One card for all bus travel in the Wellington region

By early 2018 bus customers will be able to use one card for any Metlink bus service throughout the Wellington region, making bus travel easier, smarter and better.

"Greater Wellington Regional Council is in negotiations with Wellington company Snapper Services Ltd to provide a common electronic ticketing system on all regional bus services. The system would be introduced through new partnering contracts for bus services, that will begin to take effect from early 2018," says Chris Laidlaw, Chair of the Council.

"For customers, this will mean that wherever you choose to travel by bus in the region, whether it's from Johnsonville to Island Bay or anywhere within Wairarapa, you'll use the same card.

"One of the key factors in our decision to negotiate with Snapper was the ease of the transition to a single system for customers, due to Snapper already having high coverage in the region. Snapper is used for about 70 percent of bus journeys, people are familiar with it and find it easy to use.

"Having just one card for all bus travel will be a huge improvement. It will make it more convenient and easier for people to transfer between various services to get where they need to go."

Mr Laidlaw says the final outcome is of course subject to the finalisation of commercial negotiations which he hopes will be in a few weeks' time.

The new bus electronic ticketing system is an interim solution for the bus network only, he says. "The Regional Council is committed to introducing a fully integrated electronic ticketing and fares system for the entire Metlink public transport network of trains, buses and harbour ferries. And we are working with the National Ticketing Programme (a group of Regional Councils and the NZ Transport Agency) on a national road map for a ticketing system."

For media comment, call 021 914 266