Contactless payment tipped to boost public transport use in Auckland

New Zealand’s Auckland Transport (AT) is set to introduce contactless payment options across all of the city’s buses, trains and ferries over the next 12 months.

The move will enable customers to tap on and off using contactless options (debit/credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay) alongside the current AT HOP travel smartcard.

“You won’t need to stress about buying a HOP card, topping it up, or forgetting it,” said AT Chief Executive Dean Kimpton.

“You can just tag on with what you already have in your pocket like in London, New York or Sydney.

“It’s going to make paying for public transport as easy and simple as paying for a coffee, as it should be.”

The changes will apply to adults paying full fares only, meaning those eligible for concession discounts – such as students and the elderly – will still need to use their HOP card as normal.

Despite accounting for almost 40 percent of all passengers, this cohort will have to wait until the National Ticketing Solution is introduced, which may take until 2026.

More trips

AT estimates that the introduction of contactless payments will lift public transport passenger numbers by between two million and three million trips per year.

“This change is going to make public transport more appealing for more people including tourists, visitors, casual users, and first-time users,” added Kimpton.

“I see these improvements, which will come in next year, helping to push us past 100 million public transport trips per year in 2024 and that is huge.

“The more people catching public transport, the less emissions, the less traffic, and the easier and safer it is for us to move around our city.”

COVID-19 acceleration

Chris Creighton, AT’s Group Manager Digital and Technology Delivery, says COVID-19 has accelerated the preference for contactless payments.

“Since 2018 there has been a 62 percent increase in contactless payments. It’s the quickest, easiest way to buy something and it makes perfect sense for public transport,” he commented.

Creighton added that there is still a lot of work to do to get the system ready for its launch next year.

“Though the payments will be easy for customers, upgrading our back-end system to allow for these payments requires a huge amount of work behind the scenes,” he said.

“We have been keeping a close eye on other cities who have already introduced this technology to great success such as London, Sydney and others.”

It is estimated that the improvements will cost approximately NZ$23 million (US$14.2 million).

In October 2022, New Zealand’s government announced that most public transport cards nationwide would be phased out and replaced with a national card, or with contactless payments under a new National Ticketing Solution.

The first pilot under the programme will begin in 2024 in Canterbury, with all other cities in New Zealand to have transitioned to the NTS by 2026.

Image: AT