Sorry for the lack of posting the last few days. I have been in the South Island with limited time and internet coverage for blogging.
The next stage in our journey towards Integrated Ticketing – and eventually integrated fares – starts today. Hop has already rolled out to trains and ferries and now the roll out to the bus network has commenced with Urban Express becoming the first of the bus companies to go live on the system. Here is the AT press release from Friday:
FIRST BUS GO LIVE FOR AT HOP
AT HOP for buses will go live on Urban Express services Sunday 23 June.
Urban Express is the first bus service to be incorporated into the final stage of the roll-out of the AT HOP card, one prepay smart card for trains, ferries and buses. AT HOP was introduced on trains and ferries in late 2012.
Auckland Transport’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Edmonds says, “This final stage of the roll-out of AT HOP is significant due to its size and scale. Buses in Auckland carry 80% of public transport users”.
“From 23 June customers will have a single public transport card to use on trains, ferries and Urban Express bus services if they wish”.
Mr Edmonds says, “As we roll AT HOP onto each bus operator’s service we need to emphasize it is very important for customers to check what is happening to their current ticket types. Auckland Transport will keep customers up to date as we launch AT HOP onto each bus operator’s service.For example, bus customers who have an existing Urban Express smart card or an electronic travel card for other buses may be entitled to a free AT HOP card. AT HOP cards are also available for $5 until the end of 2013, the full retail price is $10”.
Mr Edmonds says “It is important that Urban Express customers use up existing fare balances on their smart cards. And if customers are thinking of loading up their current smart cards with pre-paid fares, they should think carefully whether they can use them up in time. Customers may apply to Urban Express to request a refund for any unused smart card balances, but refunds will not be provided for any unused Monthly Passes, 10 ride fares or Green Bay 7 Day Passes”.Using an AT HOP card provides at least 10% discount on single trip cash fares (excludes NiteRider bus service) and free travel on City LINK buses.
To get the best from your AT HOP card, register your card on-line. This will allow you to top up online, and to set up an Auto Top-Up at ATHOP.co.nz
The AT HOP card can also be topped up at Auckland Transport Ticket & Top Up machines or in person at Britomart, New Lynn and Newmarket ticket offices or at AT Customer Service Centres. Customers can also top up at Fullers Tickets Offices at Downtown Ferry Terminal, Devonport Ferry Terminal and Waiheke Ferry Terminal.
Registering an AT HOP card also helps to protect your card from unauthorised use should it be lost or stolen.
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.
It is good that we have finally reached this stage after what seems like an extremely long and eventful last few years. Those who catch Urban Express buses will hopefully have seen staff around to enable them to get an AT HOP card. As part of the roll out to the bus network AT are also starting to roll out a series of retail locations around the city that will enable people to buy and top up cards. Only a few have been rolled out so far and you can see them in the map below which I’m sure will be updated as more are added – click through to the live version.
All of the focus over the next 6 months is bound to be on the continuing roll out to buses but after that I imagine AT will be able to start looking to make improvements to the system. So the question for today is, what changes would you like to see to help make the system more customer friendly?
My experience is limited to the rail network so far but so far I would like to see:
- More tag posts at stations to deal with the queues that often form in the evening peak.
- More ticket machines at stations.
- The ticket machines at the entrances to stations rather than in the middle of them (if you want to top up manually you shouldn’t have to walk to the middle of the platform to the machine then back to the entrance to tag on.
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I would like to see a bit of work on the customer service side. My first AT Hop card was terminated because the credit card I had set up to auto topup expired. Every other service that used this card sent me a helpful email letting me know that I needed to update to a new card. My Hop card however just silently disabled itself. I was pretty shocked to find out that the card was now useless and could never be enabled again and would have to be thrown away. I also had to buy a new Hop card and top it up again. I would be okay with this policy if it was well documented (not hidden in the terms and conditions) and if some notification was given before terminating cards (I get plenty of emails from AT about other stuff so why not this?). I can imagine this hasn’t happened to many people yet due to the system still being quite new but I think it will cause those who are less PT-inclined to get quite wound up
Do you mean it disabled the auto top-up (rather than the card itself)? If that was the case you could just update your payment details via the website and re-enable auto top-up. Pretty easy to do. I’ve enabled/changes/disabled auto top-up (including changing from credit card to bank direct debit) quite a few times, since I got my HOP card late last year, without having my card disabled in its entirely. I would be extremely surprised if what you described actually happened. Did you contact the HOP team to follow up with your issue and to get assistance on re-enabling auto top-up with your new card?
