STOP PRESS!
Should geeks rejoice? Onboard Wellington bus Snapper terminals use Linux! Not Microsoft! NZ Bus has told me this today after commenter UK Kiwi posted on this blog that he thought he heard the Microsoft Vista jingle coming from a Snapper terminal on his Go Wellington bus:
Said UK Kiwi: My bus this morning encountered a “system error” according to the little voice, and then rebooted. I now know why they’ve had so much trouble- After a couple of minutes, I thought I heard the Windows Vista login noise!!!!!Surely not? Please tell me I’m imagining things…
NZ Bus chief executive Bruce Emson emailed me tonight to assure Wellingtonians that Snapper terminals do not use Windows.
“I note one of your readers thought he had heard a Microsoft Vista startup sound,” he said. “This is not the case. The system uses the Linux operating system.”
Perceptions of Snapper, NZ Bus and Go Wellington should go up sharply as a result of this amazing news. A New Zealand corporate (the buses and Snapper are owned by listed company Infratil) that is using Linux! Is this a first? I’m sure it’s not but it is a rarity.
The downside of this is as Anita points out on the very first comment on this article that it seems you can only register and use Snapper online with Microsoft.
Bruce Emson also replied in detail to my comments about Snapper’s introductory problems coming under the Consumer Guarantees Act.
I need to digest this all of this. At first glance I believe he is wrong when he says: “Snapper Services is responsible for the performance of that payment system and any issues experienced with Snapper cards should be taken up with Snapper Services directly. Go Wellington provides bus transport services for a fare and offers the use of the Snapper card as a means of payment for the benefit of the customer. Just as when you pay for a product using eftpos- should your eftpos fail, you will be required to complete the transaction using another form of payment. If for some reason your card fails on the bus, the customer must pay the fare in another way, by cash or some other acceptable method.”
But Snapper Services is owned by Infratil which also owns NZ Bus and Go Wellington. Snapper is compulsorily replacing the failsafe 10-trip ticket used on the buses. Traders cannot opt out of the Consumer Guarantees Act. If there are sufficient funds on the card but the Snapper terminal refuses to accept the card, or the terminal is not working, the bus driver must let the passenger on. The evidence is that some drivers are demanding that Snapper passengers pay cash in such cases.
While I am thinking about all this, I publish the full text of his email to me below.
7 Comments
August 6, 2008 at 8:00 pm
They’re using Linux on the buses but their desktop client is Microsoft only?!
Why, from such a good starting point, would you get the public facing bit so very wrong?
August 6, 2008 at 8:54 pm
It has a desktop client? What the hell?
Why wouldn’t you make something like this web-based (with a mobile interface, natch).
(Ignorant JAFA here, but am very interested in Snapper)
August 6, 2008 at 9:13 pm
“you can only register and use Snapper with Microsoft”
To clarify – you need Windows to use their USB “feeder” to add money to your card, or pay with it.
You can quite happily create an account with a one-off email address to view your balance on any browser with any common operating system, and then just “feed” it at a retailer’s premises. Which suffices for my purposes.
August 6, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Deliberately fragmenting accountability is an old trick. The intention is to make complex, time-consuming and ultimately futile.
August 7, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’m a geek and I’m not rejoicing, rather have Microsoft any day.
August 8, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I’m with Liam.
Two known facts are they are running Linux and they don’t work properly. I don’t know if those two facts are connected.
But if they were running Microsoft, you can bet that a connection would be assumed.
August 31, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Hey
Why would/does the snapper terminal not accept the card? Down here in Christchurch I have had no problem with my Metrocard.
Also your drivers must be meaner, here in Christchurch there have been a few times where my card has had no funds but the driver has still let me on (with a warning(Please Note, I’m not trying to rip people off, It’s just still me relies too heavily on the drivers to warn me when I’m get low on funds)).