Project NEXT
Project NEXT is a proposed public transport payment system for New Zealand. Project NEXT was previously known as the National Ticketing Programme from early 2016 to early 2018, preceded by the Auckland Integrated Ticketing Scheme and Auckland Integrated Fares System prior to that. The aim is to achieve a nationally consistent payment system, with a choice of payment by cash, phone, credit card, debit card, or a transit card valid for the whole country. Whilst work at a national level has been undertaken since 2009 and integrated ticketing has been introduced for public transport in Auckland, as of 2020 there is still no national system available. Nine smaller regional councils have meanwhile formed a consortium to introduce a common tag-on-tag-off card branded as "Bee Card" as an interim solution, with rollout of the system from November 2019. Project NEXT is expected to be completely implemented by 2026.
History
Background
The desire to achieve a nationwide public transport payment system was first raised in 2007 when it was announced that Snapper was working on a stored-value card for public transport in the Wellington Region, with Wellington and Auckland transport officials in talks about teaming up to work on a system that could be applied nationwide.Wellington: Snapper card
The Snapper card was introduced in Wellington in July 2008 and applied to buses operated under the GO Wellington branding; those buses were owned by NZ Bus. The company that owned both Snapper and NZ Bus is infrastructure investment company Infratil. The Snapper card was not valid on services not owned by NZ Bus, e.g. Mana bus, the Wellington Cable Car, ferries, or the Metlink trains. That is, the introduction of the Snapper card did not achieve an integrated fare system for Wellington; this is still the case in 2020.Auckland Integrated Ticketing Scheme
The NZ Transport Agency joined the discussions held between Auckland and Wellington officials in 2009. The Transport Agency's board signed off on NZTA joining in October 2009 in the context of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority tendering for an integrated ticketing system for public transport in the Auckland Region named Auckland Integrated Ticketing Scheme ; this was later given the brand name "HOP". The underlying thinking of the Transport Agency was that it would make sense for the development cost to be paid only once, with other regional authorities able to join and use the same technology. The Transport Agency opted to lead the project, provided co-funding, wanted to be in control of the central clearing house system, and stated that it was most interested in getting information out of the system. The Transport Agency's aim was to develop the National Integrated Ticketing Interoperability Standard.ARTA awarded the tender for the Auckland stored-value card to the Thales Group as the French technology on offer was technically superior to what Snapper had offered. The Thales Group offered a technical solution based on the DESFire system, which at the time was the international industry standard for public transport payment systems. Snapper's system used the Java Card OpenPlatform, which is common for payment systems but with slower transaction times, which is an issue for mass payments. Within a short time of awarding the contract to the Thales Group, ARTA invited Snapper to join the project. Infratil went ahead and fitted out its NZ Bus fleet in Auckland with hardware that could read their Snapper card. On the condition that Snapper would adjust its system so that it could interact with the Thales components, this was sanctioned by ARTA staff. Labour opposition spokesperson for Housing and Auckland Issues, Phil Twyford, alleged in parliament in November 2012 that there had been political interference, with the Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, having instructed Transport Agency officials for Snapper to be included in the Auckland project. Snapper, based on its system already in use in Wellington, could roll out the system more quickly and the aim was to be operational on the entire NZ Bus fleet for the Rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand from 9 September 2011. In August 2012, Auckland Transport terminated its agreement with Snapper over an ongoing inability to configure their system to work smoothly with the Thales Group system. Auckland Transport rolled out the AT HOP card from October 2012 until April 2014. The contract with the Thales Group runs until 2021, with an option to extend it to 2026.
