Fergus Gammie: A more efficient public transport system is just the ticket

Photo / Paul Estcourt

Opinion

Recognition in your editorial that a transferable ticket between bus, rail and ferry travel is a key to successful public transport is both timely and welcome.

It is timely because Auckland will lead the way in introducing to New Zealand a proven electronic card as its future fare medium.

This travel card integrated ticketing system is currently in use in 85 cities around the world.

It is a mature off-the-shelf system, which can be established in Auckland and then, in line with the intentions of the New Zealand Transport Agency, be expanded to cover the rest of the country.

Use of the card is not confined to transport journeys. Customers could use it for other purchases, in line with the spread of electronic terminals taken up by retail outlets, such as cafes, petrol stations and magazine vendors.

This system, designed and developed by the French Thales Group, is the preferred choice of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) for Auckland.

The path to be followed is similar to that in Denmark, which implemented the system in Copenhagen during 1995, and five years later expanded the project to cover the country.

Buses will have contactless card validators at entry and exit.

Stations will be equipped with similar validators and automatic gates, and have agent-operated point-of-sale terminals, self-service ticket vending and reloading machines.

There will be hand-held verifying terminals for inspectors.

A feature will be its user-friendliness. The system automatically charges the best possible fare for the journey passengers wish to make.

Here's how it works. At the start of a journey, a passenger checks on with the card.

A down payment is then deducted from the amount of credit available on the card (the purse). At completion of travel the passenger checks out, the fare is calculated and adjustments are made to the purse accordingly.

Passengers can have their cards recharged with a bank transfer when the balance reaches an agreed fixed minimum.

Customers can have internet access to their card's reloading and travel history, along with fare details for each of their journeys. Season passes and multi-journey tickets will initially be accommodated, but may be phased out as frequent users will almost certainly be able to benefit from loyalty discounts.

We expect to have significant components operating in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The prime requirement of ARTA, as a transport agency in its tender process, was establishment of an integrated multimodal system. That the preferred system can be extended for use by customers in retail purchasing is a convenience to public transport users, as noted by a New Zealand Herald columnist.

ARTA used a competitive tendering process in the selection of a preferred provider. A review by the NZTA concluded that the process had been properly conducted.

The aim of ARTA was, and is, to select a best-value option for our region that also takes into account requirements of the NZTA, a major provider of finance for the system. This is, in effect, a best-value business decision.

* Fergus Gammie is ARTA's chief executive.