It disabled the card permanently. One day my card just stopped working so I took it to the customer service desk at Britomart where I was told that it had been permanently disabled due to five failed top up attempts. These were due to my card expiring. I expected like any other organisation that I would be notified so I could update the card. Instead my card was disabled and taken from me and I was forced to buy a new one. The customer service guy said that AT had been very clear in asking for this functionality which really surprised me as it seems like it’s there just to punish customers. Like I said there was no warning or anything like that. I bought a new HOP card and set up auto topup on that with my new credit card.
Ouch, I would have expected AT to give you a free card in that case since it was their stuff-up. Or even re-enable your card if the system allows that. Disappointing response from AT. 🙁
That’s what I would have expected but they made it quite clear that I had breached the conditions of use and that it was my responsibility. They also said they have no way of re-enabling cards which seems pretty wasteful to me.
Same happpened to me. I can confirm that the system is indeed this dumb. When I got (bought) the new card, I set it up to auto top-up from my bank account instead – this service is better and even emails you to let you know when top-ups have been processed. I’d be intrigued to know what exactly they do to the disabled cards that makes it ‘impossible’ to ever reenable them!
There does seem to be a problem with the auto top up; it’s happened to me twice now although the debit card to which the Hop card is linked has neither expired nor has there been a lack of funds in the account. The first time resulted in my card being blocked for five days; the second, two days ago, saw it blacklisted and, grudgingly replaced although I must point out that the replacement doesn’t actually work at the moment. The response from Hop Service Centres and via their call centre has been shocking: aggressive questioning, mis-information, general rudeness and a level of incompetence that has to be experienced to be believed. No apology for the inconvenience of not being able to use the card or for the time I’ve wasted or the money I’ve spent trying to get the matter resolved (all in all a couple of hours now and about $10.00 in phone calls), just the implied suggestion that, on both occasions, it was all my fault.
Agreed – there was a general sense that it was my fault that their dumb system is … dumb.
I wasn’t impressed with the information available earlier though. I got handed a brochure a few weeks ago about the change which just said it was happening in “late June”. Which is not particularly helpful for those people who use the ticket types that are non-refundable, since they can’t plan how many they need. You’d think AT could have decided on a specific date a bit sooner.
Agreed, I was following the news quite closely due to my interest in HOP and today is the first I’ve heard of this date — and today is the date HOP starts on Urban Express services. Definitely breaks the ‘no surprises’ policy AT should have regarding the HOP rollout. Hope they fix down a exact date for the other services sooner rather than later. I was on a North Star bus last Tuesday which had HOP equipment already installed (with Snapper’s validators temporarily attached above the HOP validators) so looks like they may be next!
What makes you think they’re “temporary” ? I would hope so, but I’d like to know if you know more?
North Star has had snapper for 2 years, the Snapper posts ar sat on the bus as they are still active until AT Hop is finalised on the company’s buses.
http://www.athop.co.nz/help/bus-roll-out/Pages/default.aspx
@James only about half of North Star’s buses are fitted out. They will all go live on one day (a Sunday) to minimise confusion.
I had an enormous struggle to get an AT HOP in the first place – I ordered it online, oh dear. It look months and months. Ironically, I haven’t had occasion to use it, but I wanted to have one for the day I did. I hope that stuff has all been sorted out.
Is that press release saying that when our bus service changes over to AT HOP, we can’t transfer the card balance? That is going to really annoy occasional bus users like me!
I had quite a few issues as well. I requested a free HOP card using my Howick and Eastern card and the website said my H&E card number was not valid. Phoned AT who said they H&E cards were not valid for the free cards (despite directing them to AT’s own website saying they were!). Tweeted a please explain message to AT who were very apologetic (said there were issues with certain H&E cards numbers not in their database but promised to follow up regarding the person who told me H&E cards weren’t valid for the free card programme) and asked me to phone AT again. Phoned them again and they accepted my application over the phone. Card finally arrived a month later! Looking back, I think NZ Bus’s Go Rider to Snapper conversion was handled in a much more professional and hassle-free way.
No the press release quite clearly says you can transfer your balance. And for all the people who didn’t receive their AT Hop card on time there are plenty who did, everyone I know who has ordered one received it within a day.
