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

alasta

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#24363 22-Jul-2008 11:28

For those who aren't familiar this is a new smartcard based electronic payment system backed by Infratil. At this stage it allows users to pay bus fares and make purchases at selected retailers around Wellington, but there is clearly potential for it to grow significantly if it is successful.

This morning I have ordered a snapper card, USB top-up device and $20 of credit to get started, with the card and USB device being available at a discount until October. It should hopefully be with me in the post by the end of this week.

I'm really excited about this concept as I hate using EFTPOS for small purchases due to the time taken and using cash is no better as I get annoyed with the coins that end up jingling around in my pocket. This is everything that Pago should have been - fast, simple and flexible.

www.snapper.co.nz for more details.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#150191 22-Jul-2008 11:39

I am interested to know more as well. I came across one last week and I was told you can use it for small purchases at locations as Fishbone (a food chain in Wellington/Auckland), buses, and other places. It would be nice to see it grow.

sbiddle

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#150193 22-Jul-2008 11:40

It's a fantastic system - lets hope it succeeds! The Wellington Regional Council have been talking about a single ticketing solution for years and still don't seem any closer, it would be great to see Snapper evolve into that. Oyster has done amazingly well in London and is now very popular for micro payments, the technology is certainly proven.

alasta

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#150250 22-Jul-2008 13:20

Christchurch have had unified smartcard ticketing on all of their buses for years now, but if Wellington can go one step further by offering a card that can be used for other small purchases and topped up from home then I guess it will have been worth the wait.

I will post some feedback here in a couple of weeks once I've received and had the chance to use the card.

sbiddle

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#150268 22-Jul-2008 13:58

I mean a single ticket for train, bus and ferry.

itxtme

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#150341 22-Jul-2008 15:39

Singapore has this system that is used for all transport (in fact you are charged more on a bus if you dont use the smart card). Some retailers also use them for those small purchases such as McDonalds. Fantastic things as long as you dont lose it if it has lots of money loaded on it!!

jhc123

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#150346 22-Jul-2008 15:44

Was looking at getting one but thought I'd wait until they release the USB key version. I'm assuming I can then top this up on my laptop without needing the USB reader for the snapper card and the form factor suits me better.

Not sure I'm 100% comfortable with what they will use the purchase details for if you register on their site though. As with any of these schemes like FlyBuys, Kachingo (remember that!) and other there's gold in the datamining value of the sales information. Smart operators can use it for targeted marketing so I'm contemplating just topping it up at a shop.

BTW, have you seen the "benefits" of registering the snapper card that they list on their web site? Currently stated as this on https://www.snapper.co.nz/registering/

The benefits of registering

First one
Second one

Bung

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#150352 22-Jul-2008 15:54

sbiddle: I mean a single ticket for train, bus and ferry.

Without the confusion Oyster has where it's good for some trains but not others especially south of the Thames.

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GeekGuy

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#150357 22-Jul-2008 16:01

Oyster has been 'hacked'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7516869.stm

Nightwyrm

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#150358 22-Jul-2008 16:01

It is a pretty good scheme. I'm on the pilot so have had my USB Snapper for a few weeks now (driver installation required). Not as much of a seller for me as I use Newlands Bus which have had their own smartcard ticketing for a while, but the others at work love theirs.

Note: Snapper is replacing the Go! Wellington 10-Trip Tickets (see story link, also confirmed at StarMart).

itxtme: Singapore has this system that is used for all transport (in fact you are charged more on a bus if you dont use the smart card).

True for Snapper... you need to swipe when exiting the bus else you get charged the max possible fee for that route.

[edit]hyperlink added for story link.

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Damo-K

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#150363 22-Jul-2008 16:08

Heh this is interesting especially since I was bagging the site last night for not being up to date (main page said coming mid-June and 'buy now' said mid-July) and since I was under the impression it wasn't operating fully until August I didn't expect the website to change until then. Still, ordered mine and will be happy to relinquish the paper 10-trips I currently have to keep carefully in my wallet. Soon all my access/accounting/authority will be proxy based - woohoo!

I understand jhc123's concerns about their use of collected data but I think this will happen regardless of site registration - they'll undoubtedly be tracking the card with it's identifier and the added information I've entered so far to create my account currently does not include any demographical details (which I thought was interesting). Look at the upside - in terms of using it for bus fares they will be able to synthesize all that information to potentially better the bus/transport system by knowing exactly where people get off, etc. Well, I can be optimistic at least

and hey, the added protection of (apparently) being able to report your card lost and getting replacement with the remaining credit is pretty hot.

The only real thing I have to say to it all is, 'bout freakin' time!

kiwipawl

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#150364 22-Jul-2008 16:09

Hi All

I just tried to buy a Snapper card from one of the sites listed on the Snapper site and they hadn't even heard of Snapper and I were the 3rd person today they have had asking about it?

I rang Snapper’s help desk and I think I knew more than the person on it, only by reading their web site?

I have asked several retailers around the area I work (Upper Cuba St Wgtn) and none of them have even heard about it. I thought that a least the Cuba St fish and chip shop might have heard of the snapper card?

I am really keen to get a card and use it as it sounds a great idea and hope it succeeds, but I just wish they would get things better organized before they launch it.

Cheers Paul.

Nightwyrm

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#150369 22-Jul-2008 16:16

kiwipawl:I have asked several retailers around the area I work (Upper Cuba St Wgtn) and none of them have even heard about it. I thought that a least the Cuba St fish and chip shop might have heard of the snapper card?

Did you try Nic Nacs at 128 Cuba? It looks like that's the only currently-enabled merchant up that way (although Emporio on Abel Smith is scheduled TBC). Otherwise, it looks like you can get them online.

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sbiddle

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#150372 22-Jul-2008 16:26

There has been quite a bit of publicity over the launch with many retailers who sell bus tickets annoyed at the lower commissions with the new cards and topups. Selling montly gold passes was a very profitable part of their business!

As I see it though the retailers who no longer want to sell the tickets are the losers in the end - customers will just go elsewhere.

Damo-K

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#150381 22-Jul-2008 16:36

I saw that the City Stop in Manners St had one of the Snapper swipey thingies also.

alasta

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#150395 22-Jul-2008 16:56

Damo-K: I saw that the City Stop in Manners St had one of the Snapper swipey thingies also.

City Stop here on The Terrace does also. I first noticed it a few days ago and at the time I wondered what it was.

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