At an announcement today, Auckland Transport have said that the AT HOP card will be start going live on buses in June with Urban Express buses the first to go live.
AT HOP roll-out planned for buses in June
Following its introduction on trains and ferries at the end of 2012, the AT HOP card has now completed testing on buses. Testing commenced in April, ahead of the planned, public rollout to all Auckland bus services from June this year.
Auckland Transport’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Edmonds says, “This final stage of the roll-out of AT HOP is the largest piece of one of the most transformational transport projects in the city. Auckland has 1100 buses in its fleet and carries 80% of public transport users which equates to 54 million passenger journeys a year. This means the roll-out is significant and must be handled carefully”.
Mr Edmonds says that in order to manage the scale of the roll-out Auckland Transport will be phasing the introduction of AT HOP on buses to ensure the smoothest transition possible for customers.
The roll-out is planned to start with Urban Express bus services in June. Birkenhead Transport, NorthStar, Ritchies, Northern Express, Metrolink, Go West and Waka Pacific are planned to follow through to November.
Howick & Eastern, Bayes, Fullers Waiheke Bus Company, the Airporter and Airbus are planned in the final phase to the end of the year.
”As each bus service begins its roll-out we will be providing more detailed information to customers.” Mr Edmonds says.
“The AT HOP card will bring Auckland in line with many other international cities by providing an integrated public transport ticketing system”.
The AT HOP card can be topped up online, at an Auckland Transport Ticket & Top Up machine or in person at a ticket office. Purchasing an AT HOP card may save up to 10% off single trip cash fares (excluding the NiteRider bus service). An AT HOP card also allows free unlimited access to ride on the City LINK bus service.
Registering an AT HOP card online helps to protect your card from unauthorised use should it be lost or stolen, while also helping to protect the balance stored on the card within 24 hours from the time it is reported missing. Cards can be registered online at ATHOP.co.nz.
Terms of use and the registered prospectus for the AT HOP cards and other information regarding the AT HOP cards are available on ATHOP.co.nz or at the Auckland Transport Customer Service Centre, Britomart. The obligations of Auckland Transport under the AT HOP cards are unsecured.
Based on what we saw when the Snapper HOP card rolled out and when the system went live on the trains, there are obviously going to be a lot of communications to go out and that process will start next week. They also said that ticket machines would be going in at Northern Busway stations and that they would be rolling out a network of at least 55 locations where people can purchase and top up their cards if people don’t want to use the online facility. I will post a map once AT are able to provide it.
The process for changing over to HOP sounds like it will be very similar to what happened when NZ Bus launched the Snapper Hop card. There will be free HOP cards for those with existing operator specific cards and the balance will be able to transferred to the HOP card however it will be easiest if the cards are run down as much as possible. If you have a Snapper card and want to keep it for micro transactions then you can do so. There will also be plenty of ambassadors at bus stops to help out too.
It is expected that all bus companies will be operating using HOP by the end of the year and in 2014 Auckland Transport will start the processes needed to move to integrated fares.
Many readers have already noticed that the HOP readers are starting to be installed on buses and quite a few of you have sent in photos of them. Here is one example from Andrew.
What was also interesting and extremely positive, was to see the NZTA at the announcement too supporting the need for integrated ticketing. They have also issued a press release regarding it.
Auckland’s HOP card extension good news for NZ says NZTA
The NZ Transport Agency says the rollout of new electronic ticket readers on Auckland buses will also be good news for people using public transport well beyond the boundaries of New Zealand’s largest city.
“Auckland, because of its size, is the foundation of this extended electronic fare-paying system. We’re confident that this is a well designed system for the city that can be easily modified and adapted for use in other centres,” says the NZTA’s Group Manager for Planning and Investment, Dave Brash.
The installation of the ticket readers on buses from next month means Aucklanders will need only use their HOP smartcards once to pay for a multi-mode trip on all public transport services – ferries, trains and now buses.
