Snapper - Anyone Using It?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Snapper - Anyone Using It?

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davidcole

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#151239 25-Jul-2008 11:34

The only thing I kind of disagree about with this snapper thing (and its just me being a pedant) but why does it cost me 25c to load my money on the card??

And on the Connductorless trains, personally I'd like it, on the early morning trains that are standing room only, its a PITA the so the guards forcing themselves down the middle to collect tickets. Surely there's a better solution. I've seen how Paris, London, Melbourne, Sydney, Rome have done it, and while that would be great, with the amount of money that's being spent on rail around here (ie bugger all) I can't really see them putting turnstiles in at all the stations..

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knoydart

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#151240 25-Jul-2008 11:38

sbiddle: It would seem that for a system that is technically fantastic it's been let down by the kiwi "she'll be right" attitude.

The issue of daily maximum charges isn't something for NZ Bus/Snapper - you should really be contracting the Wellington Regional Council as they set pricing for services not the transport operators. I agree there should be a maximum daily charge and it should include all forms of transport allowing seamless transfer between buses and trains but as we know the regional council have been sitting around talking about such issues for years so credit has to at least go to Infratel for rolling out a product on their own that will hopefully force the WRC to actually do something other than promise another "review"

I asked the snapper people specfically about the day tripper pass, seeing as Go Wellington and Snapper are linked quite closely. A Wellington wide travel card would be great, to encourge cross town travel, I know the day tickets exsist but maybe taking to the snapper platform will bring it out into the open a bit more?

Sadly the "she'll be right" or not taking action has seen over places over take New Zealand in this area (and some others!!). When I moved over, I was shocked about the paper & cash based rail tickets. Overseas, gaurds / train managers / ticket sellers have hand held devices with all the (complex) fare rules, ticket pinters and credit / debit card payment. New Zealand gaurds have a book of tearoff paper tickets and a pocketful of change. Being a county almost run on eftpos, it is quite amazing...

Bring on the joined up tickets I say

jhc123

28 posts

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#151243 25-Jul-2008 11:55

Agreed, the only way Snapper will be of real use- and not just another card cluttering up our wallets- is if all the regional transport operators including the trains use the same system. Whatever the issues GWRC and WCC may have with snapper being privately owned- they need to get over it and look at implementing Snapper now. It's there and operating and it seems that people WANT to use it.

Not holding my breath though as in the latest Ngauranga to Airport corridor strategy they state this aim in the plan (http://www.gw.govt.nz/story_images/5307_GWRCWCCNgaurang_s10705.pdf).... progressive implementation of comprehensive integrated ticketing from 2011

2011 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why wait that long and what sort of draft strategy is that when the technology is available now.

I certainly wouldn't want yet another smart card for a second service. Not being a regular train traveller I'd not bother getting one as I hate a wallet cluttered with rarely used cards. I would happily use my bus card for the trains on the occasions I do use them if this was supported though.

Personally also I hope the City Councils get onto snapper for things like swimming pool entry, library charges (and maybe even to replace the library card) etc. Once all the public transport users are signed up there should be enough critical mass to get things like this going with very little user re-education so it's simple to do and my wallet can get less cluttered (yay).

TinyTim

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#151245 25-Jul-2008 11:57

davidcole: The only thing I kind of disagree about with this snapper thing (and its just me being a pedant) but why does it cost me 25c to load my money on the card??

You pay to get the card (and you still don't own it), you pay to load money, they earn interest off your credit, and the retailer pays when you use it. Buy shares in infratil.

sbiddle

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#151252 25-Jul-2008 12:07

jhc123:
Agreed, the only way Snapper will be of real use- and not just another card cluttering up our wallets- is if all the regional transport operators including the trains use the same system. Whatever the issues GWRC and WCC may have with snapper being privately owned- they need to get over it and look at implementing Snapper now. It's there and operating and it seems that people WANT to use it.

Agreed..

The reality is that GWRC have been pwn3d - they were full of so much hot air that somebody created the solution right in front of them and has backed them into a corner. They could have easily implimented Snapper themselves and had ownership but due to their own incompetence missed the opportunity. Infratil are a very smart operator, spotted an opportunity and jumped. They didn't procrastanate like GWRC do.

wellygary

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#151257 25-Jul-2008 12:21

jhc123: Personally also I hope the City Councils get onto snapper for things like swimming pool entry, library charges (and maybe even to replace the library card) etc. Once all the public transport users are signed up there should be enough critical mass to get things like this going with very little user re-education so it's simple to do and my wallet can get less cluttered (yay).

If you look at the snapper site, it says that the welligton regional aquatic centre is a "coming soon" place, along with WCC's service desk in town, so I guess they are stepping their toe in the water to see how it goes, and if it all works as expected they would roll them out to all the pools,

Once Mojo get snappered this card is going to be very dangerous to my financial well being :)

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davidcole

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#151295 25-Jul-2008 14:39

The only other "issue" with a card like this is that it's only works for single instance travel. I.e. it doesn't replace a monthly train pass. And so effectively become a reusable 10 trip pass.

I agree it would be very nice if everything was similar, at the moment I have a Hutt Valley flyer stored value card for the bus, and a monthly train pass for the train, and nothing for central wellington. Imagine if it was all the same thing.....

I've seen my regular coffee house now takes the snapper (and their own stored value card) and witha mojo card as well....it's getting complicated.

mrl

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#153437 1-Aug-2008 21:03

I have recently got a snapper and am pleased with the ease of use on the buses. I have however observed some issues with the snapper feeder. I use Vista premium and when ever I access my card on the website using the feeder a dialog box pops up 5 times asking to either elivate or remain limited which is anoying. Also I restart or shutdown my pc it crashes if the feeder is connected.

paradoxsm

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#153452 1-Aug-2008 21:55

"fish" and "feeder" finally arrived yesterday, I wonder what else I can use this Proxycard reader for? hmmm?

Definately just a direct clone of the Korean T-Money, the "T" is on the reader clasp.
works well though I'd love offline access to card details.

Vista issues... lol

ajobbins

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#153547 2-Aug-2008 12:52

Got mine Wednesday. Vista issues as well with the feeder.

Unfortunately my Vic Uni student ID (Proximity Card) interferes with it in my wallet and the readers shout "Multiple Cards Detected", so I have to take it out of my wallet for it to work :(

alasta

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#153579 2-Aug-2008 14:02

I got mine on Thursday and used it on the bus on Friday night - no problems there.

I have just had a go at topping it up with the feeder and as mrl has described above every time the feeder tries to communicate with the card I get a dialogue box asking me whether I want to 'elevate' or 'remain limited' (I have no idea what this means and it's not explained anywhere) and then I am repeatedly presented with that prompt along with several security confirmations before I can proceed to the next stage. Fortunately the top up was successful in the end but the whole process is incredibly irritating and makes me think that it hasn't been tested properly under Vista.

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tobias

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#153619 2-Aug-2008 16:39

Unfortunately my Vic Uni student ID (Proximity Card) interferes with it in my wallet and the readers shout "Multiple Cards Detected", so I have to take it out of my wallet for it to work :(

Yeah, heard from a few friends about that being a problem. Is it possible to put them on opposite sides of the wallet and flip it open as a workaround?

I was about to use the snapper card for the first time today but realised a daytripper was going to suit the day's travels better - does anyone know what/if they are going to do along the lines of daytrippers? I understand there was rumour about some sort of 'monthly cap' to cater for the monthly pass users so maybe there's something that could be applied for a daily pass?

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