Photo: SUPPLIED / GWRC
Wellingtonians will soon be able to tag onto public transport with their phones and debit cards.
Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Daran Ponter told RNZ Wellingtonians were "sick of waiting", and contactless payment on buses and trains will roll out in the first half of next year.
The $1.4 billion National Ticketing Solution (NTS) was first signed off more than 16 years ago, and would allow people to pay for buses, ferries and trains with debit cards and digital payments across the country.
It was recently rolled out in Christchurch.
But the national project was recently delayed, with Wellington's launch date pushed out from the end of next year to the end of 2027.
Now, the regional council has told RNZ it will roll out contactless payments itself in the first half of next year, at a cost of $5.5 million.
Regional council chair Daran Ponter said the NTS had been a long time coming.
"But Wellingtonians, people in the Wellington region, have been waiting a long time themselves, years if not decades and we have got to a point where we feel it is justified to make this investment."
Contactless payment on buses and trains will roll out in the first half of next year, the regional council chair says. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
There was not an easy answer to why it had taken so long to get a system like this for the capital, Ponter said.
"We still support the next ticketing system but Wellingtonians are sick of waiting and I quite frankly am sick of telling them to wait. We've been at this now for more than 20 years talking about integrated fare ticketing in the Wellington region."
He noted the NTS would go further than what they were doing.
"That will then allow us to give the full benefits of integrated ticketing like fare capping, changing fares for particular times of the day."
Ponter said the Snapper replacement would be on buses and trains before March 30.
He told Midday Report the NTS would allow full integrated ticketing.
"That means that you can get on in Upper Hutt come to Wellington station and then get on the bus and go to the hospital and it treats it all as one journey.
"That still will not be possible with the credit card system in March."
Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai told RNZ their contract with the regional council would wrap up at the end of 2027 - but until then, their card readers and technology would remain in place, and accept card payments as well as Snapper.
"The same readers are going to remain in place, and the experience for the card holder will basically be the same, apart from the fact they'll be able to use their contactless payment card, or their phone, or their watch, for adult fares."
Their card readers were set to reach the end of their lives around that time - which coincided with the predicted roll out date for the NTS.
"Our devices have got about a 10-year useful life. These ones were rolled out in 2017."
Snapper as a company did more than provide Wellington's fare services, Szikszai explained.
Under the name Mosaiq, they provided transport analytics for a number of authorities around the world.
They also provided the mobile reload service (similar to the Snapper reload app) for Ireland's public transport card, Leap.
Come the end of their contract with Greater Wellington, these other lines of business would continue.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop told RNZ it was up to Greater Wellington Regional Council if they wanted to "spend millions" on an interim contactless payment system before the NTS arrived.
A regional council spokesperson said it would help encourage uptake of credit and debit card usage ahead of the full NTS functionality in 2027.
NZTA has been approached for comment.
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