The NZTA has partnered with Auckland Transport and its predecessor, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, since 2005 to develop the city’s integrated ticketing programme, with an estimated funding contribution of $59.5m and the development of a parallel national ticketing programme, including the development of a national ticketing standard which enables integration with ticketing equipment and transport service providers in other centres.
Earlier this month, the NZTA awarded its first national ticketing standards compliance certificate to Thales New Zealand after the successful certification of the company’s new ticketing devices for Auckland’s buses. Mr Brash says NZTA investment in the development and implementation of the Auckland Integrated Fare System (AIFS) to create national ticketing standards delivers several benefits for public transport users all across the country.
”The central processing system developed for Auckland can be re-used by other regional councils as part of a national framework. As regions upgrade their ticketing systems, they will be able to purchase equipment which complies with the national standards and plug into the central processing system, ensuring that they will enjoy the benefits of a shared national systems approach, rather than having to pay a premium to develop separate ticketing systems.”
Mr Brash says the national standard could eventually mean people being able to use the same smart card in more than one centre, and the information about travel patterns in different cities collected by the NZTA’s central processing system would also provide a wealth of data that can be used to make better informed public transport decisions.
“Cities around the world with effective integrated ticketing systems have seen strong growth in public transport patronage, a better return on new public transport investments, and better road transport efficiency.
“We are aiming to achieve the same results here in New Zealand. Our growing cities mean more people rely on easy to use, effective public transport to get around. A key feature of successful public transport networks around the world is an integrated ticketing system that allows people to transfer easily between bus, train, ferry on a single ticket, making public transport a more attractive option.”
It’s good to finally have some solid information about this. There were lots of questions asked about the project so if you want to know something, ask and I will try and answer.
Processing...
the issue is not so much changing over all the buses, but getting everyone onto AT HOP cards. They really need to send out free cards to everyone who has a Purple HOP. Just swapping them will be messy, as people may use HOP on both Metrolink and Northstar for example, however those brands will be switching at different times. Of course to make things more confusing NZ Bus are retiring those brands, couldnt they have waited a few months more!
Also if there ticket machines going in at busway stations then hopefully NEX can move to a pre-pay only system soon. I wonder if the machines are able issue tickets that can be scanned by a barcode. Would need to add scanner in place of driver ticket machines.
Even better is what happens in Seoul. For single journeys you get simple card from the machines, which you pay a refundable deposit of $1 or $2 for. This card can be scanned on the same machines as the T-money card (HOP type), however when you leave the station you put it in a box, and it spits out your deposit again.
If you have a purple Hop and you register it online you can get a free AT HOP posted to you:
http://athop.uq.co.nz/entitlementform
Singapore do the same as Seoul. Its a practical system. Food for thought for Auckland thus.
There’s also the option of having barcodes on the tickets, and scanners on the HOP gates. No expensive card, no need for a human inspector to check every ticket.
Far too many questions:
1. Will you finally be able to buy a HOP card online?
2. Can you transfer the balance from any card, or just the one you use to get a free HOP? Or from a Snapper card that’s not “Hop” branded?
2a. If no, can I just get the balance back in cash?
2b. If yes, can I get the balance transferred online, or by post? Or just at Britomart?
3. Will both the old smartcards and AT HOP run simultaneously for a bit, or will there be one big changeover?
4. When will those 55 locations be up and running – on day 1 of the Urban Express rollout, or later?
5. Are some of those 55 locations going to be train stations, since there are currently only 4 places you can buy a card to use on the train?
I can only really answer number 3. It will be like when snapper hop rolled out, they will change an operator all on one day so one Sunday the buses for that operator will still issue tickets as they do currently. The next day they will be using HOP
Hopefully this will spur Greater Wellington into action and getting some joined up ticketing going south of the Bombays.
