Ticketing project over time, budget

AN improved national bus ticketing system project led by the Otago Regional Council has been delayed by two years and come in $3.5 million over budget.

The new Regional Integrated Ticketing System was due to be introduced to nine regions in mid2018.

However, an ‘‘overambitious project timeline’’ for designing and testing the system has meant the project was unlikely to be in place across the nine regions until April 2020.

The project is a collaboration between Otago, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, ManawatuWhanganui, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Northland, Nelson, and Invercargill councils which have been working to create a single ticketing system.

Otago Regional Council corporate services general manager Nick Donnelly said it was the lead council on the project, meaning it was ‘‘hosting the implementation team on behalf of the consortium’’.

The head offices for the project are in Dunedin.

The original cost was estimated at $11.1 million, but this is now expected to reach $14.6 million.

Costs have risen in each region, including a rise from $976,273 to $1.227 million in Otago.

This cost does not include the NZ Transport Agency contribution, which is funding 65% of the project.

Mr Donnelly said this was because the original project timeframe was ambitious.

‘‘The original budget was estimated in 2016 and increases to this relate to an increase in networks, bus numbers and configuration changes required over this time.

This was ‘‘along with implementation costs which include additional scoping and testing that wasn’t envisaged at the time the original budget was set’’.

Project governance group chairman Mike Garrett said $1.5 million of the increase was due to a rise in supplier costs, more buses being added to the networks and configuration changes required over this time.

The remaining $2 million overspend relates to implementation including additional scoping and testing.

The new system was aimed at making bus travel easier for customers as they would be able to top up cards online and it would enable faster boarding and exiting, Garrett said.

It would also allow the councils involved to have improved financial management and give ‘‘rich data’’ on customer journeys for use in network planning.

An NZ Transport Agency spokesman said it had worked closely with the councils to ensure the new system made it easy for people to pay for public transport.