Auckland's troubled public transport ticketing project is under scrutiny by the office of Auditor-General Lyn Provost.
Confirming that yesterday, a spokeswoman indicated that the exercise arose from the office's annual plan for the last financial year rather than from any new concerns about the $98 million-plus Hop card project.
In foreshadowing a "special study" aimed at providing Parliament with assurance that a specific transport project is being managed appropriately, the plan referred to the Hop scheme as a possible candidate for the office's attention.
But Labour's transport spokesman, Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford, has written to Ms Provost asking that it include an examination of the decision-making process that allowed Wellington-based Snapper Services to introduce an early Hop card ahead of the main scheme.
Auckland Transport, which is receiving a $56 million Government subsidy in return for allowing the scheme's "back-office" processing centre to be used ultimately by councils in other cities, has put Snapper on notice of claiming extra costs for any delays.
