My attempts to use the Snapper Card on the No 17 bus have come to nought so far.
On Monday, when I waved it by the scanner at the front door of the 7.35am, the scanner flashed a red cross and told me to try again (yes, the thing talks to you). With a queue behind, I waved my Gold Pass at the driver instead.
Yesterday, brand new trolley bus 333 on Route 3 turned up at the same time as a No 17, so I took the trolley instead. Unlike the old trolleys, there appeared to be no heaters on this one, as it was as cold as charity inside, as was the driver towards the schoolkids who got on, whom he repeatedly berated for indiscretions so minor I wondered what side of the bed he had got out on. And he drove deliberately right past one hapless St Pats boy who was waving him to stop and who needed to take the 3 to Kilbirnie, which was more than cold, it was mean.
This morning I got the 7.35am No 17 again and again the scanner flashed its red cross and told me to try again when I waved my Snapper at it. I tried again and it did the same thing. This was embarassing, as it must look to the driver and other passengers that I am trying it on, so I produced my trusty, no-tech Gold Pass again.
Another passenger got on with a Snapper Card and I heard the scanner telling her to try again too. She did, and it worked second time round for her.
I know that I loaded the card correctly on my computer the way the instructions told me to, because I got an email telling me I had and confirming the card’s balance as being the $60 the kind folk at Infratil have made a present of to the 200 of us trialling Snapper on the No 17. The very fact that the scanner tells me to try again shows it knows it is reading an activated card.
I will give the Snapper card one more try, but if it doesn’t work this time, I will probably give up on it, as I feel like a criminal when the scanner so loudly tells everyone on the the bus it has rejected my attempts to use it.
5 Comments
May 8, 2008 at 8:40 am
Those of us who travel from Johnsonville have been successfully waving our cards at card readers for quite a while now. It shouldn’t be that hard.
Recharging by giving the driver money and not being able to use the card in cafes are limitations I am willing to live with.
Snapper also has a privacy issue since they know your credit card number and everywhere you have travelled.
May 8, 2008 at 8:41 am
If the snapper is linked to some kind of computer system, will it be possible to produce a report of the actual time a bus gets to each stop?
I can’t see any particular reason to use it – the discount off cash is 20%, same as a 10-trip, waving it at the machine (even if it works) can’t be much quicker than having a 10-trip clicked. The same people who fumble around for their 10-trip will be wasting time fumbling with their snapper. And it costs $15 to buy the snapper in the first place.
[Poneke says: The Snapper cards will be replacing the 10-trip ticket from about June or so, so if you want the discount, you will have to get one. One thing about them which might save some fumbling is that you don't have to take it out of your wallet or purse -- just wave the wallet or purse at the scanner. A complicating factor is you will also have to wave it at the scanner as you get off, otherwise you will be charged the maximum fare for the route rather than for the number of zones you have actually travelled.]
May 9, 2008 at 9:59 am
I was pleasantly surprised to see a few other new things being trialled on the buses last night. I got on a nice newly refurbished no. 22 with a tv screen behind the driver alternating between showing the real time location of the bus and showing one of the views from the cameras in the bus (one looking just in front of the bus and the other looking back at the passengers).
Personally, I’m a bit suspicious of having security cameras everywhere, but these have worked successfully in Canterbury, and I have personally witnessed enough tense situations on Wellington buses to suggest that these may be worthwhile.
My real excitement however was for the real time bus location. Presumably this was achieved with a GPS on the bus. Once the majority of buses in Wellington have this it’ll be possible to provide a real time estimate of the arrival of the bus. Personally I’d be less annoyed about a bus that was 20 minutes late if I didn’t have to wait that 20 minutes in the rain.
May 10, 2008 at 9:54 am
(A bit OT) Interesting experiment with a naked Oyster card chip & aerial – Flickr video here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sutje/2454842126/
June 26, 2008 at 9:49 am
If using a snapper card I found you need to hold it very close to the reader until you get a green light, waving it at the reader dosen’t seem to have the desired effect