As well as the simple announcements yesterday that integrated ticketing is getting NZTA funding and that Thales are inching ever closer to being fully awarded the integrated/smart card ticketing contract for Auckland’s system there was also some further information on what the future of public transport in New Zealand might look like. The NZTA press release gives us some insight into what this future will be like:
The NZ Transport Agency Board has agreed to establish a national ticketing programme for public transport in New Zealand, and has approved funding for the development of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority’s integrated ticketing and fares systems as a first step.
Integrated ticketing is a critical component for any well-functioning public transport system. It makes public transport easier to use by allowing passengers to travel across a city using different modes of public transport with a single ticket. It offers flexibility and convenience for passengers, making public transport a more attractive option.
NZTA Board Chair Brian Roche said the development of a national integrated ticketing system would maximise returns on future investments in public transport in New Zealand and deliver the best possible benefits for users.
Mr Roche said as a first step in the development of the national ticketing programme the Board had approved funding for the Auckland Integrated Fares System (AIFS), including the development of a core central ticketing system.
“This is a long term investment in the future of public transport for New Zealand. We are investing in a strategic asset that will provide a world-class integrated ticketing solution for Auckland and form the backbone of an efficient, high-quality and value for money national ticketing programme for public transport in New Zealand.”
Mr Roche said control of the central system would give the NZTA a valuable source of data to inform future investments in public transport, and provide the ability to allow inter-operability and the option for multiple equipment suppliers and operators to participate in the system.
The NZTA will also be responsible for setting the technical standards for operation to be met by all equipment suppliers, transport operators and regional councils.
Mr Roche said it was critical that there be opportunities for multiple private sector providers to be fully engaged in the various technologies that facilitate a functioning integrated ticketing system. The system will be flexible enough to allow future technologies and electronic ticket providers to connect to the central system provided they meet the technical standards defined by the NZTA, with individual public transport operators able to decide which electronic ticketing equipment best meets their business needs. The NZTA’s focus will be on maintaining standards, options, choice and competitive tensions to ensure value for money and improvements in the effectiveness of public transport services.
Mr Roche said the agency had worked closely with ARTA on a rigorous investigation of different delivery options since ARTA’s announcement of their preferred tenderer in July.
“The Board is satisfied that the system being proposed by the preferred tenderer will provide an efficient, high-quality and value for money integrated ticketing solution for Auckland and for a national ticketing programme in the future.”
Mr Roche said the funding approval was provisional and subject to a number of conditions. These include the transfer of the rights to all of the integrated ticketing central system functions to the NZTA and a requirement for the NZTA to approve the specifications and standards for the central system, as well as overall system interface specifications and card standards. While the NZTA Board has provided ARTA with specific provisional funding levels, details cannot be disclosed while ARTA’s negotiations with their preferred tenderer are still underway.
“We’re investing public money in a long term strategic asset, and we’re committed to ensuring that we get the best possible return on that investment. NZTA will continue working closely with ARTA in the months ahead as they negotiate with their preferred tenderer. At the same time NZTA will continue to engage with a range of technology and transport operators to ensure that their preferences with respect to electronic ticketing are advanced both in Auckland and nationally. This will be important to ensure that the technical standards and issues of interoperability are developed cooperatively.”
Basically, I think that the idea is to create universal standards for the whole country that all smart-card ticketing systems will use. Kind of like how EFTPOS works – in that it won’t matter what type of card you use, it won’t matter the kind of machine that you use it on, they will all be inter-operable. That sounds pretty fantastic really, the idea that I could use my Auckland smart-card on Wellington’s public transport system when I’m on holiday there, or that a tourist could use one card anywhere in the country for their needs. By making the system incredibly easy for people to use, and actually being ‘cool’ I think that there is a lot of potential for this system to really make a huge difference to public transport in the future.
Now that’s the good news. The ‘not so good news’ is how long this will all take. In an interview on National Radio this morning with ARTA CEO Fergus Gammie suggests that while integrated/smart-card ticketing will be ‘largely complete’ by the time of the Rugby World Cup – it won’t be absolutely complete. Considering that we have been talking about integrated ticketing for… well, decades now, it seems pretty shocking that even now that funding has been sorted, the legislation to make sure this happens has been sorted, just about everything has been sorted yet it might be another three or four years before this is completed. Substantially complete or largely complete is a bit of a nonsense anyway – as you will either be able to use the smart-card on the bus, or you won’t; and you’ll be able to use it on the train, or you won’t. There’s not really a middle ground here.