I also had great numbers of problems getting a card and getting it activated. An awful lot of hassle seems to be because their database and web sites seem very poorly implemented. There is something odd when you have had the old snapper registered then try to register the new Hop using the same email address or something?
After months I finally got one but it took ages to get it registered as the online process failed and eventually the contact centre staff had to do it for me. Funny thing is I never use it now as I switched back to buses and the monthly passes.
Finally after all of this was actually sorted out they then sent me an email saying they were sending me my replacement HOP (which I already had) quickly followed by an email saying they weren’t and it was all a mistake:
Dear Simon,
On Sunday, we sent you an email with the subject line “Your AT HOP card has now been dispatched”. This email was sent to you in error, due to an oversight on the part of a third party company who manages parts of the registration process for the AT HOP card. We have reviewed this matter with this third party and ensured that processes have been put in place to ensure that this does not happen again.
Please accept our apologies for any confusion this email may have caused.
Kind regards
The AT HOP Team
I started having flashbacks to the opening credits of Monty Python’s Holy Grail “We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.”
Sometimes the whole AT Hop roll out does seem like some kind of Monty Python-esk feel to it…
Also a colleague also had his HOP card stop working due to him using an expired credit card number entered in for the auto top up details. And yes, that does kill the card for some reason and he was told to buy another one.
Personally I won’t trust them with my CC details. For a start it seems when your nominated auto top up CC card expires you HOP dies with it and secondly, I just don’t trust their competence.
Simon
Matt, the top-up locations map does not appear to be “click through” – just a picture? I couldn’t find the map via the AT Hop website myself – which leads me to my first wish list item: a website redesign.
Other wish list items:
– Bus users will require top up locations in more places, as the bus routes don’t necessarily run anywhere near the existing service centres. On the map above, the middle isthmus shows a retailer at the Mount Roskill shops, and somewhere in the bowels of New Windsor (I’m guessing around White Swan Road?). Nothing on the Mount Eden, Waikowhai/Epsom and Manukau Road bus routes – although AT Hop doesn’t roll out to us for a while yet.
– Maybe a smartphone app for topping up?
– Agree that being able to tagging on at/next to ticket machine is desirable – but that doesn’t necessarily mean moving the ticket machines! Could be a case of moving/adding a tag device.
– While the old Hop card allows you to see your journey “transactions” online, as far as I can tell the AT Hop card only provides this function at a ticket machine? I want to see this online please, or via my new smartphone app.
– Some buses that ONLY accept AT Hop card to speed up journey times. Someone suggested last year that the introduction of double deckers could be a good implementation for this, as they are going to take longer to load anyway. If you want to pay cash, wait for the next single decker.
Playing devil’s advocate: is the number of tag posts really an issue at at tag-off time? How long is “too long” to queue up? 30 secs? How many stations (that don’t already have gates) would exceed that queueing time? Grafton? Sylvia Park? Others? It’s probably slower tagging off on a full bus.
Map is click-through for me. Just had a look at the website and for people wanting a HOP card they can just go to http://www.athop.co.nz, click ‘Get an HOP card’, click ‘Where to buy a HOP card’. But for people already holding HOP cards, their info for topping up HOP cards doesn’t include a link to the map — hope AT gets that fixed soon. The website itself is fine though, doesn’t need a redesign — compared to other similar websites overseas it’s pretty good. It’s just the content that needs to be polished up.
I assume they will roll out more retailer locations as more buses come online. Most likely they’ll focus on those near Urban Express routes (and they already have a few on their routes — perhaps they rolled out through Urban Express’ agents first) and next those on the North Shore (as they are next to be converted). But to be fair I expect quite a lot of people to just set up auto- top-up and forget.
The new HOP card does provide transaction history online — but this feature was added only recently and I found this out by accident a while ago. Should have been there right from the beginning in my opinion, but better late than never!
Agreed about buses only accepting HOP. I think they can quite easily introduce this policy on express buses at first as a trial to see how it goes.
I’ve personally never had an issue tagging off as well. Probably only Glen Innes might be slightly pretty bad during the peak but I suspect it’s because people hold the card against the validator a lot longer than necessary. HOP is actually pretty fast at validating cards but people (especially those used to Snapper’s horrifically slow validation) don’t seem to understand this yet and hold the card much longer than necessary.
I fixed the click through link just after the post launched.
