Subscribe to RSSAuckland Snapper Launches Wednesday
Snapper officially launches its entry into Auckland with a detailed announcement this coming Wednesday.
Installation of smart card readers in Auckland’s NZ Bus fleet has already begun and training of drivers has also commenced. Advertising has started on the back of buses and billboards.
Auckland bus advertising has begun
Over 150,000 Snappers have been issued in Wellington, generating over 33 million transactions, across over 400 buses, 700 taxis, and hundreds of retailers.
The retail push is an important one for Snapper.
It has done deals already with Auckland Co-Op Cabs, the city’s biggest taxi company and Green Cabs and Snapper can be used at Subways and a number of Auckland convenience stores including FIX and other outlets.
In all, 120 Auckland retailers now have Snapper terminals installed and Snapper expects that 200 retailers will be operating terminals.
North Star will be the first of the bus fleet to launch the Snapper ticketing system in April.
In December, at the joint Auckland Transport news conference to announce Snapper’s compatibility with the new Auckland transport smart card, Snapper CEO Miki Szikszai said: “Snapper is pleased to be supporting Auckland Transport’s Integrated Ticketing initiative. Snapper is also working with our existing industry partners to bring a range of services for contactless payments in retail and other categories to the Auckland market. We think Aucklanders will love the simplicity and convenience of Snapper’s proven contactless payment system when paying for everyday items.”
Snapper also is working with Eventfinder to make event tickets available on Snapper. A ticket purchased on the Eventfinder website can be loaded on a Snapper card and when the card is tapped on a reader at the events it will provide entry without the need for a paper ticket.
13 Comments
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Can someone explain to me what the difference between Hop and Snapper is?
I am living in Sydney at the moment, so I am not sure if there is a big explanatory advertising campaign going on back home, but it all seems very confusing.
I am young, technology savy, and try to keep up to date with public transport news, and the whole thing is beyond me. I have friends that have never heard of either Hop or Snapper. Surely it is important to publicise these improvements in clear and concise way?
@Lti Snapper is the card run by NZBus in Wellington for its buses -which is adapting here.
http://www.snapper.co.nz/all-about-snapper/
It will interchangable with the Auckland Transport smart card which is yet to be publicly named but is said to be called Hop or Hopp.
http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/about-us/News/ArchivedNewsReleases/Pages/Media-Release-Key-Development-Integrated-Ticketing.aspx
Hop has taken too long, and NZ Bus will be successful in their plan to damage Hop and interoperability.
Somebody’s gotta pay. (It’s almost always us).
Im no expert in marketing, but to me describing your banking type product as “magic” seems like a strange move.
Will Snapper work on the train/ferry? Is it best to wait for the Hop card? When will the Hop card be available anyway?
This is all very confusing for the average punter.
I guess it’s confusing for a city who are pretty much brand new to smart cards. I think we have a similar situation in Korea with cards. Why should AT have a monopoly?
Maybe Jon can tell me if this is the case or not:
“Hop” will probably be the name of the official Auckland Transport card for use on public transport.
“Snapper” as we all know is used in Wellington. It is a card which can be used for retail purchases and is also compatible with the new card system on public transport.
The technology is compatible. However I am not sure if “Hop”(?) cards will work on Snapper terminals at retail outlets. They may work but with limited features also.
If you read the media release above it says
Peter Beggs, Country Director, Thales New Zealand said, “As the core ticketing system provider (central system, rail and ferry), Thales welcomes the participation of other suppliers in providing the bus solution for the system.”
“From the outset, the Thales system, which is based on open architecture in use in Dubai and Netherlands, is designed to be open, enabling third parties to connect to Auckland Transport’s central system. “
I hope everything I said doesn’t turn out to be wrong!
I still dont really know what the point of Snapper is. Isn’t it just an EFTPOS card, except you have no PIN, it works contactlessly, and you have to top it up instead of it accessing your bank account.
I dont really see the point.
@Andy Auckland Transport has not yet publicly launched their card although the marketing kicks off any day. Its widely believed to be called some variation of the word Hop/Hopp.
The travel will be compatible on the cards i.e. you can use either cards for public transport as it is essential a travel smart card but Snapper make their own arrangements with retailers and other outlets so Auckland Transport would have to do a deal themselves with say Subway. Auckland Transport did say they would be making some arrangements with retailers at some stage.
presumably hop cards will not be compatible for purchases at snapper retailers, but snapper cards _will_ be compatible for transport fares on the hop network ??
Consider it like a phone. All phones have to be able to make CALLS. There’s quite specific requirements around interoperability, so that any phone can call any number. So producers of phones add bells and whistles, so you choose their phone - they add fancy display screens, cameras, games, internet. At the core, they still all work as phones.
Similar here - Snapper will still work as an Auckland PT smartcard. But to get their market share as high as possible (and thus make money from other providers and services), they are adding on other goodies - such as the ability to pay for a pack of chewing gum, or get goodie points for every 10 NZ bus trips or whatever…
So there’s lots of benefit for them to get in early, and maybe even to confuse people about the differences between a “plain” Hop card and a “Snapper” card. As long as the Snapper card has full Hop card functionality (and it will have to!) I don’t see the need to worry.
what the hell. Silly govt need to monopolize the public transport to one name. Do they know how idiotic they seem to me with all the bull$#@! and lack of simple advertising regarding purchasing a bus ticket.
I work with the promoting and converting from the go rider cards to the hop cards and I think it is a smarter way to pay for things in a fast paced environment like auckland. I mean soon before the world cup credit cards will be the same. So give HOP a chance nobody likes change but sometimes change is good.