Auckland public transport

In my previous post, I said that Auckland's public transport is not good. An example is the payment card, or more precisely cards, used.

You see, there are 2 cards: The HOP card and the AT HOP card. The former can only be used on buses, while the latter can only be used on trains. The HOP card cannot be used on trains, while the AT HOP card cannot be used on buses. If you want to travel on buses and trains, you have to carry both cards (or pay cash). Compared to London's Oyster card, Singapore's Ezylink or even Malaysia's Touch-n-Go, it's a mess.

To be sure, the HOP card will be phased out eventually, and AT HOP will take over as the all-in-one integrated public transport card in Auckland. Eventually. But how did this mess come about in the first place?

AT HOP and HOP

The story begins a long, long time ago... in the year 2008. That year, Auckland Transport Council decided to implement an integrated smart card payment system. That's right; the city that Mercer's Report named the 3rd best city in the world did not have an integrated public transport smart card in 2008.

So there was a tender to determine the company that will get this large project. The finalists were Snapper, a New Zealand company, and a French company called Thales. Thales won the contract. However, for reasons I'm not entirely sure, Snapper was invited to participate in this project despite losing the bid, making them a partner (or competitor) to Thales.

Fast forward to 2012: Snapper's HOP card is not compatible with Thales AT HOP card. Then Auckland Council terminated Snapper's contract, claiming that the company is unable to deliver the system as promised. Snapper of course denied that, and lots of finger pointing happened. Regardless, millions of dollars were wasted, and lawsuits may be filed. And we still don't have an integrated payment card in 2013, despite NZD98 million spent so far.

The there's the Auckland City Rail Link proposal. This proposal is based on a report commisioned by the Auckland City Council. The report states that the number of people working in Auckland is projected to double by 2040, and a new NZD2.8 billion rail link will reduce traffic congestion. But Transport Minister decided that this project is too expensive, and decided not to proceed with it. Basically the government decided to ignore the recommendation from a report commisioned by one of its own agencies. Sounds like Malaysia?

Auckland's Harbour Bridge (picture from http://www.nzherald.co.nz)

Why nobody taking the train?