” has long been a saying used in the media to describe how news stories about violence, death and destruction draw readers’ attention.       19     The thing is, however, there’s also good stuff out there—the delightful and kind parts of humanity. “Beautiful stories are happening worldwide.    20    When you do find them, the world can suddenly feel like a very different place. Good news is a vital part of how we learn about the world and solving the world’s problems.” Hervey, one of Good Good Good’s editors said.