Timaru and Temuka dumped for NZ roll-out of new public transport ticketing system

Saturday, 13 September 2025

Timaru and Temuka have lost their lead roles to Christchurch in the national roll-out of Motu Move, a new New Zealand-wide public transport ticketing and payment system.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) confirmed the switch on Tuesday just nine days after it announced MyWay contact centre functions in Timaru were moving to its Christchurch-based Metro customer support team.

ECan said it would be customers in greater Christchurch who would now have the option in November of first using the $1.3 billion Motu Move system.

The system would phase in electronic payments, and a new smart card that could pay for public transport fares nationwide, replacing existing ones like the Snapper card in Wellington, Auckland’s AT Hop card and the Bee Card used in 10 regions.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) had previously announced the first roll-out would be via Timaru (MyWay) and Temuka’s public transport but a series of delays had occurred since then.

ECan chairman Craig Pauling said it was important to acknowledge the work that had already been done, and that Christchurch was a change from the original plan, which had Timaru and Temuka scheduled to roll it out first.

“While having contactless payments across greater Christchurch will be great, we realise that there will be some disappointment from the Timaru and Temuka community,” Pauling said.

“While we had hoped Motu Move could launch first in these locations, some components of the system are taking longer than expected.”

Pauling said the national programme had looked at alternative ways to deliver Motu Move in Canterbury, and agreed to move forward with the phased approach in the greater Christchurch area.

“We appreciate all the collaboration and commitment from our Timaru and Temuka partners,” Pauling said.

“The groundwork that has already been laid there will still be used when Motu Move is implemented in South Canterbury.”

ECan said Timaru customers already had the option of credit card and debit card payments when using the MyWay app.

Motu Move devices were being installed on all Metro buses and ferries in the greater Christchurch area from Wednesday as part of preparations, but ECan said they won’t be active until later in the year.

Pauling said the new payment option was a positive step forward in the Motu Move project.

“It’s exciting to have Canterbury lead the way in rolling out the national ticketing solution, and we hope that this first step in greater Christchurch will encourage more people to use public transport.”

ECan’s director of public transport Giles Southwell said a phased roll-out of the solution would bring more accessible public transport to the greater Christchurch network faster than waiting for all the parts to be in place.

“We know being able to get on a bus with a debit or credit card is something the public has been asking after for a long time,” Southwell said.

“While the delays in the project have been disappointing, it will be great to finally make travelling on our network easier, especially for casual users and visitors who might not have a Metrocard.

“The new technology has been trialled on Route 29 between the [Christchurch] airport and the city since December last year and has seen roughly 34% of adult fares paid for using the new contactless payments during that time.”

Southwell said while Motu Move would ultimately replace the current ticketing system, the first phase would provide an additional way to pay alongside Metrocard and cash.

“We’ll be engaging with our customers early on through each phase of the roll-out so that the transition to Motu Move is as smooth as possible.”

ECan said that from November, the contactless payment would operate for Metro customers in Christchurch, Waimakariri, and Selwyn.