$535 an hour for NZTA consultant amid 'gravy train' clampdown
Friday, 28 November 2025
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A Waka Kotahi NZTA consultant charged up to $535 an hour for nearly three years while working on the “project delivery” of a long-delayed public transport ticketing system.
The transport agency has revealed under the Official Information Act that the long-delayed national ticketing solution (NTS) has already cost it $201.5 million, including $24.2m on consultants and $21.7m on contractors.
The NTS is intended as a system that will mean a single card, including a bank card, will be all that is needed to swipe onto public transport around the country.
It was a futuristic idea when first mooted in 2008 but now, 17 years later, the technology is widespread globally. NZTA confirmed the 2026 deadline for Wellington was “overly ambitious” and it was pushed back to 2027, when it is now scheduled across the country.
Greater Wellington councillor Yadana Saw recently said the delays were “getting ridiculous”.
Read more:
Nationwide public transport ticketing is coming - but this time really, truly and next year
$1.3 billion National Ticketing Solution - what will we get for the money?
The programme has a $1.358 billion budget. The current Government is amid a consultant crackdown with Nicola Willis in December declaring the “consultant gravy train is well and truly over”. In 2023, while in opposition, Prime Minster Christopher Luxon pledged to cut $400m a year from the government’s annual consultancy spend.
The released spend – including a top consultant hourly rate of $535 and a top contractor hourly rate of $320 – goes back to July 2022, shortly before the new system was announced along with supplier Cubic.
A statement from NZTA said the $535-an-hour consultant was engaged part-time from October 2022 to September 2025 working on “oversight of project delivery and resourcing”. The $320-an-hour contractor, hired from July to September 2025, provided “senior project and programme management services with expertise in complex technology delivery and business change programmes”.
The NTS was “highly complex” and challenging given the range of local requirements, the NZTA statement said.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the total $1.358b budget was for the system design, build, delivery and support until 2037.
“The contractor [and consultant] spend detailed in the OIA response from NZTA equates to just over 3% of the total investment in the programme,” he said.
“Given the scale and technological complexity of the programme, it is expected NZTA would require specialist expertise not part of in-house day-to-day capability.”
The system, called Motu Move, is already in the first phase in the Christchurch area with Environment Canterbury calling it a success.
Auckland Transport and regional councils Wellington, Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Gisborne Regional Council, Horizons, Hawkes Bay, Otago plus Nelson and Invercargill city councils are yet to get Motu Move.
All who could be reached for comment confirmed they remain committed to it. Auckland Transport already has the ability to use debit cards on public transport but says it intends to transition to NTS when it comes.
But Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere called on Bishop to front-up on what the hold-up was.
“This has been in the pipeline for quite some time now and people are rightly concerned,” he said.
Green transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the high costs and delayed timeline were because New Zealand relied too much on the private sector for expertise.
“When it comes to public infrastructure, we need to build our capability in local, regional and national institutions so we don't fall behind and get ripped off,” she said.