Usually when you get yourself into a hole the best thing to do is to stop digging, and that is how I often feel I think about the rollout of AT HOP which among plenty of other things has been plagued by poor communication. The latest comes in an interview with the Greg Edmonds who is the Chief Operating Officer of AT and was part of a Radio NZ piece that I also talked on.
Or listen here.
First up I do agree that from a technical level the rollout so far to Metrolink has probably been smooth in that the machines have worked. It’s the customer side of things that has been left wanting due to poor information including not even giving an indication as to while routes are most likely to be using which card. But it was the next part that caught my attention (and others). Here is the transcript about that part of the interview.
I think in anything with this level of complexity there will be some people that read the information thoroughly, there are others that glance over it and sometimes when they glance over it they may miss things and so the ambassadors are there reinforce and I think overall yep there’s been some genuine concerns about the information but overall we’ve done a pretty good job of it.
So the confusion is caused by people glancing over the information. Well it’s no surprise when it looks like this.
How many people are really going to read all of this?
At least it isn’t as bad as this comment from AT last week
Asked how long the freebies would continue, she said: “I can’t say, but it is very brief – that’s about to disappear, so get with the programme.”
Yesterday we also had this piece from the Herald on Sunday
Commuters who have less than $10 left on their cards will be unable to transfer the money to the new Auckland Transport Hop cards without jumping through complicated hoops – meaning Snapper will be able to quietly pocket their money.
And
The minimum transfer on to an AT Hop card is $10. So if the Snapper card balance is below $10, users must either top up the purple card to more than $10 and transfer that to the AT Hop card, spend the balance at one of the 150 Snapper-affiliated businesses in Auckland – or let Snapper keep their money.
Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai blamed the problem on Auckland Transport. “The $10 limit is AT policy, not Snapper.”
There was no time limit on when the Snapper Hop cardholders could use any leftover balance, Szikszai said. They would not be giving cardholders their money back.
When pressed on why not, he said: “We’re actually not able to, due to the Anti-Money Laundering Act.” He would not elaborate.
Auckland Transport spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said the $10 policy was created by the former Auckland Regional Transport Authority, which was in charge of transport in Auckland before the Super City amalgamation.
“It was in the original terms and conditions of the purple Hop card.” She said it was easy to transfer the money.
Now I am aware that there were some bad decisions made about the HOP system from ARTA days that are still causing AT headaches today but to suggest that they can’t change the $10 minimum top-up policy seems absurd, especially considering that ARTA haven’t existed for three years.
In the end I think the real problem with all of the HOP change over comes down to a few key messages that often contradict each other. They are:
- Run down your balance because there are no refunds (page 2 of the brochure)
- But hold on to your card and keep it topped up as some buses will still use it – and we won’t tell you exactly which ones.
- It’s easy to transfer the money off the card – but we won’t make it easy by telling you the best way to do that
If it is easy to transfer balances like AT claim then it would have been so much easier for everyone if AT had just said “We know it’s a challenging time so keep your old card topped up and once the changeover is complete you can easily transfer your balance by doing …..”
At the end of the day I think the Herald on Sunday editorial sums up the real loser in all of this which is the perception of public transport when they ask:
Who would dare hop on an Auckland bus?
My biggest fear is that this has the potential to set back the use of PT in a big way and if that happens, it will take a while for people to have confidence in the system once again. It’s time for AT to stop digging and start building that trust.
Processing...
Standard usability, as in politics: explaining is losing.
This exchange is enlightening too:
https://twitter.com/polemic/status/397986945311047680
And surely this is what is behind the flatlining of bus patronage.
On the weekend I noticed my local dairy no longer had the Snapper terminal visible. I asked the dairy owner and she said her terminal was about to be removed. I’m guessing that this is the same for all Snapper terminals. Perhaps it won’t be possible to top up above $10 shortly in Auckland?
If there really is that much money left on Snapper cards all over Auckland, then I reckon there is a market for shipping them down to Wellington and using them all there.
The first I’ve heard about the $10 minimum is today. I was able to transfer $9 from my old HOP to the new on Saturday at Britomart, no questions asked?
