Wellington's Metlink will soon replace paper tickets with Snapper cards across its rail network as it shifts to contactless payments.
It follows a successful trial on the Johnsonville line, Metlink said on Friday in a media release.
The Snapper card has been used to pay for bus fares and taxis since it was first introduced in the capital in July 2008, but is not currently in use on trains.
The move to electronic ticketing will be rolled out across the Kāpiti line in early November 2022, followed by the Hutt Valley, Melling and Wairarapa lines in late November 2022.
"Our focus is on providing better services to passengers and, in our regular customer satisfaction survey, passengers tell us that convenience of paying is an area we can improve on with 68% of rail passengers currently satisfied compared to 78% with our bus passengers. Clearly there's room for improvement here and Snapper on rail will have a profound impact," Greater Wellington chairman Daran Ponter said.
Greater Wellington Transport Committee chairman Roger Blakeley said customers will be able to access fare discounts and "the convenience of not having to buy a paper ticket".
"As we’ve seen during Covid, we need to have safe, contactless methods of payment available across the region's network.”
SHARE ME