Media Release

Snapper Services Ltd 26th August 2009

DEMAND FOR SMART CARDS RUNNING HOT SAYS SNAPPER

Growing numbers of public transport passengers throughout New Zealand could soon be able to pay for their fare with a simple tap of a Snapper smart card which will also let them buy a cup of coffee, pay for parking, their dry cleaning, lunch and a growing array of other small value transactions.

Nearly 100,000 Snapper cards have been issued since Snapper launched in Wellington just over a year ago, but numbers could double or treble in the next year, and keep moving up from there, says the company which introduced the cards and the technology which supports them.

Miki Szikszai, CEO of Snapper Services Ltd, says the company is now responding to approaches from public transport operators and Councils throughout New Zealand who are interested in installing the system, which enables card holders to top up the credit on their cards online, or through participating retailers or other nominated outlets.

Mr Szikszai says more than half of all passengers on Wellington’s GO Wellington and Valley Flyer services already use a Snapper to pay for their fare, in preference to cash, and 85 percent of card users in a recent survey said they would recommend it to their friends and family. The smart card technology could also be easily extended to taxis, ferries and rail.

“Integrated ticketing between transport modes is now readily achievable,” says Mr Szikszai.”It’s really simple, and despite some teething problems, it’s popular with operators and passengers, and makes public transport more efficient. A bus can be loaded more quickly when passengers can use Snapper rather than fiddle with cash and wait for change. Also, in Wellington, commuters receive a 20 percent discount when they pay by Snapper rather than by cash. The system can easily deal with transfers, discounted fares, child fares, and family members travelling together on a single Snapper.”

Snapper Services is a subsidiary of major infrastructure investor Infratil, a company listed on the NZX, which has major public transport interests, including being the largest shareholder in Wellington airport and owning the biggest bus company in the Auckland region.  

It purchased the technology to successfully run the system from Korea, where it currently supports 25 million transactions a day in Seoul spanning 6,000 metro train gates, 45,000 taxis, and 10,000 buses allowing for integrated fares across the mega city.

Recording of the passenger transactions through smart card technology will provide invaluable information for New Zealand central and local bodies involved in planning and providing public transport services. Snapper intends to build and operate a system to collate and supply this information throughout New Zealand.

In the Auckland region the company is in advanced negotiations with a number of public transport operators and has also tendered to supply smart card services through the Auckland Regional Transport Authority and the NZ Transport Agency.

“It is an idea whose time has come” says Szikszai. ‘In just two years we will have more than 60,000 overseas visitors here for the Rugby World Cup expecting to be able to pay for public transport through a smart card accepted by all the different transport modes, a system most visitors will take for granted in their own country. Snapper wants visitors to be able to travel around New Zealand, on the mode of public transport that suits them, in the easiest most efficient way.  Visitors would prefer not to be fiddling with unfamiliar banknotes and coins, and holding people up.

“We have been very busy talking to operators and Councils throughout New Zealand and it is obviously desirable to have a common system throughout the country.

“Based on current interest levels, we would expect that hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders will be carrying a Snapper in their wallet or handbag, or on their keyring, by the time the Rugby World Cup gets under way.”

Ends

 
Media Inquiries to:

For further information please phone Miki Szikszai on 04 815 9251 or 027 4464 303