While I’m the last person to advocate the expansion of any CCO’s already top-heavy, overpaid management, AT really need to follow TfL’s example and appoint a customer experience manager, someone at senior management level who is basically there to ensure that communications with passengers is timely, effective and meaningful. At the moment AT seems to be relying on a COO with minimal experience of dealing with public transport (Air New Zealand isn’t public transport), a general manager of communications who thinks communicating is essentially about gratifying the corporate sector and papering over the organisation’s myriad deficiencies with inane publicity campaigns and a long-standing (from Tranz Metro days) spokesperson whose default stance is to blame the passenger wherever possible. Notwithstanding its deeply flawed corporate model of governance, AT is a public body, one that should be beholden to the public rather than vested corporate interests.
FWIW, I hear that something like this is underway.
Rudman is absolutely scathing in his column today.
It appears a large part of the problem is that AT is a Council Uncontrolled Organisation, and thus is only weakly accountable to the people of Auckland, who they ostensibly serve. Only an out of control organisation would be blithely telling its users to “get with the program”.
Rudman was more scathing about the website. This isn’t core Thales functionality but has been developed by AT to use the Thales API. Apparently the website has been the subject of a number of change requests, and it still isn’t right.
1) Twice now I’ve set up auto top-ups, but when I go back to the “Manage Auto Top-up” function it is disabled again. My balance is well below $20 and it hasn’t worked. AT need to get on to this.
2) There is something weird happening with the session variables. After you log out, as well as closing the browser you need to clear cookies as well. Otherwise you are faced with “Your session has been logged out. You will need to close your browser before continuing”
3) The AT Hop money balance on the home page for the card doesn’t match the transaction listing. The home page balance is accurate, but the transaction listing only looks to be up until the previous night.
AT, if you are reading this I’m more than happy to test your website for a fee.
That “You need to close your browser” things is a complete nonsense. Nobody makes a site that needs the browser to be closed, not even banks! Oh, sorry, nobody except the incompetent web-muppets at AT, it seems. What do they think people are using; Internet Explorer 3?!
I’d be OK with being happy to close the tab, but the whole browser is annoying, when I have app-tabs with e-mail, work webapps, Google Docs and all sorts of other stuff open in the same browser…
Question for AT: Why wasn’t the model that was used when Metrolink changed from the old cards to Snapper used for this roll-out? There were staff at bus-stops and at 277 in Newmarket a stall where you could exchange old for new (in fact they punched a hole in the old card so you could still use it until it was redundant. Overall that roll-out seemed to go quite smoothly, certainly better than this one.
The communication to schools has also been poor – my son’s bus is a Northstar in the morning and Metrolink in the afternoon, but he had received no communication regarding the change-over prior to the bus turning up. Because I travel through Britomart most weeks I purchased a new AT Hop card there rather than use the website to request one (and wait 10 days for delivery). However, they would not load the Secondary school concession on it unless they sighted the student-id. I guess they must have thought that a greying 50 yr old was going to try and travel on a secondary school card! I did tell the manager at Britomart that they are acting like a travel prevention office.
I heard that interview and it was galling, it came across as if its the public’s fault for not reading all the info closely enough. Having some buses changed over and some not is ridiculous. It may be a hassle internally but they should have ensured all buses on a route either have changed over, or haven’t changed over. Clearly the culture of monoliths like AT need a serious shake up.
Hmmm….given AT’s general ineptitude over the last few months of the rollout on bus I’m beginning to think AT’s fingerprints were all over Snapper’s inability to integrate with the Thales system. Ah well, at least we have a ‘world-class’ system to look forward to once it eventually staggers across the finish line – it only cost us $150m. Think I’ll stick to my car for a little while longer until the whole rollout fiasco has truly been completed.
A note on the technical side of things and your comment about the machines working – I have been overcharged almost every trip I’ve taken since AT HOP launched on Link buses. I take either the Outer or Inner Link (whichever turns up first) one stage from Freemans Bay to Parnell and back again each day. All last week, I was charged either $6.12 or $3.24 per trip. I took to calling AT every day, who were beyond unhelpful until after the Herald contacted me at the end of the week (they saw one of my tweets), someone from non-call-centre-AT called me and very apologetically explained that this was a known issue with Link buses.
