Media release: 29 November 2011

Ritchie’s Transport
Howick and Eastern Buses
Birkenhead Transport
Urban Express
Bayes Coachlines

Auckland’s Bus operators sign up for HOP hardware

In a further significant development for Auckland’s public transport system, five major bus operators, have signed an agreement for the supply of hardware to enable the HOP card to be used on their services.

The companies involved in the agreement with existing equipment supplier Parkeon are: Ritchie’s Transport, Urban Express, Bayes Coachlines, Howick and Eastern and Birkenhead Transport.

They join NZ Bus which already has ‘tag on/tag off’ devices installed on its fleet.

The delivery of equipment will commence from mid next year, in time for the final phase of HOP which includes trains, ferries and all bus operators, being rolled out.

A spokesman for the group, Andrew Ritchie says, “Parkeon has been chosen as our hardware supplier for a number of reasons, including their previous track record in Auckland, specialist understanding of the bus market, and competitive annual operating costs. “Ritchie’s, Urban Express, Bayes, Howick and Eastern and Birkenhead Transport have come together to choose a single supplier to our businesses with an effective hardware solution.

Owen Griffith, Managing Director of Parkeon Transit Limited says, “We are very pleased to sign this contract as we have had a long involvement with bus operations in Auckland of over 20 years with our Wayfarer 3 and TGX150 technologies and are delighted to see the latest generation of Parkeon products being selected for this prestigious project".

Auckland Transport’s Programme Director of the Auckland Integrated Fares System, Greg Ellis says,

“The first phase of HOP was rolled out very successfully in May this year onto NZ Bus services. Uptake of the HOP card has been extremely high already with 85,000 Go Rider users swapping to HOP so far.

“Starting next month Auckland Transport will be undertaking an extended field trial of the system utilising selected users. This type of closed pilot follows international best practice for the introduction of a new public transport ticketing system”

Mr Ritchie says, “We support HOP as an attractive proposition to the traveling public, moving away from our current paper tickets to a smart card which can be used on bus, train and ferries with the benefit of a discount. We believe this card will continue to be a winner with the public and are very pleased to be part of the programme that will assist us in continuing the excellent rise in Public Transport use we are seeing this year”.

ENDS

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