Wellington: Integrated ticketing
The Wellington Regional Council announced in May 2013 that they were investigating an integrated ticketing system for the Wellington region. At the time, they thought that they would be tendering the new system in circa 2016. Transport Agency staff approached the Wellington Regional Council in December 2015, suggesting that they introduce the Hop card system, therefore working towards having a unified system for the country. Part of the Transport Agency's proposal was that its subsidiary, New Zealand Transport Ticketing Limited, be appointed to act as the central clearing house. Under the leadership of Paul Swain, the chair of Wellington Region's transport committee, the Transport Agency's approach was rejected. One generic argument against a single system is that it would create a monopoly, whereas with more than one system there is "healthy" competition. Another argument for rejection was that by then, the technology had moved on, from closed-loop card-based systems to account-based systems. The latter includes the possibility that payments get made via smartphones, debit cards and credit cards, removing the need for users to have a proprietary payment card linked to a public transport provider. At the same time, it was announced that the tender for the Wellington integrated system would now happen by 2018.Regional Consortium: Bee Card
Nine of the smaller regional councils formed the Regional Consortium in 2013, a collaborative working group that could represent their shared interests in public transport matters. These regions are :By late 2013, service level agreements had been put in place for the coming three years in support of the existing ticketing systems; it was thought that this was a sufficient time frame for the National Integrated Ticketing Interoperability Standard to be ready. The smaller regions could subsequently procure systems that integrate with the national ticketing system. The governance group of the Regional Consortium was made up of representatives from the Transport Agency, its subsidiary NZTTL, and executives of seven of the nine regional councils. When NITIS, the critical component for integration into the national ticketing system, was not available on time, the regional councils extended their service level agreements to May 2018. In early 2016, it was agreed between the Regional Consortium, the Transport Agency, and Wellington region that the integration into the national ticketing system would no longer be pursued.
In 2017, the Regional Consortium let a contract to INIT, a German-headquartered company that provides IT solutions for public transport. Their brief is to supply a solution that has been named the Regional Integrated Ticketing System. One "tag on, tag off" stored-value card for all nine regions is to be implemented. It is planned for RITS to be an interim solution for up to five years prior to joining the national ticketing system. RITS is much simpler than the open-loop account-based solution pursued for the national ticketing system.
The payment card for the Regional Consortium has been branded as the "Bee Card". Rollout of the card started on 20 November 2019, with Whangarei the first city to use the system. The second city to receive the card was Whanganui on 9 December 2019. Other places in the Manawatū-Whanganui region were to switch to the system in mid-January 2020, but this has been delayed over teething problems.
National Ticketing Programme: GRETS
Based on Greater Wellington's feedback, a working party was convened from 2016 under the project name of National Ticketing Programme, also known under the acronym GRETS. Parties represented on the steering group were the Transport Agency, its subsidiary NZTTL, Bay of Plenty region, Canterbury region, Wellington region, Otago region, Taranaki region, and Waikato region. The smaller regional councils were there to represent the Regional Consortium. Wellington Region led the project. Based on Auckland's contract with Thales running until 2021, it was assumed that they would not join the programme and were not included in the economic analysis. The Regional Interim Ticketing Solution was endorsed by this group. The system requirement was now account-based ticketing and open-loop payment solutions that would accommodate EMV-based credit and debit cards as well as tokens and digital wallets. In October 2017, indicative business cases for two options had been developed. Procurement was planned to start in late 2017.Project NEXT
The situation changed when Auckland Transport joined GRETS in early 2018 and in May 2018, this resulted in Project NEXT being formed as a successor to GRETS. The project continued to be led by Wellington Region. The Transport Agency disestablished the governance group and handed its oversight to a newly-formed group called the Connected Journey Solutions unit. When the Transport Agency's CEO, Fergus Gammie, resigned and was replaced by interim-CEO Mark Ratcliffe, concerns were raised internally and Ratcliffe commissioned professional services company Deloitte with undertaking a review of Project NEXT. CJS had already been subject to an earlier and damning audit by Deloitte and the Project NEXT was equally critical. Key criticisms included:- Transport Agency's focus on the National Ticketing Programme appears to have lapsed
- Lack of clear ticketing and public transport objectives
- Governance mechanisms are not fit for purpose
- Lack of business ownership
- The Project does not have the Crown-level review and assurance disciplines as expected by Deloitte