The thing is, almost without fail, the bus reader screens on those trips correctly displayed the fare as $1.62, and it was only on my AT HOP online account that I noticed the overcharging. AT already owes me over $15 worth of overcharged fares for the last 7 days, which they’ve partially refunded to my card. At no point has AT publicly acknowledged the known issue of Link buses overcharging users. You have to wonder how many people are never going to know that it’s happened, because they will either rely on the card to charge the right fare, or (rightfully) not question what the bus reader screen says.
Also, due to the overcharging, my balance twice dropped below my auto top-up threshold and added $40 to my card. So, along with the refunded incorrect trips, and the balance transfer from my Purple HOP card, I now have a much higher balance on my card than I was ever counting on (I am moving to the States in 8-odd weeks).
The other thing to note is that a lot of my tag on/tag off locations as listed on the website are just completely incorrect.
I know the AT HOP card sucks, but moving to the states is a bit extreme isn’t it?
Ha! I’m swapping for the NYC Subway’s incessant ‘please swipe again *beeeep*’
I have had the exact same problem the very first time I used the AT Hop card on an Inner Link bus last Monday morning (11/11). I took it from Parnell Rise Near Stanley St (Stop 7183) to 100 Victoria St (Stop 7102) and I was charged $3.24 ($3.60 – 10%?). I noticed this on Friday and submitted a support email, but have not heard back yet.
When looking up that journey, the maxx.co.nz website actually tells me that it’s two journeys, interrupted at Customs St East Near Queens Arcade (Stop 7016), which I guess is where the loop officially ends? But according to that I would have been charged 2 * $1.90 = $3.80 (-10% = $3.42).
Anyway, I’ll stop trying to make sense of the numbers, and just hope that AT get their $h** together soon, this is appalling.
Oh yeah and I have had the same problems setting up Auto topup as Cameron Pitches; I have tried multiple times over the last three months to set up auto topup, but it is still disabled. I have just tried again to enable it, let’s see if it works this time.
Same problem here, with the system charging me for a 4-stage fare on the Inner Link (!) on Monday … Refunded $3.83 today, or at least I was promised to be refunded next time I tag on. Of course, the same thing happened the next day, and the next, forcing me to apply for a refund every separate occurrence.
At least applying to correct an over-charge on the new AT Hop card (tick a bubble requesting someone to examine the charge and claim a refund at any terminal) is easier than Snapper (where you had to send an e-mail and go to Britomart to receive the refund).
Best idea for fixing these technical glitches would appear to be simplifying the fare structure, a la Adelaide.
They don’t make it easy – not even for those predisposed to PT. I live in town and this weekend I tried to pop into work (which is right next to a train station) but lo and behold the trains aren’t running again. But that’s ok, I can understand they are getting it ready for the new electrics, so look up the AT App to see if there’s a bus – yes the 500 leaving shortly. I have both an AT and a Purple Hop (both of which have a balance of at least $10), but no one mentioned that H&E buses don’t take either. How can that be after all this time? So frantic search through wallet finds a $2 coin and bless the bus driver he agreed to let me go 2 stages on it. So worked out in the end, but it’s this kind of unnecessary stress (even for someone who wants to use PT) that makes you consider keeping a car. Until our system is reliable and convenient most of the time for most of the users there’s no point even trying to get a step-change away from auto-domination.
Frankly it’s a miracle that ANYONE in Auckland takes a bus at the moment, and with the shutdowns the same can almost be said for the trains [although at least HOP works well there and performance has recently improved]…. but basically everyone travelling today is doing so on the promise of a future service standard.
Incidentally a standard that would be considered an unremarkable bare minimum in almost every other city in the world.
Performance has improved on rail and that is correct but not so much for the slow paper ticket machines, if they are working. But only for those who actually bother to pay in any form. The honesty system has to go!
Totally agree Patrick
Thank you for your helpful proactive comments Matt. Any other questions around HOP feel free to ask.
Genuine or sarcastic comment there? Hard to tell.
