HOP Answers

Last week I posed a few questions about how the HOP card would work – and in particular how it will integrate with the Snapper card system that it seems HOP will start off using. The reason I posed the questions was simply because I found the whole HOP launch very confusing and frustratingly lacking in detail about how it would work. Today’s NZ Herald notes that quite a lot of people have been confused by the launch:

Auckland’s first step towards a single electronic smartcard for buses, trains and ferries has been mired in confusion…

…many people have been bamboozled by the dual identities of the smartcard, which has been marketed as both a Hop card and a Snapper card.

Auckland Transport, a council agency which is overseeing the introduction of the integrated ticketing, stress they are two brands represented in one card.

Spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said Hop is the larger scheme, run by contractor Thales, and Snapper is the first card on the market for public transport company NZ Buses.

Undoubtedly the issue is a complex one, but I do think that overall Auckland Transport have done a pretty poor job in explaining – in a clear and up front way – about how the system is going to work, what Snapper’s role it, what Thales’ role is, where the money will go, how the system will evolve over the next year and a half to full roll-out by the end of 2012 and so forth. I’ve been trying to get straight answers to many of the questions I raised last week for many months now – to little avail.

However, fortunately it would seem as though – perhaps prompted by confusion on this blog and others – they needed to do a better job of explaining how the system will actually work and giving us a few straight answers for once. Sharon Hunter left a few blog comments and I’ve had quite a large number of emails back and forth with her – with the answers sometimes clarifying things and sometimes confusing things.

Drawing on what I’ve learned in the past week or so, from various sources – I thought that I would try to answer the questions I set out last week. If I’m fully honest I don’t know if these answer are 100% correct, because once again Auckland Transport continues to struggle to actually give straight up answers. But let’s give it a go:

• Once Thales have their machines up and operating on the rail and ferry network, will I be able to use the card I got on Monday night to pay for a train or ferry fare?

This remains a bit uncertain. A person I talked to last week had got information from Thales suggesting that software within the card I got last week could be switched from operating on the Snapper system to operating on the “real” integrated ticketing system. However, conversations with Auckland Transport seem to suggest that we may need to “swap out” the HOP/Snapper cards that will be rolled out over the next few months for “real” HOP cards later in the year – if we want those cards to be able to operate on the train and on other bus companies.

Personally, I think it would be a disaster if we need to once again change cards. I can imagine the hordes of people saying “hey, but I already have a HOP card, why can’t I use it on the train – I thought this was meant to be integrated ticketing!” I’m going to keep following this particular issue up with Auckland Transport, but let’s hope the Thales guy was right.

• Will we effectively have two ticketing systems operating ‘side-by-side’, that just happen to be interchangeable, or will we have one core system that handles all the transactions (operated by NZTA presumably), but a variety of cards and machines that can access that system?

Brian Rudman’s article earlier this week suggested that once the HOP “system” (which seems to often be referred to as the clearing house) is up and running, we will only have one system – not two. Rudman said:

While Infratil has stolen the early running, Auckland Transport is confident it will win the endgame.

Once the Thales system is up and running this year, the game will be played by Auckland Transport’s rules. That’s when a zonal system comes into being covering all modes of public transport, and users will be able to switch from train to bus to ferry and have the combo fare calculated and deducted instantly from their Hop card. At that stage the all-important float – the prepaid fares for the coming month – will be in the hands of Auckland Transport, not Snapper, the interest from this substantial pot of money helping to fund the whole operation.

Just as important, information about each travel transaction will be transmitted back to the Auckland Transport clearing house, not to Snapper, for the purposes of reconciliation, transaction processing, reporting and apportionment.

Once this happens, it would seem that Snapper becomes little more than a “device” and a “reader” in terms of the role it plays in Auckland’s PT system. I’m not quite sure how this fits in with Snapper’s desire have their cards used for retail purchases and the like – I guess that will have to be separate from the core public transport system.

All in all, I was very comforted by what Rudman had to say on this particular issue. There will be one system, one clearing house, that system will NOT be operated by Snapper, but rather by Thales – on behalf of Auckland Transport and NZTA (as it can potentially be extended nationwide in the future).

• When will the other bus companies in Auckland (Ritchies, Howick and Eastern, Birkenhead Transport and Urban Express) start accepting the HOP card? Will they accept the purple card I got on Monday night, and will all the same fare options be available to me?

It would seem that the target date for a full rollout of the system is the end of 2012, but with the train system likely to come on earlier than that. Auckland Transport seem to have a desire to change the fare system to a fully zonal based one in the longer term, but (understandably) are a bit worried about dramatically changing the fare system at the same time as they change the ticketing system. Nevertheless, there will be some simplification: (ten-trips, e-Money while monthly passes will be separate).

Nobody yet knows the actual timeframe throughout next year for all the other bus companies to come online, or for that matter when the ferries will also start using the new system. In terms of the second part of my question, whether the other companies will accept the card I got last week, that seems to depend on whether that particular card can be switched over from one that uses the Snapper “clearing house” to one that uses the HOP “clearing house”. If so, then the same piece of plastic will be able to be accepted on other buses and trains (eventually). If not, then we have to go through the tedium of changing cards over yet again.

• Will we be shifting to a zone based fares system? If so, when will this happen and will the HOP card (including the one I got on Monday) be able to technically handle significant changes to the fare system in the future?

Once again, Rudman’s article suggested that Auckland Transport will be shifting to a zone based fare system, but as I noted above they are reticent to combine a major change to the fare system with the major change to the ticketing system – to not confuse everyone (sorry Auckland Transport, we’re already confused).

In answer to the second part, once again this depends on whether we need to physically exchange the Snapper/HOP cards that people are starting to get for the “real HOP” cards later on, or whether the software can simply be switched over to run on the new system. I guess the readers will need to be hooked into one system or another, so that transition may be quite challenging – whether it’s simply a software change or a full card swap.

Unfortunately we have no real clues from Auckland about when zonal fares might become a reality, but one would assume that is post 2012 – once the ticketing system has been fully rolled out.

• When will a monthly pass option be available for use with the HOP card?

Nobody’s really answered this question yet, but I imagine it will probably happen when the “real” HOP card turns up later this year.

• Will I be able to top up the balance of my HOP card online without having to buy a stupid USB dongle thing – like one needs to top up their Snapper Card? With the London Oyster Card one can simply top up their Oyster account from the internet.

One would imagine that this depends on the capabilities of the “real” HOP card, to be released later this year. My understanding is that the software on that card (which may be able to also end up on the piece of plastic currently sitting in my wallet) is much more advanced than what Snapper use – so therefore has the ability to do things like auto top-ups like we see with the London Oyster Card.

• Will the system, and the current cards, ensure we pay the best fare – by using features such as ‘fare capping’ at a daily rate?

It seems that fare capping is not included in the initial roll-out, but once again could be incorporated once the ‘proper’ card is up and running. Let’s hope so.

And the main question:

• Why are all the parties being so incredibly opaque about this whole process? Why is it so hard for them to simply tell us what’s going on?

I’m still yet to figure this one out. Maybe Auckland Transport can shed some light on this?

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