Shifting to the new ticketing system from existing ones was estimated to cost the country about $180m over the next three years. Photo: Duoya Lu
Auckland's arguments and uncertainty over tunnels and roads, and how to pay for them, now extend to public transport ticketing.
Auckland Transport (AT) says it remains "fully committed" to the $1.3 billion National Ticketing Solution (NTS) due to roll out from 2024-2026, allowing anyone to scan on to a bus, train or ferry anywhere nationwide using a bank card or smartphone.
But there is fresh uncertainty, after mayor Wayne Brown set up a new razor gang whose head has stated "nothing should be off the table".
"I'm not going to hesitate," chairperson of the expenditure and revenue committee, Howick councillor Maurice Williamson said when asked about the NTS. "If I can find stuff that I think is bad, I'm going to identify it, make it public and everyone knows."
He has been finalising terms of reference for the committee's new cost-cutting review.
The NTS was not particularly on the radar, but nor was it out of bounds just because Auckland's participation was vital for it to proceed nationwide, Williamson said.
"He who pays the piper should call the tune," he said of the budgetary inquisition's power over AT.
"That doesn't mean that I've got the power then to say, 'Well, that should go' - that's got to be up to the governing body and the mayor.
"The whole regime that mayor Brown is trying to implement now is to go back in and sort of absolutely put a blowtorch on all of the departments."
It came as Brown described Labour's second harbour crossing plan for $45b worth of tunnels as "part of the long interference in Auckland by Wellington politicians and their idiot bureaucrat mates".
The National Party said it supported the national ticketing system investment through the National Land Transport Programme. It "will make a significant difference to the user experience of public transport in New Zealand", the party said.
Shifting to the new ticketing system from existing ones, like Auckland's HOP and Wellington's Snapper, was estimated to cost the country about $180m over the next three years, with perhaps half of that borne by councils, documents said.
Auckland has been nervous from the start about joining the national system, they showed. Waka Kotahi fought for years to get everyone on board, even spending $66,000 last year for a private consultant to work on persuading "national ticketing-hesitant groups".
"A high risk is the low confidence that the NTS will proceed" among some councils, an NZTA document said in March last year. A month later, councils' "participation continues to be a key risk".
"AT do require a full solution and are keen to understand when this can be done," said another.
The cornerstone of Auckland's present ticketing system, the AT Hop card. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Canterbury Regional Council said "ECan really want NTS but cannot wait forever as have communities to serve".
There was talk of the need for a "plan B".
As late as May 2022, Waka Kotahi was asking internally: "Does original rationale still stack up? Are we all seriously committed?"
And in late September, just days away from signing up to the NTS, AT was still wondering: "What is timing for final costings? ... I am 100 percent certain our board will want to know bus[iness] case ... The preferred supplier are not naturally customer-centric. Need to remain vigilant that requirements are met".
Waka Kotahi helped make the case around this time, when the benefit-cost ratio suddenly leapt from negative to positive (anything below one is negative, above one is positive):
- In February 2022, a business case put the ratio at just 34 cents of benefits per dollar of spending (BCR 0.34)
- In April 2022, it was put at about 70 cents (BCR 0.70), so still negative
- In August 2022, in the sixth version of the NTS business case, it had jumped to a positive $1.70 per dollar spent (BCR 1.7)
The change "was the result of a more complete articulation of the benefits and existing costs", the agency told RNZ last week.
The sixth business case showed greater attempts to factor in hard-to-quantify benefits like convenience and future flexibility.
The new system would, over 14 years, cost only about $200m more than if the councils - helped by NZTA's subsidies - had to keep paying to run the old ticket systems, the calculations showed.
Auckland signed up in October 2022, shortly after the benefit-cost-ratio turned positive, at the same time as the government signed the main ticketing contract worth $1.3b with US transport and defence contractor Cubic.
The aim had been to get councils signed up before the local body elections that month. It had been "getting mega tight" to get this done, steering group papers at the time said.
In more than 40 steering group, business case and board papers released under the Official Information Act, the words "Māori", "Te Tiriti" and "data sovereignty" barely get a mention. Only in a risk assessment did it say these should be factored into the design, to mitigate the risk that passengers' personal data would end up offshore.
Actual engagement with Māori started during the design stage, Waka Kotahi told RNZ. This was after the contracts had already been signed in October 2022. Cubic's contract runs for years.
"We are proactively engaging with iwi and other groups to understand how the NTS might address equity issues and what we need to do to ensure sovereignty in relation to Māori data that may be captured," it said in a statement.
Auckland Transport told RNZ last week it was continuing to work with Waka Kotahi on the NTS, and would pave the way next year by introducing more contactless payment options, "reducing risk and cost" in the transition to the national system.
Brown did not respond to RNZ's question whether he supported the national ticketing system.
Maurice Williamson. Photo: Getty Images
Williamson said his committee had to work fast, or the amount sunk into projects would only grow.
"This is urgent and I'm putting more hours into this than I think I put into anything in the past."
The council's finance department was having to change how it worked and the acting chief executive "has told me he's keen on moving to this more rigorous process", Williamson said.
The NTS was touted as essential for not just boosting public transport patronage and updating creaking old tech, but letting health officials track people if there was another pandemic.
It enabled "effective, rapid support for regional and national responses including social tracing for all those with registered cards".