{"id":135808,"date":"2025-09-11T18:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135808\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T18:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:16:13","slug":"wa-public-transport-tapngo-trial-announced-but-full-roll-out-still-not-locked-in-after-years-of-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135808\/","title":{"rendered":"WA Public transport tap\u2019n\u2019go trial announced but full roll-out still not locked in after years of delays"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of delays and a budget blowout, public transport users will finally be able to tag on using their credit cards \u2014 but only a small number in an initial trial.<\/p>\n

The Cook Government has long promised to allow passengers to tag on and off with their credit or debit card instead of a SmartRider.<\/p>\n

The idea was first floated in 2018 with an aim to begin the roll-out in 2019, but that never eventuated.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Government said the upgrades would be operational by mid-2024, but that date came and went, too.<\/p>\n

And while it was initially thought the upgrades would cost around $58 million, it is now expected to come in at the $68 million mark.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti defended the delays, citing overseas disruptions during the development stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn particular, in relation to the software, it was about having the right engineers available, there\u2019s some issues in relation to that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"TransportCamera IconTransport Minister Rita Saffioti on Thursday announced the rollout of contactless payment technology on Perth\u2019s public transport network. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was in the early years and the planning years it\u2019s basically really been just some of the supply chain interruptions and some of the dislocation that\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know COVID feels like a long time ago, but COVID and some of the issues that happened through Russia and Ukraine, all those issues impacted some of the supply chains and also some of the software engineering that\u2019s behind these systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Saffioti said the move would encourage more people to use the services even when they found themselves without their SmartRider card.<\/p>\n

While the full roll out is expected by the end of the year, only 50 ferry passengers will be part of the first public trial phase.<\/p>\n

After the initial four-week study a second phase of the same duration will open up to an additional 150 bus and train users.<\/p>\n

To be eligible for the trail passengers have to be a regular public transport user, at least 18 years old and hold a valid Mastercard or Visa card in their name.<\/p>\n

Participants will be charged the standard cash ticket fare for each journey but will be reimbursed through an e-gift card for each survey completed along with free parking at train station car parks during the trial.<\/p>\n

\"TransportCamera IconTransport Minister Rita Saffioti. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

According to Ms Saffioti more than 4000 readers had been installed across busses, trains and ferries.<\/p>\n

Shadow transport minister Steve Martin slammed the delays and described the initial trials as a \u201ctoken effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn answer to some questions that I asked in the parliament, we got the excuses from the Transport Minister that it was COVID and it was somehow the war in Ukraine, those excuses really don\u2019t fly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a media release, in fact a Facebook post from the minister on the 17th of January, 2021 proudly announcing that 2023 passengers will no longer need to tag on the SmartRider and so on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve simply bungled the roll out of this project so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move to contactless payments could mark the start of a wider shift in how public transport is accessed in Perth.<\/p>\n

Ms Saffioti didn\u2019t rule out an imminent move to a cashless system or the phasing out of SmartRiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (cashless system) is something we\u2019re considering and again as soon as these trials finish, we\u2019ll look at all those aspects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The technology has been rolled out in a number of jurisdictions across the country already.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide the technology is already used widely across its public transport with the former using the tech in all services since 2019.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Victorian and Tasmanian Government\u2019s have both announced it will be rolling out trials over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

Overseas, London has used the technology in busses since 2012 and trains and trams for more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of delays and a budget blowout, public transport users will finally be able to tag on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,84,7239,41,39,42,40,16861],"class_list":["post-135808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-state-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}