Why getting the national ticketing project back on track was the only option
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Chris Bishop is transport minister.
OPINION: In the pantheon of off-track projects we inherited from Labour, the National Ticketing Solution would have to be one of the most troubled.
The case for the NTS was meant to be simple: right now, NZ Transport Agency pays for every region of New Zealand to run their own ticketing systems. Snapper, HOP, Metrocard and Bee Card are all majority funded by central government through the National Land Transport Fund and they are coming to the end of their respective lives.
By funding the NTS, the aim was to deliver more functionality to Kiwis through a modern ticketing system, while saving us money in the long run on something we already shell out money for.
The total cost of the NTS is $1.358 billion. This is not only the cost of the system itself – it is the cost to build and run the system. Your guess is as good as mine as to why then transport minister Michael Wood didn’t just announce the true build cost of the project: $530 million. I suspect he wanted to make the project sound more impressive that it was.
Read more:
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The rest - $830m – is the ten-year cost to run the new NTS. If we were not moving to the NTS, $1.1b would be spent maintaining our existing systems, costing more while delivering no benefit over and above the outdated status quo.
In 2024 and 2025 the project ran into significant strife. Roll-outs were delayed and there were significant challenges with the technology itself. The NZTA board had been sufficiently concerned with the project that they themselves commissioned an independent review.
When I became transport minister in early 2025, the first question I asked was whether cancelling was appropriate – and the answer was no.
NZTA’s independent review itself found that the project should still proceed. I was advised that cancelling would not be cost effective – we would still be on the hook for the $1.1b cost over the next ten years in maintaining our outdated existing systems - over $300m more expensive than continuing with the NTS.
We were between a rock and a hard place and were left with no choice but to get the project back on track. Which I am pleased - albeit rather trepidatiously - to say, we largely have.
I pushed for the implementation of the independent review’s recommendations, including substantial change in the overly bureaucratic project governance Labour had allowed to be set up.
I made it clear to councils across the country that they must work together to agree on greater national consistency in concession fares, rather than the ridiculous status quo where every region was insisting on keep their own definitions of things as simple as the definition of a child. The programme was fully reset in mid to late-2025, with a more realistic roll-out plan.
The direction from me was clear: making this work was non-negotiable.
Since that point, the NTS has been successfully rolled out in Christchurch, with 1.5 million trips taken. It’s working well, with no major defects causing issues for customers. The problems Wellington Regional Council has faced with its contactless Snapper roll-out, where the system has been down for days at a time and seemingly works only intermittently, has not occurred in the NTS roll-out so far.
There is still a long way to go but, for now at least, it appears as if the project is through the worst of it.
It’s also worth saying that the benefits of the NTS are more than just the cheaper cost, or the fact that there will be only one system nationwide.
For example, if you are a senior, a community service card holder, a student or a child, you will be used to getting discounted public transport. In most ticketing systems in the world, if you fall into one of these concessions categories, you are forced to use a separate, physical card to access your discount. The NTS changes this, allowing you to link your concessions with your standard debit card, which will automatically charge you the best fare.
Cancelling the project would have only resulted in significant sunk cost, with greater costs looming into the future, with none of the added benefits for Kiwis.
This project has its challenges and I cannot hand on heart say they are all resolved. Of course, we will do a full review at the end of this sorry saga.
But I can confidently say that this project is in a much better place than it was 12 months ago.