Ferry users may have noticed that HOP gates have started going in at the Downtown Ferry terminal and once in place will be used instead of the the HOP tag posts. My understanding is the plan was always was to install HOP gates as part of the rollout so this isn’t anything new or surprising. What I did find interesting though was that the gates are a different style to those found at Britomart and Newmarket with the gates swinging out of the way other than folding up.
Before anyone asks about what is happening with other stations. My understanding is that gates are also planned for Manukau once the MIT campus has been completed and that AT are already investigating what other stations they might be needed at with New Lynn probably the next station on the list. I’m not sure when we will find out any more detail although AT have been saying in past board reports that it might not be too far away.
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So does this mean I can now put a monthly pass on to my ATHOP card and I no longer need the special Fullers card (I understand it is called a Galaxy card)? That would be great.
Or does this mean that these gates will work for both ATHOP and the Galaxy card? Hardly anyone uses ATHOP on the ferries now, they all have the Galaxy card as the monthly pass on that works out much cheaper than ATHOP’s 10% discount, especially if you use it for more than just weekday commuting.
As usual more questions than answers. No comms from Auckland Transport on this as far as I’m aware:
http://www.athop.co.nz/fares/ferries/Pages/default.aspx
You’d think with the ferry terminal upgrades that have gone on there would be an obligation on the ferry companies to use the AT provided ticketing system and not produce their own version.
Cameron, Fullers had to install their own system because the Auckland Transport refused to provide a monthly HOP card that was remotely economic for ferry users. Ridiculous, but true.
Seriously? Why would AT refuse? Now they miss out on the interest revenue from monthly passes, and can’t integrate ferry and train tickets. Sounds bizarre!
It is bizarre – AT believes that a monthly pass to Devonport should cost the same as a monthly pass to Drury or Waiwera. I’m serious, you can look it up on their website if you don’t believe me!
http://www.athop.co.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Monthly%20Pass%20map%20A1%20May%202013.pdf
Of course that will give you full acess to trains and buses within zone A & B, but I see your point. I currently pay $130 for an inner harbour monthly pass which covers Devonport, Bayswater and Stanley Point (and maybe others).
I work about 100m from the ferry terminal, so another $60 a month is not really worth it for me. Cheaper to just tag on and tag off.
Looks like I will be sticking with the Galaxy card. At least it is possible to use the HOP card on ferries, just not the most economic choice for regular commuters.
It appears at http://www.maxx.co.nz/info/service-updates/pier-1-gateline-improvement-project.aspx that not just Downtown will be getting gates; they are also to be rolled out at Waiheke, Devonport, Half Moon Bay, Birkenhead, Northcote and Bayswater over the next 2 months. If this is true, thats a huge investment compared to what they have provided for the much busier rail network, especially given that Not many ferry users currently use Hop. Perhaps they have big plans for rail rollouts soon?
I think it is referring to the different areas at Downtown based on where the sailings go to as opposed to the destination piers.
Yeah sounds like one side of the terminal then the other. No need to gate anything but downtown to capture (almost) all ferry trips.
Why do they need to gate all those wharves? As virtually all ferry trips start or end in the Downtown terminal, it’s really not necessary. Maybe the only other one to consider would be Waiheke to capture those that get on Devonport. They have to be staffed all the time anyway, and those 2 are IIRC.
With regards to rail, their next priorities should be New Lynn and Papakura. Those stations are the only 2 (outside of Newmarket and Britomart) staffed at all times, plus they’re the busiest stations. Manukau should be a priority way down the list………..
Think Manukau is next because it was built in a manner that had gates planned so easy to install. Definitely agree they need to get the hub stations done asap Henderson, New Lynn and Papakura.And Panmure hopefully will have gates installed when the new station building opens for service after the Xmas break but maybe one of the admin can confirm that will be the case or not. Surely the expectation would be that they are in the design at the very least. With all the hub stations done it would mean the vast majority of trips would be covered. It would also mean the roving inspectors could focus more fully on small in between hub blank spots too.
Don’t get me wrong, Manukau should be gated, but it shouldn’t be first off the block. It will still be a few years till it really needs them. New Lynn should be next with no doubt, as that is just as easy to gate. I think Papakura would be difficult, so I can understand that being delayed.
Still can’t get over how why they’re gating those ferry wharves, and what’s the point of people passing thru a gate at Downtown and then again at the local wharf? It’s especially a waste considering there are so many stations on the rail network that are wide open t fare evasion, and badly need them more so.
If someone can explain to me the logic, I’d be ever so greatful.
They aren’t gating the other wharves, see above. The downtown terminal has two halves for the wharves for two sets of destinations, they are gating each half separately.
as for the style of gates, the barriers appear to be a lot narrower as you would expect they could be if gates don’t have to retract into them to open. perhaps due to space constraints they had to go with this varied design?