Sharon -Why are there no locations on the North Shore to transfer your balance from the Snapper card to the new card? It is extremely unreasonable to expect people to have to travel to town or Orewa to do this. You were quoted in the paper saying the process is “easy” but for anyone not near one of the few outlets, it is not easy at all.
Genuine. Please ask away if you have questions or helpful comments. Implementing a region wide ticketing system is not a walk in the park but we monitor customer comments and take note of feedback.
Hi Sharon – when will the issues that I mentioned with the website be fixed? Thanks
I talked with an AT HOP rep on the phone this morning who told me that AT HOP monthly passes were only valid for use on trains only (and could not be used on Urban Express buses!). Can someone from AT look into this? Feel free to contact me by email james@pole.net.nz and I’ll give you my card and contact details so you can find out who handled my call this morning. To tell the truth I was very disappointed at the of understanding of the AT HOP person I spoke with this morning.
I also have several other customer service failures I’ve tweeted about but no one seems to have followed up in all cases. The AT twitter guy has been good at following up with specific issues where he has been able to make a difference (mostly those relating to the AT app) but most of my comments (via various channels including the MAXX website) aren’t followed up (and I don’t count “Sorry we stuffed up” as a follow up). There is some ongoing issues dating back to 2006 which I have long since given up on AT doing anything about. I give you an invitation to get in touch with me through email if AT wants to follow up on these other issues too.
The website says something else “Monthly Passes-
AT HOP Monthly Passes for adults are available for train travel and will be available for buses as AT HOP is launched on your bus service. If you load a Monthly Pass onto your AT HOP card you still need to tag on and off when you travel. If you don’t tag off you will be charged a penalty fare.”
However of course there is no announcement that the monthly pass is now available for these operators.
These monthlies really need to be advertised a lot more, this is biggest benefit of the initial AT HOP rollout, one monthly pass for the whole city!
Should encourage a lot more weekend/off-peak travel around the city, as long as people know about this!
Why the hell didn’t you tell people which Metrolink buses were changing to AT Hop and which weren’t?
Hi Sharon, can you confirm if the issue Gus raises above about charging fares incorrectly applies only to the Link or potentially other bus routes as well? I love using the new Hop on for the convenience of auto top-up but that would be completely gone if I can’t trust it on buses.
I would also like to add my support for customer experience role. I use buses in Auckland daily and I still struggle to understand things when I go anywhere off the beaten track unless I very carefully plan in advance. Get some out of towners, drop them at random bus stops and see if any of them can find their way to a few destinations.
A couple of responses.
1. Cam I have forwarded your comments to our web team- you made them today so perhaps give our guys a chance to take a look at them.
2. Fred- largely because NZ Bus uses a mix of services on the routes with some buses on the routes changing and others not. Hence the carry two cards or cash message until we get through the rollout on NZ Bus buses which will be in a matter of weeks then we will have one card. We do recognise the inconvenience for customers for a short period in respect of carrying two cards but we are almost there
Excuses excuses excuses. If you cared you would have found a way to make it work.
Feijoa (and Gus) we apologise for the temporary technical problem on the Link bus and are ensuring that the cards of any customers impacted are rectified as soon as possible.
Hi Sharon.
I have no doubt that this is being sorted, but my problem now is with communication (or total lack of) about this issue. 1) As far as I can tell, no one who is not monitoring their online transactions would have any idea they might be overcharged. 2) I’ve made 5 or 6 calls to the call centre over the last week to report incorrect fares, as well as submitted a request for a refund online, and no one EVER follows up with me. Except for the first couple that Chris from AT called me about (and only after me literally begging someone to help me), I have no idea what the status is with my case – no idea if anyone’s looking at it, no idea if any refunds are being applied etc. It shouldn’t be up to me to have to keep calling Auckland Transport after, through no error of my own, my money is being taken.
Chris told me my case would be kept open so I could report any further incorrect charges through the call centre, yet when I called this morning to report yet more of them, they said my case was resolved (….pity no one told me about that) and that I’d have to open a new one. After the case is created and the problems logged, no one from the call centre ever explains what will happen next, offers to follow up with you, or gives you any idea of when things will be sorted. Not one person I’ve talked to in the call centre I would describe as helpful – and it’s not like my request for a refund of the money I was incorrectly charged is at all unreasonable.