-As for the extra tag posts, yes they might only slow down people by 30 seconds but it is one of those things that just frustrates people. Also many other transport projects are justified based on these kinds of savings. 30 seconds over 100s of people a day over 30 years quickly adds up.
-The moving the ticket machines is also about being able to create a fare paid zone on the platforms.
-And yes, more locations are coming, I believe there will be at least 40 all up.
Call it congestion Matt. There’s billions available to sort that out.
Bryce – applies only if you have tyres, if you have feet or pedals, thats not part of NZTA’s ambit so no money for you..
You can view all your trips online for AT Hop.
Not enough tag posts – and it’s not obvious why they isn’t one right next to every ticket machine – or even why ticket machines don’t have a tag post touch pad built in. It’s stupid that you have to walk half the length of the platform back to a tag post you already walked past on your way to the ticket machine!
David – exactly what I thought when I read Matt’s comment.
With tag on/off capabilities in or near each ticket/top-up machine, those who alight the trains further back from the exit, can, it there is a queue at the exit tag off post, tag off there rather than queue at the exit,- reducing congestion by half.
Of course doesn’t help at Gated stations, but those are the exception not the rule now aren’t they?
It’s probably not there because you can buy a paper ticket with your card at the machine. So top it up, then buy a ticket 🙂
I have a question regarding the phasing of the NZ bus roll out. I looked at the poster at my bus stop yesterday and it seems the Metrolink will be in the end of September ish. Problem is, Go west is at a different time and being on Sandringham road my bus could be go west from time to time. Also nz bus seem to be getting rid of their ‘brands.’ and the other day my 249 was a waka pacific bus. In the past I’ve also caught a 233 operated by a north star bus.
So, once metrolink switches, will I need to keep my snapper hop with funds just in case another bus brand shows up? Also Im a bit weary to put too much money on it at as I have read conflicting things about whether or not you can get the balance swapped over. Is anybody able to confirm either side of this?
I would suggest that the operators will be required to ensure that the correct provider is providing the service as there will actually be a tangible difference.
If the wrong bus company turns up without AT just get on, you are able to pay and they have refused to acept your payment, it is their loss.
It would of made sense to get rid of their brands a few months after the AT HOP rollout, rather than a few months before.
However I have a SNOP and a AT HOP card for several months now.
ANother issue is with the tertiary concessions, are these automatically transferred to the AT HOP card if you order a new one linked to the same internet account.
If not lots of annoyed students in a few months. The tertiary concession process seems much more complicated that it should be, and takes weeks for it to be loaded on.
For AT Hops you can take then to britomart fill out a form, they put the card on their computer terminal readers and its applied straight away…much less painless than snops, but still a hassle. Especially since it will be happening in the middle of semester and based on previous experiences they will be woefully unprepared
At hop is loaded on straight away on the spot – it was snapper hop that took ages and that was clearly because infratil was happy for the process to be slow such that they made more money from the bus fares. Another reason why having control of the ticketing in the hands of a bus company was a bad idea.
@Sam – you’ll be able to get your balance transferred from SNOP but don’t expect them to let you board if they don’t have the AT HOP equipment. We went through an identical process when the SNOP card was introduced, specific liveries had it installed but these typically run a range of routes such that it was a complete mess for users. Unfortunately that’s probably what will happen here, and it will just have to be accepted as there appears to be no plan to do it any differently this time around.
Thats good re the balance transfers. I was expecting to have to carry around both and, annoyingly maintain a balance on both of them so would not have tried to board without mucking around looking for the other card.
I think nz bus have, whether on purpose or not, sort of aggravated the situation around the different bus brands being phased in at different times by starting to remove their brands now instead of waiting a few months. I have seen go west buses running as 274’s and 258’s now as well. (as an aside its also a little off putting when when a waka pacific bus shows up, my instinct is, oh its silver whats the one behind it, when infact this silver bus could well be my 249…will take a bit of getting use to I think)
I also think there needs to be a lot more AT communication regarding this as none of my acquaintances at uni are aware of the coming change and with the NZ bus transition in September/October alot of people might show up to the bus stop on a monday and find they cant pay, nor have any idea about where or how to get an AT hop, and then have to go to britomart to get the concession applied
Hi all
I have been keeping on tops of the implementation of the ATHOP card.. have to say the communication between Auckland transport and the company provider need to be more better.
Urban express has put a note on their website saying 22nd is the start date but nobody comment to Athop to change the website.
athop.co.nz or maxx.co.nz is the website that people go to. They need to be update regularly. They just can’t make people guessing!!!!
