Google’s 3000% price hike

Wellington’s Metlink is crying foul after Google increased the price the public transport provider will have to pay to use Google Maps, from $1000 a month to $30,000 a month.

Spokesman Clayton Anderson said the massive price hike was not fair and Metlink had been given far too little notice of the change, which would take effect from mid-July.

The change is part of a global reset by Google affecting a wide range of businesses, including retail chains and real estate agents.

Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Hannan said it was not affected, as it used an opensource mapping service, ESRI/ Open Streetmaps.

Cost had been one of the drivers in that decision, Hannan said.

Google announced its new pricing for embedding Google Maps into software last month, but Metlink said it was only advised on Monday.

Google Maps underpins a Metlink service that lets people plan journeys on its website and see how far away buses, trains and ferries are.

Its Metlink commuter app is solely built on the Google Maps API (application programming interface).

‘‘If we had been better informed [of the new pricing scale], we would have been able to build the move to a new mapping service into our regular development programme,’’ Anderson said.

‘‘We have no advertising to generate income, so we will need to wear the cost or move to another mapping service, which also has significant costs in terms of web development.’’

Neither council rates nor fares would need to go up to cover the higher bills, Anderson said.

Instead, they would be covered within existing budgets while Metlink switched to ‘‘a different and less expensive map provider’’.

‘‘We will need to wear the cost or move to another mapping service.’’ Metlink spokesman Clayton Anderson