Cam- noted and forwarded to the web team.
Also forwarded comment to contact centre about follow up on calls.
Sharon, why can’t AT implement an easy transfer system to move balances from Snapper to AT Hop? Surely this is the simplest way to make the transition easier for customers. Even simple measures like publishing a list of places where transfers can be made and removing the $10 limit on transfers would go a long way.
Well simply it’s about this. The float is Snappers. We have no legal ability to do anything with that. We have agreed with Snapper though that they will honour payment of AT HOP top-up through a limited number of Snapper retailers that are also transitioning to AT HOP, as published on the website.
(I’m running off to boxing class now but will be back on board tomorrow to answer any more questions or take any feedback)
Boxing class – is there something we should know?
Sharon, can you explain why shopkeepers around the city are taking away there snapper machines early, twice I’ve had attempted to top up my snapper in the past 12 days, and shops that were offering this service told me “oh the cards are changing now”. when I explained that many routes have NOT changed over yet, they just shrugged their shoulders. If this is happening, how can you suggest that it is “easy” for bus commuters to swap there snapper credit over to hop?
Ah well swapping cards isn’t my latest bugbear with AT. They are currently in the process of fazing out my daily bus route as part of the western ‘upgrade’ .obviously they are only in the ‘consultation’ stage at present, but I’ve worked on enough projects to know that any ‘ public consultation’ that happens after you’ve payed the graphic designers is box ticking
A friend just vented on facebook for getting pinged $20 for not tagging off with her hop card. Was this a standard fine with Snapper? Don’t think she’s keen to get on the bus again.
My card had insufficient funds to tag on my usual bus this morning…turns out I was charged $13 for a ride I took on Saturday night (at the end of which I clearly remember tagging off and seeing a three-stage fare deducted). Madness..
“First up I do agree that from a technical level the rollout so far to Metrolink has probably been smooth in that the machines have worked”
Um… what is your definition of “worked”? After my reply to a comment above, which caused me to review the transactions in my first week of AT Hop on Metrolink/Link buses, I found that I am rarely charged the correct amount. It’s mostly overcharging, but for some reason I was charged $0.67 for one ride, which is impossible [and I don’t take enough bus rides to be eligible for any kind of day pass]. And others seem to have similar tales of overcharging. Maybe the “technical issues” still are not resolved?
Ah that’s great Jeremy, I didn’t see that “request a refund” option before. Thanks for pointing it out.
I’m working my way through all this right now. My job requires me to travel all over Auckland. I tried driving…and it’s a pain. If you do eventually get where you’re going you very often find there is nowhere to park (legally). OK..so I have been using public transport instead. As virtually of my work travel is during both rush hours, this has actually worked out pretty well. But I constantly find I need to use services that aren’t on AT HOP….and I therefore have to have cash on hand. But the cash has to be in denominations of $10 or less or they refuse to accept it. I’m also paying full fare as I don’t get the AT HOP discount any any of these other fares. My response? I avoid travel options that aren’t on AT HOP. I’ll take the train and walk a wee bit (not not more than 10 mins) rather than take the bus that doesn’t accept the AT HOP card.
The whole thing is a mess at the moment. I’ve added money to my AT HOP card online twice since November 10th and neither top-up is on my card yet. Why anyone would buy a monthly pass is a mystery as most of the buses in Zone B South (all?) don’t even take the AT HOP card.
The involvement of private operators has imposed huge waste on Auckland public transport. For example, Toronto’s “Toronto Transit Commission” (TTC) run every bus and train under one umbrella, completely removing the need for this $100 million dollar tag-card system. You can also travel anywhere in that city for about $3.00. There is just the one fare. No stages or sections. The monthly / weekly passes are dumb plastic cards with number of the week or the name of month printed on them. It’s SO SIMPLE.
I can’t help but feel that Auckland has paid an extremely high price for the proven fiction that private business does anything better. Where public transport is concerned – across the past 20-odd years – they manifestly do not.
I’m trying to make this system work for me. It IS improving…..but things could have been so much better so very long ago if ideology hadn’t lead to wasted time and money as it has done.
