Source: Radio New Zealand
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. 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.”
He could not yet say what month the new technology would be rolled out.
NZTA and Snapper have been approached for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