The Urban Express site (correctly) says 23rd June. But you’re right – according to the ATHOP website, it hasn’t happened yet nor has it had a date set which are both wrong. And after the recent updates to that site looked so promising too…
Hop card account: since no one can tell us for sure WHEN the At Hop roll-out will take place on specific bus services, it’s very likely I will have money on my Hop card account when the At Hop card suddenly replaces the Hop one for the services I use. I expect this money to be transferred to my At Hop account or to be reimbursed. Clarify this for us please because, oddly, I could not get information anywhere from your officers at Britomart.
Marie, this blog is not associated with Auckland Transport.
Removal of the online top-up fee would be nice as it would provide an incentive, albeit small in the scheme of things to top-up ‘offline.’ Top-up machines in libraries and shopping malls again with no fee would also make sense to encourage people to do this away from stations. Lots more CBD top-up points and single ticket sellers would be good to then buses could be made prepay only between certain hours to speed up boarding.
To help with the above, once rolled out to Airbus, an AT kiosk at both terminals of the airport selling AT HOP cards for say $25 with $20 pre-loaded and the other $5 refundable at upon surrendering the card on the way out, maybe even with the balance refunded. This is what Hong Kong does at it seems to work really well. Perhaps get together with organisations that advertise in the Arrivals magazine to have the discounts from that linked to showing the AT HOP for tourists (would require a different colour scheme but easy enough to do). Likewise the same could be done for Auckland Council owned facilities like the zoo perhaps?
I assume Birkenhead Buses will be in the next few weeks? However AT HOP is pointless for me as i cannot seem to register it on the AT HOP website and communication with the AT HOP customer is exceedingly poor (responses taking weeks to receive, etc)
I understand they are timetables to go live on 14 July.
I am certainly looking forward for Birkenhead Transport to be coming next…..
Just installed the Snapper app on my new NFC capable phone, really is fantastic. Hope this support is added to the AT card soon. Certainly makes top-up very easy.
It’s really embarrassing for AT that this blog once again concisely communicates the changes made today, while AT themselves have basically failed to mention a single thing through their own channels. On the day AT HOP is first rolled out on buses, outdated information referring to ‘late June’ remains on both at.co.nz and athop.co.nz, and they haven’t posted a single tweet. On the AT HOP site, the Urban Express section still states ‘we will announce the exact changeover date soon.’
It really is astounding how they manage to take a lack of basic communication to this level.
I guess what I’m saying is thank YOU, Transport Blog!
I think a great idea would be if AT had handed out free ATHop cards to every secondary/tertiary student in Auckland – maybe with a $5 loading on it.
The hope for PT in this city are the young people – trying to get significant percentages of people over 25 to change their travel patterns without major incentives will be hard work. However, young people have much less mode bias and I think PT is also becoming more accepted by younger people.
I know that is a big cost to AT but IMO it would be more effective than a lot of their advertising.
Or even just allow the HOP cards to be sold and topped up at the university, I cannot believe that there isn’t a top up site at uni, it should have been the first place to get one.
Indeed, it’s ridiculous that major tertiary campuses have no facility to purchase cards or top them up.
There is a place to buy and top up cards, in a location that’s pretty much in the middle of AUT and UofA: http://www.aut.ac.nz/being-a-student/current-postgraduates/aut-transport-shop
handy for AUT, is close in proximity from UoA but no ones knows about it, and is very difficult to find, so no use really.
I really hope one of the minimarts at UoA becomes an AT HOP top up centre.
Or the transport ticket kiosk in the quad.
That is over a kilomtre from OGGB. That is not practical given the UoA has 40,000 students and most get to uni by PT.
I think it’s more like 600m, tops, but even if you’re right and it’s a kilometre it’s not a huge walk. It’s the sort of distance students will be walking from class to class.
Anyway, you’re right that they need a bit more capacity to serve the multitudes, but that won’t be an issue until Hop rolls out to NZ Bus. It would be nice if AT takes over all the old Snapper top up locations.
Sorry, google maps estimate is 750m, a lot of climbing and steep descent involved though. It is still utterly moronic to have not put one in the UoA quad.
the issue is not the distance its that few know about it, and is hidden away from UoA. UoA students do not generally walk through AUT. I tried to find the AT office a few weeks ago but gave up as got lost, is hard to find if you don’t know way around AUT.