Refunds for Hop-on card glitches

Auckland Transport hopes the error count for not 'tagging off' at the end of a trip will be 3 per cent. Photo / Natalie Slade

Auckland Transport says about 300 passengers have been reimbursed after forgetting or being unable to "tag off" buses with new electronic tickets.

It estimates that in the last three weeks of May, 5.3 per cent of passengers did not tag off Hop-ready buses.

Spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said that was out of 167,437 journeys on Hop cards since NZ Bus rolled out the system on North Star buses on May 8.

She expected the proportion to fall to 2 per cent to 3 per cent as passengers became more used to it.

The company added its Go West and Waka Pacific fleets to the system on May 22, and completed its part in the process on June 6 with its Metrolink and Link services.

Trains and Devonport ferries will be added late this year, and other Auckland bus and ferry fleets are expected to join in by the end of next year, turning the Hop card into the region's long-awaited integrated transport ticket.

Passengers would normally be penalised for not tagging off at the end of trips, based on the number of stages left on a bus run, to a maximum fare of $5.04c. But they were offered a six-week grace period during the introduction of the card and given one chance of having the penalty waived and credit reimbursed.

Some passengers have complained of being penalised after trying, but being unable, to tag off.

Ms Hunter said NZ Bus had reprimanded a driver who turned off the new system on his route too early, leaving Mt Albert resident Victor van Wetering unable to tag off at the end of his trip to Victoria St a week ago.

Mr van Wetering said that although a penalty of $3 was the same as his two-stage fare, an electronic message advising him of the penalty on his return trip made it difficult to tag back on and he feared being charged extra.

Although NZ Bus has since offered him complimentary bus passes, and assured him he will not be penalised for the return trip, he said he was concerned about initial advice that he would have to go to Britomart to receive any reimbursement.

"Integrated ticketing's great but my experience has made me totally allergic to the new system," he said.

Campaign for Better Transport convenor Cameron Pitches said he was also penalised $3 after a separate trip into the city, when he and everyone else on a bus were unable to tag off because the driver switched the system too early to his next route.

Because the penalty was the same as his fare, he had not complained about the incident, but believed it raised "driver training issues".

Ms Hunter advised passengers unable to tag off to call a phone number - 3664HOP - to have their penalties waived.

HOP OFF

* 167,437 journeys in three weeks

* 300 passengers reimbursed for card errors

* 5 per cent of passengers not using system correctly

* 3664HOP is the number to call to have penalties waived