Snapper coming soon to capital’s train tracks
Snapper cards will be accepted on Wellington’s trains from October this year, ending more than a century of paper tickets.
Metlink had originally hoped the longawaited trial of contactless payment cards would launch in the first quarter of 2021, but revealed the new timeline in a report to the Greater Wellington Regional Council this week.
The Snapper pilot will begin in October on the Johnsonville Rail Line, subject to the final completion of commercial negotiations.
The trial is seen as a transition towards the National Ticketing Solution, a plan being overseen by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to develop a single national payment card that can be used on any public transport in the country.
Metlink said it had not been given a firm timeline for the roll-out of the new card, but was working on the assumption it would be launched towards the end of 2022.
Since its launch in 2008, Snapper cards have been used for the overwhelming majority of bus trips in the capital. A survey in 2020 found 83 per cent of all public transport trips in the region used Snapper, with just 5 per cent paying cash. The remainder were mostly free fares for SuperGold card holders and children under five.
Wellington was originally meant to add card payments to trains in 2015, under a Waka Kotahi plan to expand Auckland’s AT HOP card to the capital.
But Greater Wellington Regional Council raised concerns that the top-up technology was already outdated.
The current national ticketing plan is for an ‘‘open loop’’ concept that will be linked to an account, rather than a physical card. It will let commuters pay via contactless credit/debit cards, a mobile app linked to a bank account or with a traditional card.