All we need now is to tie in with Air NZ and you can use one card for all our transport needs
Yep I asked the NZTA about that one. They said they were talking to all of the regions about it but it was ultimately up to them. Wellington is likely to be the next cab off the rank and GWRC have already had staff visit Auckland to see how things are going so they can learn from it. Said that Wellington was only just at the start of the process however. They haven’t assigned any budget towards it and still need to do things like a business case.
Wellington buses, trains, and others have an integrated payment card for more than 5 years. It’s Auckland that’s using an incompatible system
Opps, Snapper never got the trains online!
yeah. Snapper never got on to any bus services run by companies not wholly or partly owned by Infratil (who own Snapper).
Mana Coach Services is partly owned (25%) by Infratil, yet they never got Snapper…
^So……..?
Are you talking about Snapper? that only applies to some buses and not the train network.
BTW we seem to have two different people using the name Pete, can you guys please differentiate yourselves.
I left Wellington over a year ago, but last I knew, Snapper was not available on trains (or ferries, I think) and only available on a fraction of the buses. It’s also not an integrated card, since Wellington doesn’t have an integrated fare system. There are a few specific transfers allowed, and Snapper supports those. You can also use Snapper for monthly operator-specific passes. But the day passes and multi-operator passes are cash-only, and despite Wellington having a so-called “zone” system, it functions identically to stages. Board another bus, and you pay a second fare.
I’ll differentiate! I was the 1st pete posting in this thread and will post with an extra letter from now on
“All we need now is to tie in with Air NZ and you can use one card for all our transport needs”
Tag on in Auckland, tag off at Heathrow?
Is the penalty fare still $20?
No AT Hop on Link buses other than the City Link? The only current service that provides anything like integrated travel: oversight or short sighted?
I’d think they’d be done at the same time as the other NZ Bus brands in November.
Good to see this is at last happening – it was promised to be in place by April 2013 , but then we have been all waiting years for integrated ticketing lets not gripe about a few months … as along as all the providers come on board ( inc Howick & Eastern who my gut tells me are dragging their feet) …
Be interesting to see where all the top-up locations are when announced – Snapper are crazy plenty around city centre then …. well not much – I have to travel away from my daily route to find a location to top-up my card… the disparity can be seen my this handy little webby :http://hopster.co.nz/#home
Currently you can top up the Snapper HOP card at a whole bunch of dairies and convenience stores around town. Does anyone know if that will be the case with the AT Hop Card? (As you might guess, that’s my usual route for topping up my “SNOP” card).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY
Just set up online auto top up with your Hop Card. Never think about it again.
Until something happens to the credit card you used to do that (in my case it was cancelled by the bank after that picked up a few dodgy transactions on it) and your card is cancelled never to work again, and you get to pay for a new one and wait in hope that your balance on your old card is returned to you at some point.
Why not mail out a hop card to everyone on the electoral roll in Auckland, Cards could be given out at High schools to those not old enough to vote. The card could come with perhaps $5 credit. Great marketing tool.
Great stuff. Finally. Two great announcements this week from AT. Keep the information coming.
Great to see progress being made. When l return back to NZ hopefully it will plain sailing in Auckland.
Just a shame we have National Party Government forcefully blocking Auckland’s next major public transport project.
Not so!
The service that offers fully integrated service is Fullers Waiheke Ferry.
Buy a Waiheke monthly pass and you can travel on Waiheke buses, the ferry to Auckland (and Devonport on some sailings) NZ Bus and H&E buses. Also the Waiheke Bus/Ferry is the most integrated of all the travel in Auckland ie the bus meets the ferry in both directions.
All this for the sum of $350.00 per month unsubsidised.
Not quite 😛
There is also the Day and Monthly Discovery Passes, valid for all Auckland buses and trains (within a geographical boundary – not Waiheke, not past Papakura). And the Northern Passes.
So how will the Northern Pass work? Unlimited travel within certain boundaries for a specified timeframe. How does the AT Hop handle that?
It doesn’t yet, but it could in the future.
