{"id":369387,"date":"2026-04-08T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369387\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:55:09","slug":"wellington-public-transport-gets-contactless-payments-ahead-of-fare-hikes-in-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369387\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington public transport gets contactless payments ahead of fare hikes in May"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\nPassengers can save up to 20 percent by using cards or phones.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Richard Tindiller\n<\/p>\n

Wellingtonians will be able to use a credit or debit card, or mobile payment, for bus and train fares from Sunday 12th April.<\/p>\n

It comes as Metlink’s fuel bill skyrockets, and Greater Wellington Regional Council warns of future service cuts and fare hikes.<\/p>\n

Metlink said passengers can save up to 20 percent by using their cards or phones, the equivalent of paying with cash.<\/p>\n

However, each transaction will have a 1.5 percent surcharge applied on top of the fare, the same as the top-up fee applied to a Snapper card.<\/p>\n

Children, tertiary students, and Community Services Card holders will still need a Snapper card to access the discounts they are entitled to.<\/p>\n

Regional Councillor Tom James, deputy chair of the public transport committee, told RNZ passengers need options as they seek to phase out cash payments over the next year.<\/p>\n

He said the charge is temporary and only required to balance the costs for ratepayers.<\/p>\n

“Ratepayers already contribute a significant amount to running public transport… but when we transition from Snapper to the new national system, there won’t be that transaction fee anymore.”<\/p>\n

Christchurch Metro allowed credit, debit and mobile payments on November 10, 2025 – Auckland Transport followed a week later. Like Metlink, both still require a bus card for discounts, but neither charges a transaction fee.<\/p>\n

Public transport networks in Aotearoa are moving towards a universal bus card, called Motu Move, as per the National Ticketing Solution launched by the then-Labour government in 2023.<\/p>\n

Metlink is planning to roll it out in the first half of 2027, after what James, a Labour member, called a “waiting game” with the coalition government.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been told it’s only two years away for a long time now, so the GWRC has paused on upgrades to Snapper,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a fare increase for Wellington buses, trains and ferries is scheduled for May 15th<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In light of skyrocketing fuel prices, Metlink, whose bus fleet is 75 percent diesel powered, told RNZ that they will not increase fees at all for now.<\/p>\n

But they also said their fuel bill has gone up by $130,000 per week, with around three quarters of their bus fleet running on diesel.<\/p>\n

Councillors have said that without government support, they would expect that figure to rise, making service cuts or fare increases inevitable.<\/p>\n

“Without government support, we will soon be forced to consider cutting services or hiking fares beyond increases planned in May,” a statement read.<\/p>\n

All the same, Metlink said they could defer the scheduled May increase if the government stepped in with funding support.<\/p>\n

“We’re not asking for free fares. We’re asking for practical, targeted assistance to help communities with fuel costs.”<\/p>\n

Public transport usage has seen a notable spike as commuters react to the cost of filling up their vehicles.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Passengers can save up to 20 percent by using cards or phones. Photo: RNZ \/ Richard Tindiller Wellingtonians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":["post-369387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}