To be fair the ticketing system has been shambolic for decades, see this awful page on the AT website. In March this will only need to be a few paragraphs long rather than pages of impossible information.
http://www.maxx.co.nz/info/pricing-passes/bus-fares.aspx
I’d love to know that as well. I think it’s ridiculous that an area where at least 200 000 people live has nowhere this can be done!
I think we have to understand that public transport is a service. AT’s definition of service is “that which a bull does to a cow” and they are trying to service as many Aucklanders as they possibly can.
Morning everyone. A couple of things- working with Snapper to retain outlets as we move towards the end of Purple Hop in early December. Keep a bit of a balance on both cards or carry cash then ensure you move your balance over on Purple HOP to Blue HOP. Re the word ‘easy’ – I was actually responding to a question form the journalist about how you can transfer money from Purple HOP to Blue HOP. I take the point though in respect of a dsmall number of Snapper outlets to achieve this necessary physical transfer.
How does a card holder go about removing their credit card details from their account, without substituting bank account details? I have no confidence in the auto top up feature, and the safest way to ensure no money is charged that I don’t want to be is to disable the feature, delete the charging details and wear the 25cent one-off top up fee. In this internet shopping day and age, I would have thought it was simple enough to get this info removed from an account, but the customer services rep didn’t know anything, and your FAQ’s don’t touch on it.
Customer logs in, clicks on manage Auto Top up and then clicks Disable
Hi Sharon, the auto-top up feature is already disabled, and shows as much on my account. I want to remove my credit card details (which appear to be stored, even though the auto-top up is disabled).
Hi Mab, suggest you give the contact centre a call- 09 366 4467- and get them to help you with this one
Regarding transferring amounts of less than $10 from your Snapper Hop:
I had a balance of $1.10 on my Snapper card. From what I’d read in the HoS, I thought that I would have to top up the Snapper card first then transfer it. However the shop assistant at One Stop Convenience on K Rd explained that customers are able to transfer the balance to their AT Hop card by topping up the *AT Hop card* by more than $10, which I did. So the whole “minimum $10 transfer” issue seems like a redundant miscommunication.
The message should be “Transfer your Purple Hop balance the next time you top up your AT Hop at these locations…”
Note to Sharon – the “Switching from purple Hop page” is out of date. It implies you can still use your Purple Hop card on services that have been cut over already.
http://www.athop.co.nz/what-is-AT-HOP/purple-hop/Pages/default.aspx
Auto top up from my bank account still not working for me though.
Also this rule that you must top up the AT HOP by at least $10 when doing a transfer – can’t blame Snapper for this! That’s an AT rule.
Patrick is sadly right- the ongoing patronage drop reflects the lack of confidence we now have in public transport. I’m staying away until the shambles is over.
AT’s marketing and communications shows how totally out of touch they are with the customer. Its press release tonight shows its continuing arrogance and effort to spin the truth.
Amid the “good news” about how well Hop is going, we get only one acknowledgment of the mess:
…”Auckland Transport’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Edmonds, says the roll-out is progressing according to plan but acknowledges some customers may have experienced some technical issues which are inevitable with a project of this scale and complexity.
“We are building a world-class system from scratch and when you are relying on technology unfortunately there may be problems along the way. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and support as we move to full implementation.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1311/S00547/auckland-transport-hop-roll-out-passes-halfway-point.htm
An apology would be nice. Even better an overhaul of the marketing department.
How many in the AT communications and marketing department use public transport daily? Sharon?
Once you could spin this via the media. Now blogs, social media and word of mouth can not mask the anger and frustration of customers on-the-ground.
For those of us who have tried hard to encourage people to move to PT and they now rant to us about how they have given up, it is especially disappointing.
Currently sitting on a Metrolink bus with an AT HOP ON BOARD sticker on the window – but a taped sign on the windscreen showing Purple Hop only, covered up AT HOP readers, and only 2 of 3 SNOP readers in action (one back one is broken and taped over). Very glad I pay cash.
Absolutely the WORST customer service since the invention of the @#$@# wheel!!
I doubt that. Those Ancient Sumerian chariot engineers were notorious for not returning phone calls.