- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter funded by New Zealand on Air
Auckland Transport’s chief executive says there has been a 10 per cent uptake of contactless payments on public transport.
At the Auckland Transport board meeting in December, the chief executive officer’s update prompted questions about the success of contactless payments.
In late November, Auckland Transport (AT) introduced contactless smart device, debit and credit card payments for public transport.
The report said there was a lag in receiving contactless payment transactions, which would impact reporting metrics until this month.
Despite the hiccup, Councillor Chris Darby asked what sense the chief executive had about what kind of users had taken up contactless payment.
“What sort of users have picked it up? Is it young people? Is it old people? Where are they? Are they visitors?” Darby asked.
AT chief executive Dean Kimpton said there was about a 10 per cent uptick in contactless payments since its introduction.
“We’ve noticed a bump at places like the airport where you’d expect and over the cruise season similarly an uptick in percentage of contactless payments versus hop cards.”
Public transport and active modes director Stacey van der Putten said there had been a 1.5 per cent uptake in contactless payment week-on-week since it was introduced.
“We expected that. We thought people would use their HOP credit and then transfer to contactless if that suits them,” said van der Putten.
The Waiheke Island bus had a huge uplift similarly to services around the airport, she said.
“In terms of types of users, we don’t really know because it’s just a standard adult fare.”
AT says it’s working to fix the lag in reporting ahead of February and March, the busiest time of year for public transport.