Also have heaps of additional questions – starting with can cash fares still be paid on buses ? They can at the moment
with the snapper card as (after failing to tag off properly a couple of times due to lining up myself pram bags kid etc wrong)
I pay cash fares as it works out cheaper for me ……..And will monthly passes still be purchasable ? These currently have no relation to the snapper
card and no need for tag on/off – most of the people I bus with use the monthly card – its slightly more economical – and I was just about to start
using it as I am going to increase from 4 to 5 days a week so the numbers now stack up to buy one.
Lots more questions – some covered above but will love to know more……
Yes you will still be able to pay with cash and yes monthly products should be on the card from day one.
I just hope that in this new era, somehow a daily fare cap comes into play at the current Discovery Day pass of $16.00. Or else all the operators are ripping us off. I have to still get a discovery pass from a bus driver before getting on a train. I actually dont need to get onto a bus until reaching Britomart! Its all a bit silly really.
pity 90% of ferry riders still get their tickets clipped because there are no 10 ride concessions on hop yet
The Hop card is NOT ready for wider distribution. I am new to the card and signed on last week for use on trains.
When I log onto the Athop site and then click t login it’s intermittent whether I get on or not. This is a problem reported as early as November last year in posts. The computer pops up an error and says “Sorry, a processing error occurred while processing your request. Execption thrown at sessin creation. XERR2001 *This site has been designed to be viewed with Internet Explorer 8.0+”
1/ Really? So Safari, Chrome, Firefox are hit and miss. That is too funny. They need new web guys.
2/ Yes it does read “Execption”
3/ So I’m at Britomart buying this ATHop card. I’m directed to a counter by train staff. I cue. I get to the front. The guy asks what I want and I let him know I want a Hop card. He sells me one. I go down to the train platform to catch the train. My card doesn’t work. (Yes I put $20 on it). So i go back up to the office and say I just tried to catch the train and it doesn’t work. The guy who served me says
Satff – “that’s a Hop card for buses”.
Me – I want to catch a train
Staff – then you need a AT Hop card
Me – What??
Staff – they’re different cards. A Hop card is for buses and an AT Hop card is for trains.
Me – Are you #@$% kidding me?
Staff – No. You need the other card.
Me – why didn’t you tell me that?
Staff – you asked for the Hop card sir.
Me – Okay can we change this for the other card please.
Staff – I’m sorry I can’t do that. If you want to change the you have to write in….
Edit lets leave out the process of getting all the details to get my money back
Me – okay lets get the AT Hop card now
Staff – gets card out, writes numbers down, takes details, okay that will be $30 with the top up.
Me – hands over cash
Staff – I’m sorry we don’t take cash. Do you have eftpos or credit card
Me – no, my wife has them and rather than wait and do this she’s gone shopping and to get a coffee. I only have cash.
Staff – I’m sorry we don’t take cash. You have to go to our office on the other side of the over there and get the card from them.
@#$%
If you can’t take cash why the hell don’t you state that with a sign, or ask people how they are paying up front.
Customer service is poor with this lot.
The stories would make great comedy skits though.
Personally if you want more people to use trains and buses
– lower the fares
– arrive on time
My first trial run on the trains and buses to see if they can be used.
I caught my first train at Orakei. 10 minute walk to station. Train due to arrive at 11am. I get there the sign says the train will arrive at 11.23am. Why ca’t the website auto update. I ring the hep number and the staff say no th train is arriving 11am according to our info. So I stay. Bugger me. the train arrives at 11.29. A full 29 minutes late.
I then train to Newmarket. Train left on time. I then bus to Remuera. From memory it’s meant to arrive at 11.42. The sign says the bus will arrive at 11.45. it doesn’t arrive and disappears from board. It then arrives at 12.06. A full 24 minutes late having left Britomart to Newmarket.
So in that short trip close on 1 hour of late travel. The system isa @#$%^.
My personal view is trains and buses are too unreliable. The funny thing is I fly into Wellington to work and I can use a Snapper card and everything arrives close to on time. It’s easy, it’s reliable, and it’s much cheaper than Auckland.
