'Octopus' bus, train and ferry tickets for Auckland

Auckland authorities have signed a $47 million contract with a Hong Kong company to create a unified single ticket system for the city's trains, buses and ferries.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Auckland Regional Council signed the deal with international weapons, electronics and radar company Thales.

"This is history in the making for Auckland and New Zealand, ARTA chairman Rabin Rabindran said in a statement.

He claims it will be New Zealand's first, true multi-modal transport ticket.

"Auckland will receive a proven, mature, multi-modal and multi-operator system leveraging some of the best fare collection systems already in operation in the world including Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Dubai," he said.

"This international, multi-country expertise will be bought into the New Zealand market adding value to our transport offering and aiding us significantly on the way towards a world-class transport system for Auckland."

The Thales system uses a system known as Octupus which was launched in 1997 as a widely used smart card payment system in Hong Kong.

Last week Infratil subsidiary Snapper Services said it would extend its own electronic card by March at no cost to taxpayers to the 70 percent of Auckland buses run by its sister company NZ Bus.

- © Fairfax NZ News