Transit board to meet on Thales

Auckland public transport users may find out on Wednesday whether they will get an integrated ticketing system that will let passengers pay for trips involving buses, trains and ferries with a single fare, paid using a smartcard.

The Transport Agency will meet tomorrow to discuss a funding request from the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, which has selected French technology firm Thales as its preferred supplier.

ARTA spokeswoman Sharon Hunter says the ball is in the court of the Transport Agency, which would fund 60 per cent of the project. The integrated ticketing system is expected to have a capital cost of more than $50 million.

Transport Agency spokesman Andy Knackstedt says the board will consider the funding request tomorrow. An announcement is likely on Wednesday.

A condition of the Transport Agency funding would be that Thales' system could act as the core of integrated ticketing systems in other cities.

The agency said that would mean it and regional councils could get a "rich source of information" on the trips passengers were making, helping them calculate the appropriate route subsidies to pay to transport operators.

This year, Infratil subsidiary Snapper Services made a thinly veiled threat of legal action against ARTA in relation to the tender, which it said had not been run properly.

It withdrew its objections after a Transport Agency inquiry.

Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai says progress has since been made at meetings hosted by the Transport Agency on how different smartcard ticketing systems could be integrated.

But he says it is important that these are completed before any contract is awarded in Auckland.

"The industry is of the view we could come up with a pragmatic local interoperability scheme in very short order that could save New Zealand significant amounts of money.

"The principles behind the national scheme need to be in place before Auckland is agreed."

- © Fairfax NZ News