EXCLUSIVE: Breaking news
Adult 10-trip tickets for Go Wellington buses will not be sold after August 29, and will not be accepted by drivers from December 1 when the new Snapper smart cards will completely replace them.
NZ Bus chief executive Bruce Emson reveals this in an email to me in response to questions I put to him about apparent problems introducing the Snapper card.
Child and senior fares will switch to Snapper in “stage two” of the change, possibly next year, along with the monthly Gold Pass.
All Go Wellington buses should be Snapper-enabled by late July or early August, he says.
Snapper is a stored value card with a clever memory chip and is like Hong Kong’s Octopus card and London’s Oyster. It was introduced as a trial in April on Route 17 Rail – University – Karori Park. Passengers swipe the card over a reader at the front door as they get on the bus, and swipe it again at readers at the back door as they get off. The value of the trip is deducted. The system uses GPS so it can tell the stop you get on and off and charge accordingly. The card is designed to be recharged with cash over the internet or at local shops. It is not just for bus travel. Snapper can be used to pay for such things as coffee, newspapers or drycleaning — any small purchase — at shops fitted with Snapper equipment.
The system was meant to go live on all Go Wellington buses last week, but instead, it ceased to operate on many Route 17 buses, whose passengers were told they needed to have cash or a 10-trip ticket instead. This has been greatly inconveniencing Route 17 passengers who had been used to using Snapper, having been provided with cards and an initial $60 top-up for the trial.
About half the city’s buses appear to have working Snapper readers. Drivers say it is much slower to issue tickets from the Snapper terminals compared with the old ticket machines, and on Saturday, a bus I was on broke down, with the driver saying the Snapper equipment had overheated it.
In his email to me, Bruce Emson says the Route 17 problem is because the drivers who had become used to Snapper on that route have been taken off it to provide peer support for other drivers getting used to the new system.
“Drivers have received comprehensive training in how to operate the new ticketing system. That said, it does require a change in behaviour from that which they have been accustomed to in the past. You will appreciate that changing the way people undertake their duties after many years of doing it a particular way involves active change management and we expect to have to provide ongoing support for a period of time until all our drivers are confident in their use of the new system.
“Ten-trip tickets will no longer be sold for Go Wellington buses from Friday August 29. Customers can continue to use their 10 trip tickets until December 1 and arrangements will be put in place to refund the unused value on these from December. Ticket agents have had brochures delivered to them to assist them to communicate with 10 trip ticket customers; these will be distributed via Snapper hosts and available on buses from the end of this week.”
He is adamant that the bus that broke down on Saturday did so because of overheating unrelated to its Snapper system: “The general manager of Go Wellington has investigated the matter and can confirm definitively that there was no linkage between the reason that the bus broke down and the new ticketing system.”
That is good to hear. The driver said the bus had overheated, but that the overheating was caused by the Snapper equipment.
I remain of the opinion that the introduction of Snapper is happening in a disorganised manner, after a trial that was meant to ensure its wider introduction happened smoothly. It is a customer relations blunder, which is a great shame.
- Footnote: Go Wellington has finally posted information on its website about the Snapper card introduction, which gives some of the dates and details posted above. It has finally (Thursday) found a mention on the MetLink website, which is where most people would look for it.
5 Comments
July 23, 2008 at 11:03 am
Lets just hope the cards are based on a better version of the technology that the London Oyster- it’s been hacked!
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/22/1242251
Next thing they need to do is raise all cash fares to a flat $5 to discourage people paying in coins, it will massively speed up the bus network if 80% of people use Snapper as in London.
July 23, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I agree the introduction is disorganized – a woman got on at my stop this morning and tried to use her snapper card, but it was a bus without working snapper readers. She told the driver ‘this is all I have’ (apparently she’d brought no cash) & he let her on anyway.
I think it’s a bad situation when people are expected to carry cash as a back-up to the snapper card just in case their bus doesn’t have it or it’s not working. I’m not willing to give up my 10-trip ticket yet at any rate.
July 24, 2008 at 9:20 am
Silly snapper card. I was so enthusiastic, but that was quickly thwarted, after only two days.
The morning bus I catch hasnt had a snapper reader – “free ride” I thought. For the first 2 rides yes, but the bus driver had me up about it today, and Ill have to pay cash next time.
Im a little frustrated, cos I can see it now – while trying to get on a bus, Ill have to figure if a bus is snapper enabled, and fish about for the correct form of payment.
I could either pay cash (and get no discount) or buy a 10 trip ticket (which will be phased out, but provide /some/ discount) and carry about two forms of payment – both cards… and I thought snapper would go some way to reducing the cards I had, and also provide better discount.
Unfortunate, considering Im doing every thing the bus company wants me to do.
At least so far, Ive reduced the up front payment of the card by $5 with my 2 free rides. Perhaps Im just not tolerant enough to be an early adopter?
Agreed – the sloppy deployment is a great shame, to something I believe will be a fantastic change.
Once we get over the bumps.
July 24, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I bought a Snapper card today and used it for a short ride home in the city zone.
Everything worked well!
Now, when can I use it on the train?
July 29, 2008 at 11:55 am
Hi there
This morning I wanted to use my spanking new Snapper card.
Only problem was, that the snapper reader was off.
I ended up paying with cash!!!!
I also ended up buying ANOTHER blue ticket (for just in case I don’t have cash!!)
So, what is the situation if you have money on your Snapper card and NO bus ticket and no cash?
Does one always have to have cash on you now?
Perhaps the blue tickets cannot be phased out