Without wanting to get too snappy over Snapper, I have found another flaw. The system it uses can deduct more than it should when you use the card to pay for your bus fare.
Having successfully got my Snapper card to work with the scanners on the Route 17 bus this week, I went online to the Snapper website to check my balance, just out of interest really (as Go Wellington had gifted me and all 200 trialists $60 on the cards they gave us). You can check your balance like you can check your bank account online.
And what I found was it had charged me $2.80 for one three-zone trip (correct) but $4.40 for the next one. Very naughty.
This of course is why Go Wellington is trialling Snapper on the 17, to discover issues like this and fix them. I like our bus company.
9 Comments
May 22, 2008 at 9:03 pm
By the looks of it, Snappers should be able to be programmed to recognise the best value fare for its owners. For example, if one takes an off-peak return trip across the city, does it charge only $5 Daytripper, or the full whack? If not, why? If SuperGolders will get it for free, the least the non-crockery should get is the best deal going.
May 22, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Snappers should be able to be programmed to recognise the best value fare for its owners. For example, if one takes an off-peak return trip across the city, does it charge only $5 Daytripper, or the full whack? If not, why?
It is smart enough to do all this and more, as long as it is programmed to do so.
Ditto it should be able to recognise $95 as the cost of a monthly Gold Pass and stop charging when it gets to that.
I hope it will be used thus.
May 22, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Hi Poneke – don’t you have a car you can use? I have used my car nearly every day for years and I have never had to mess around with a Snapper card. Just a thought
May 23, 2008 at 10:06 am
I had some embarrassing moments as well then I watched someone get on the bus and place the fish to the fish and hold it there and it worked so I just copied what she had done and it worked. I also looked at my account and noticed that the charges were not consistent so I called the call centre and they looked at my transactions. They said that they could see that I had not tagged off the bus a few times and that is why I was being charged more. They also told me that the system will charge you the fill next time you travel then add your new fare. Just need to remember to tag off the bus so that you don’t get that penalty charge.
June 15, 2008 at 10:46 am
This is a late revival to this post. I was just looking at the snapper website again and saw something quite discouraging:
“Feeding costs
When you feed your Snapper it will cost you 25 cents. But wil be free until October 1, 2008.
When you feed your Snapper online from your credit card a 2% transaction fee applies, but it will be FREE to feed, until October 1, 2008.”
It doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but this is a negative side to the mandatory use of snapper. Given that there is a cost to add money to the card, I’d expect that people will attempt to minimise those costs: put more money on at a time. However, if the card is lost, it’s lost for good; anybody finding it could use the money on it as if it were there own. Costs are up *and* risks are up. I’d call this a lose-lose situation. Except for Infratil.
All told, I’m glad that I use a Platinum Pass. It’s not disappearing just yet and I don’t have to worry about the transaction costs, possible overcharging if it doesn’t tag me off, or getting stuck if it doesn’t tag me on. It’s not that I’m against the technology, but I think the user side of the equation is slightly under-engineered.
June 15, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I’d like some assurances about how they will safeguard data on your movements.
June 15, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Ditto Stephen.
Greg said,
This is another reason why they’d probably like you to register the card in your name instead of using it anonymously, and for you to pay by a credit card, or bank transfer (if that’s available) – so the card can be returned to you/cancelled if lost or stolen. But then having the card ‘tied’ to you exacerbates the risk that Stephen and I are more concerned about – the tracking of individuals’ movements. (The security services and police in London are apparently pushing for live ‘real-time’ access to passenger movement data.)
June 16, 2008 at 10:49 am
For anybody interested, I am willing to purchase a snapper card by the end of this week for the price of whatever money is left on it. If anybody is interested please contact me on 021 338 942
July 17, 2008 at 12:04 pm
@Stephen and Andrew, if you aren’t doing anything spurious, you have nothing to fear.