HOP cards prove to be not so smart

Auckland Transport’s HOP card took years to design and put into operation. It was way back in 2009, before the creation of the Super City, when transport officials gave an $87 million contract to the French conglomerate Thales to develop a transferable card for Auckland’s buses, trains and ferries. They had already spent years refusing to adopt a simple debit card already operating on Wellington buses. Auckland, they said, needed something far more sophisticated that would enable them to monitor public transport more completely.

It took another three years for the smart card to appear, by which time the transport authority had been constituted as a stand-alone agency under the Auckland Council. Its “AT HOP” card was launched with much fanfare and by this time last year nearly a million had been issued, about three times as many as expected. Clearly, cards were being bought by many more people than regular commuters on public transport. Many of those people may be surprised now to learn their payments expire if not activated within two months.

What sort of “smart card” is this? AT wanted to assure the cardholders they can call the agency and have their money reinstated, which seems ridiculous with today’s technology.

AT lamely explains that when someone puts cash on their card, the card has to be tagged on for a ride before the amount is loaded on the card. This must be done within 60 days, otherwise the money just lies in AT’s coffers until (unless) it is reclaimed. In the year to April, $342,000 of fares expired, some of which were reactivated for people who must have discovered their cards not working when they knew they were in credit.

But how many would not remember putting money on their card more than 60 days previously? Some cardholders must be very occasional users of public transport, keeping a card just for emergencies. The system should be able to accommodate them.

The 60-day limit has been set so the system does not get overloaded with cards waiting to have their balance updated. If the tagging machines on trains and buses had to search a larger database each time a card was presented, the tagging system would slow down, AT explains. It sounds very primitive by today’s standards.

Do modern metropolitan transport cards overseas suffer this sort of limitation? As one frustrated HOP card holder told us yesterday: “I have transport cards for London, Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore and I can use these cards when I am in the country with no fear it won’t work, even months or years later.”

Database technology seems boundless today, and fast. Auckland ratepayers have staked a lot on the transfer card that is supposed to be the linchpin of an integrated public transport system. It is the key to the whole plan for people to catch buses to railways stations or ferry wharves and be prepared to change vehicles at least once.

When possible users hear the card effectively has a 60-day expiry they are less likely to carry one, and the credibility of Auckland’s public transport takes another blow. AT needs to tell its card supplier to do better.