Subscribe to RSSHOPalong CarCity
Good heavens! Blasphemy! You will one day be able to use your public transport HOP smart card to pay for…. car parking.
In excess of 74,000 HOP cards issued so far and using HOP to pay at carparks is in the planning stages.
It’s one good thing to come out of the appalling fraud scam in which Auckland motorists using their credit cards at Council carparks found mysterious transactions appearing on their accounts from people in Arizona.
As far as I can tell, there has never been any full public explanation of how that came to be or local prosecution.
All we have learnt is that the credit card processing software at the automatic payment machines
in these car parks did not comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
(PCI-DSS), which is a required standard for any payment system that incorporates a credit card
payment option. A shocker.
If we can use HOP at these machines it would save frustration too
These days, paying at Council carparks is a mission as credit cards can not be used. And after being caught out badly by attending a night event in the city and finding bus and trains were no longer running, I do use cars at night if that is a possibility.
For reasons I have gone on about ad nauseam dodgy cabs are no longer welcome.
The apt-named Auckland Transport-inherited Project Arizona is a project to upgrade equipment in the four CBD car parking facilities. Besides the technology security issue, the car parking equipment in use is near the end of its life and does not support the level of automation that is required for the car parks.
It has been activated in two Council car parks and will be fully rolled out within weeks. Roll out of the Karangahape Road site has been completed, and the Civic car park went live on
June 20. Victoria Street and Downtown car parks come on stream in the next few weeks. You can pay by cash EFTPOS and credit card. And it meets the security requirements.
Future phases include on-line reservation functionality, and integration to allow customers to use the HOP card to pay for parking. Let’s not get hung up on PT vs cars. That’s a good thing because it’s about convenience and using modern technology.
Meanwhile pre-installation of rail station devices continues. At least 40 stations have now had foundation works completed. The remaining five stations should be anyday.
Aaron spotted this one at Manurewa
Thales remains on track for the delivery of Phase 2 of the programme - a special pass for use on rail during the RWC . Factory testing has now been completed and NZ based site acceptance testing has commenced.
Rail proper should come on board at the end of the year with gates at Britomart and Newmarket.
BTW I saw an interesting HOPPER problem on the bus yesterday.
Two rather dishevelled poor looking souls got on and the woman asked if she could pay using HOP for her friend. She tried and the machine barked at her that she had already paid.
She got very distressed and the driver said her friend needed a HOPPER card as well.
She said they did not have any cash on them.
I took out my wallet to hand them some coins but realised these days I carry only cards, no cash.
The friend then found a couple of coins and paid.
9 Comments
Having HOP cards to pay for parking is is something we should definitely be doing as it helps to get more people with cards which in turn will make it easier for them to try PT
(also the green readers have installed at some stations for a few weeks now, I couldn’t take a photo as it was either to dark in the evenings or covered in condensation in the mornings
This is a great idea as it increases the chances of non PT users to use PT.
Regarding the lady who attempted to pay for her friend using her HOP Card, this was an issue I raised on AKT awhile back with no response. However, I have emailed Auckland Transport and the response they gave me was that this shouldn’t be a problem. When you get on the bus, you notify the driver as to how many people you will be paying for and then you tag on. To get off the bus, I believe you only need to tag off once.
Hello Guys
Yes!!! How exciting it will be when doing on the carpark!
Well I have to say, I have asked that question with Auckland Transport too, I didn’t get their reply until 2 weeks later. this is what they have replied
Dear Jacky
Thank you for contacting us regarding the new HOP smartcard, launched by Auckland Transport as part of the introduction to Integrated Ticketing.
Your query was forwarded to the HOP project team for response. They have advised that the ability to use HOP to pay for car parking has been considered but that no final decision has been reached. Should this scheme be approved, it would not be introduced until the final phases of the HOP implementation are rolled out next year.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us with your query and for your support of Auckland Transport.
Kind regards
very optimistic… looking forward to it. haha
Jacky
I noticed the other night the 4 tag posts at britomart next to the timetables at platform level- are these just for use during the world cup with the temporary ticket, or are we not getting gates for some time? If there are Only 4 posts for the main entrance, it seems a few toofew- not only for during the cup when patronage will be higher, but even for day to day operation I would have thought.
For example, a full train comes in with 500 passengers. 400 go towards the main entrance, and are split between the 4 posts… Thats100 passengers each. Also take into account people trying to tag on and you have a pretty major queue that will take a while to clear.
Posts are great for buses- at a major stop 5 might exit and 10 might get on… We now only stop for 40 seconds. Multiply that by 10 though and you have a problem!
Sam they are just for the rwc trial, gates will be installed for the ‘Commuter’ rollout.
You can use your HOP card for multiple fares i.e. to pay for two or three.
The trick is to tell the driver how many tickets you want *before* you tag on. The driver fiddles with their space-age panel for a bit then will let you know to tag on.
When you get off you just tag off once.
The driver was either not being helpful or new or didn’t know what to do in situations like this.
The explanation as I understood it was that someone, somehow, managed to install data capture hardware into one of the parking payment units at the Downtown (? The one next to the Viaduct) building that then sent card details over the internet.
No local prosecution is not, to be honest, terribly surprising. Unless the person who installed the hardware had a criminal record and left useful fingerprints, determining precisely who was responsible is pretty much impossible.
There’re certainly no issues with getting compliant systems now - they’re used at the Britomart monstrosity, for example, and at SkyCity - but the Council has a bigger problem of becoming PCI-DSS compliant after having had its credit card payment systems breached. That’s a big hurdle.
I would like hop support on the text-a-park machines more than the ones that are in a nice sheltered building.
It sucks being out in the cold, sending a SMS to a number that you have to mess with the machine to get in the first place and then push stuff to get the ticket to display.
If you could just swipe the hop, press the button for how long or whatever and get the ticket it would be great. and no 50c fee either.