I wonder if the stainless steel-only design was chosen for resilience in a relatively hostile environment due to proximity to the sea?
I talked to the one of the installers and there is not a barcode reader on the gates so that would mean that they would not be compatible with Fullers new ticketing system.
This poster (photo thanks to NEXMINIT here) seems to suggest that the HOP gates will be to the right of the ticket desk and the Galaxy card/paper ticket gates (owned by Fullers) will be on the left.
Is there any other proof of that? Looks to me like a typical early render – light on detail as opposed to a clear indication that there will be two types of gates. Operating two different types seems to me to be an unnecessary complication, and would require the approval of AT (as they own the terminal). This begs the question, why would AT assist with the entrenchment of a competing ticketing system?
When I went through this week, to the right of the ticket office were the galaxy readers and hop tag on posts, to the right is where the gates were being installed. I could imagine they simply remove the hop posts when the gates are in operation and have the RHS exclusively for their own card.
Hopefully they can relocate the hop readers to the rail stations. I noticed today (I’m not a regular every day user of the rail network) going to Onehunga to the night market at Dressmart, that there were lines of people waiting to tag off at stations along the way, especially Ellerslie. When Thales came to a CBT board meeting I queried them whether there would be enough tag posts at stations. And I think there aint by the evidence I’ve seen. Infact there probably needs to be at least two at each of each platform rather than the one there is currently.
In other news good patronage on the Onehunga service right through to Onehunga and a fair few getting off at Te Papapa which surprised me. No ticket checks at all either to or from Onehunga. maybe they should gate Onehunga!
That’s great that numbers are healthy on the Onehunga line, I think patronage will really take off from April when electric trains are introduced and frequencies are 30mins all day, every day.
It also probably helps that it’s the most reliable line on the network too, as more than 95% of services are on time
It would be nice to gate Onehunga as it as real pain tagging off when it rains. Also there are two tag posts at either end but that is still not enough.
From what I can see, there aren’t enough readers anywhere in the AT ecosystem. Hopefully these gates are sufficient for purpose.
They should have designed it like Japan maybe where you enter the station, go down escalators to where you can buy tickets and find train gates and then once your through the train gates find the correct escalators for the correct train platform
The more I think about the gating of Pier 1 I come up with questions of how this is intended to work:
1. The gates will not accept Fullers ticketing system.
2. Fullers system does not require a tag off so there will be a tendency for passengers to bypass the turnstiles as Fullers have no interest in departing passengers.
3. Pier 2 is not going to be gated and if it were to be what would be done about the vehicle access directly through the middle of the passenger area.
4. What will happen to the access to the cafe on Pier 1 for non traveling people.
The only way I can see to effectively solve 1&2 is to have Fullers use HOP for all ticketing and HOP to takeover Weekly, monthly and other fare options.
No easy fix for Pier 2
The cafe needs another access or survive on ferry patronage only.
Unless something is afoot that is not public information I think the turnstiles could be better deployed on rail platforms.
In answer to nos 2 and 4…
2. Fullers system has a one-step ticket validation, which in practice always occurs at the Downtown terminal, as is this where the gateline is. So, all AT and Fullers tickets will be validated downtown, in addition AT tickets will be tagged on/off at the wharf where they commenced/concluded their journey. Passengers arriving downtown with Fullers tickets are required to validate tickets via scanners in order to leave the terminal. Fullers are interested in ALL passengers transiting downtown, not just arrivals or departures.
4. Before the current changes and corral gates (we’re talking probably a year ago now?) the cafe was available exclusively to ferry patrons in the paid area as the whole section north of the ticket guest was accessible only with a ferry ticket; therefore this is simply a return to what was the status quo for the cafe. Anecdotally I would say being kept apart from a largely captive audience (fare-paying ferry passengers waiting for their boat) as the chrrent situation has it would have a negative effect. I actually think they would be happy to have the entire area exclusive fare-paid again.
Alex:
Fullers pay no attention to passengers arriving on the ferries I use (Waiheke Island). Fullers ticket vaildation is carried out ONLY at the departure wharves on the way onto the ferry.
In the case of the Cafe it was reported that general public access was requested by the cafe operators hence the access being opened up although this also has no doubt resulted in reduction of access by ferry patrons due to the stockyard gates. Maybe the cafe has noticed a predictable drop in patronage and decided the previous system was better.
Saw these gates today, they should be great!
In regards to not being compatible i think its bad. You should see Japan all their cards have different names and most likely provider but their IC is all compatible…for examples in tokyo they have suica and pasmo although names are different and have different providers but because of IC they are interchangeable except where it says for the fare gate “suica only’ which is rare…I could also go to another Japan city and use the card i bought in tokyo even if the name is different and probably provider because of the IC chip