I do understand that installing ticket-gates at train stations, and new ticketing machines on all our buses can’t exactly happen overnight, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to hope that this project could be completed within the next two years. After all, we are building a $430 million motorway tunnel within the next two years – to ensure that it is complete before the Rugby World Cup. Surely integrated ticketing, a project that I would imagine would be of far more benefit to your average World Cup visitor than the Victoria Park Tunnel, could be prioritised to the extent that it was complete within the next two years?
And in the meanwhile, there really is nothing stopping us rolling out a paper-based integrated ticketing system tomorrow.
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Do you know if the cards will be able to be used for small non-transport purchases? This seemed to be one of the few good points of the Snapper Card, where you could use it to buy coffees and the like.
I see this as a big advantage of the system as non-users or infrequent users of public transit would be more likely to have a card, and then they would be more likely to use public transport as a result.
However I guess the success of this depends on buy in from retailers, and i’m not sure how successful this has been in Wellington.
Most tourist should end up with Auckland’s card given where most tourists arrive…
I believe from what I’ve read it can be intergrated into other purchases, while ideal I don’t see it as vital. The important thing is making it easy and affordable to retain.
Jarbs, I’m not sure if Eftpos is the best example, as I pointed out on the CBT board when Eftpos was first introduced in NZ there were two competing non-interoperable systems for a couple of years. They went head to head like VHS and betamax for a while until one emerged the winner (and a whole bunch of consumers were the losers). Exactly what we should aim to avoid!
Certainly using an contactless smart card for small purchaces is common overseas, and there should be no reason why the Thales system could not support such functionality. The should focus on public transport first and foremost, then consider taxis, parking buildings and perhaps tolls, then worry about coffees and newspapers.
I mean eftpos as it works now. Being able to use the card for other purchases would be pretty cool – and would certainly get people used to using the card.
Aaaargh! Scrap the whole integrated ticketing fiasco! I think I have commented before on the frustration that this dire brainless farce is causing.
There is nothing – repeat, nothing – stopping ARTA from creating a single ticketing system for all of Auckland’s PT services right now, with no need for expensive and complex IT ‘swipe’ systems.
Instead of trying to think how ARTA can persuade/coerce/bribe (at vast expense) the various ‘free market’ PT operator companies into ‘cooperating’, rethink the problem as follows. ARTA subsidises all PT operators hugely (IIRC roughly $150m pa) – all PT companies have a high proportion of their services as ‘contracted’ (ie subsidised) by ARTA. So ARTA really has the companies over a barrel – if ARTA insist on a new ticket system, the companies must accept or go bust – a truly pyrhic victory.
Once we grasp ARTA’s power, we simply issue a new set of ARTA tickets based on current tickets. That is, ARTA make use of their new ticket system a condition of every ‘contracted’ service getting it’s subsidy. This is what they have with the rail – Veolia simply collects fares on behalf of ARTA, who pay Veolia for running the service (which can include payment per passenger, ie a performance incentive). PT operators can continue their own tickets in parallel, but these will quickly vanish, as they offer no benefit to passengers.
So, ARTA shift to become a genuine coordinator of PT services, using the power they have in paying for much of the costs. Paying the operators to just run the physical service and collect your (ARTA) fares on your behalf, instead of the hand-wringing, gutless ARTA we have now, who just snivel if the companies don’t ‘play fair’.
Best of all, ARTA can insist on fixed price contracts to run the service, meaning the more success (passengers) they get, the more profit to ARTA, which pays for more improved services. None of this needs the law changes ARTA always claim they need – they just need the guts to do what business does all the time – fight for their corner. Shocking….
Oh, and this would save us the tens of millions of $ that ARTA are about to waste on an Integrated Ticketing system , not to mention ongoing operating costs. Wouldn’t that be nice. I note this is also what Mees cites Zurich as using in your post on commuter vs urban PT, Jarbury…
They can’t do that because of the existing contracts which expire at different times…
I think the new powers of the PTMA mean that ARTA can do just that, however as Jeremy says there is nothing that can force an operator on a commercial route to accept an integrated ticket until current contracts expire.
However, I think ARTA could still do this. I think it is only a minority of services that don’t get subsidised, and the bus companies would be stupid to turn away people with integrated tickets from their commercial services (because they would probably not stay commercial for long).
The dithering on integrated ticketing makes me so incredibly angry. There is no other way in which public transport could be improved so much, for so little cost. Yet we have talked about it for years and years and years with no result. It is fucking disgraceful, to put it mildly.