Until Auckland fixes timing, price and ease then it’s just easier to jump in a car.
Tell me how trains can arrive 29 minutes late on a fixed line with know stop times and travel times. It seems that time is not a factor that is valued by train drivers, staff and operators.
DesS – Yes that is what happens when you neglect a PT system for 60 years and then try and fix it in 10 years.
Your frustration is merited. Be patient and the electric trains will come on, the Hop card will fade away and the ATHOP will be the only one. Then maybe the CRL will be built and we will have a real system in Auckland.
Also, as Gerry Brownlee has made quite clear, if you want decent PT in Auckland it is just not an option to vote for National. They have made it clear that they are the roads party. It also appears Len Brown is the only Mayoral candidate who is pro-PT. I hate to make things political but he choice has been made clear by the National government – a vote for them is against PT and pro-roads.
Here are the planned timings for when AT HOP is coming to your bus service.
http://www.athop.co.nz/help/bus-roll-out/Pages/default.aspx
It is now the 10th June and I need to use the bus to get to work this week, while the bike is in the shop.
I have $20 on my AT Hop card (thanks to me using it for ferry trips when cycling from Devonport to the city), and yet arriving at Smales Farm to take the NEX into the city, I find that despite the Hop card reader being on the bus and powered up, I can’t use it until ‘sometime later this month’. At least I know enough to not to even attempt to use my (AT) Hop card on most buses advertising that they accept (My)Hop cards..
OK, so approach 2 people behind the counter (how much does that cost ratepayers compared to the cost of ticket vending machine?) and it turns out they can’t sell me anything other than a day pass. Not what is required to commute into the city and back for the week. Only solution turns out to be cash – from an ATM that charges $2 for dishing out a $20. Then I get dirty looks from the bus driver (quite rightly) when I hand over a $20 note for the $4.50 trip.
Seems since I was a regular commuter using a Ritches contactless smartcard, things have got worse, not better.
I work in IT, have have been part of some big roll-outs of upgraded/new systems. The integrated ticketing system still strikes me as something that should have been working years ago, at far less cost to the ratepayers.
It cannot be that hard to have it working better than this. We deserve better.
Yes. And I rang to ask why the online access is intermittent through my Safari browser. They pop a message when connection doesn’t work that says that the system is designed for Internet Explorer 8+. So I rang the AT help line and got a call back.
AT Help – “I’m sorry the system is designed to work on IE8+ and if you use any other browser then access cannot be guaranteed. We suggest you find another computer to access the site.”
Me – Really. Ever other web developer worldwide makes web pages work with IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.
AT Help – “Yes we will do the others but we won’t sort that out until such time as the system is working fully, then they’ll sort out it working properly on the other browsers.”
Me – “You’re kidding. This is appalling. I can’t be guaranteed to be able to top up online till some time way out in the future when the whole system is sorted in god knows how long.”
So I rang 4 friends. They had Chrome, Chrome, Safari and Firefox. So my choices are keep going till I find a friend with Microsofts browser that I understand is less then 50% of the market and if you remove corporates even lower than that. Or go into a AT office. Given I don’t live in town it means I have to do this in the burbs.
If they can’t gaurantee access from major browsers how the heck will we go accessing through mobile.
THE SYSTEM IS A JOKE. Congratulations on discarding systems that work so you can have you’re on gold plated special for Auckland system.
For details on the AT Hop retailer network see http://www.athop.co.nz/get-a-card/where-to-buy/Pages/default.aspx
I have had no problems accessing http://www.athop.co.nz and http://www.myhop.co.nz in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
Graeme it’s a lottery as to whether it works. And AT have advised that’s the way it’ll stay till much later. It;s not a priority for them. And now they roll out the buses. Overall AT just does some things really poorly.
Does anyone know the details behind the “intermittent technical issue” that has delayed the NorthStar, Ritchies, and Northern Express roll-out?