Snapper card
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| Location | Wellington, Auckland |
|---|---|
| Launched | June 2008 |
| Technology |
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| Manager | Snapper Services Limited |
| Currency | NZD ($300 maximum load) |
| Stored-value | Pay as you go |
| Auto recharge | Auto-topup |
| Validity | |
| Retailed |
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| Website | http://www.snapper.co.nz/ |
The Snapper card is a contactless electronic ticketing card used to pay for bus fares and other everyday items, such as taxis, food and coffee, in New Zealand. It was introduced in Wellington in July 2008, and another version – the Snapper HOP card – introduced to Auckland in 2011 and withdrawn from Auckland late 2013. Snapper Citylink cards were introduced in Whangarei in March 2014. It is owned by Snapper Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infratil, which also owns NZ Bus.
It can be used on GO Wellington, Valley Flyer and Runcimans buses in the greater Wellington area, as well as at participating shops and taxi services. Further functions for the card are planned, for example, as a loyalty card.
The name 'Snapper' is a continuation of the piscine theme present in other major cities – Octopus cards in Hong Kong, sQuid cards in Bolton, Dundee & Thames Ditton and Oyster cards in London. 'Feeding' Snappers from merchants is also inspired by the piscine theme.
Snapper is a contactless smart card based on Infineon and SmartMX (from NXP Semiconductors) chip sets. It uses the Triple DES cryptographic system, which is standard in financial cards and has been approved in New Zealand as a secure mechanism for connection through to the EFTPOS network. The Snapper system is an adaptation of the T-money system used in South Korea.
On 3 May 2012, Snapper and 2degrees mobile announced the launch of a service that allows customers with a compatible NFC phone to make payments in all Snapper merchants using their mobile phone. The first phone to support this service is the LG Optimus Net. This service requires compatible NFC phone and a special SIM card with the snapper secure element included.
The bus-ticketing system is based on a "tag-on", "tag-off" principle, providing valuable data for transport authorities to analyse – and plan for – travel behaviour. Some users have been concerned by the privacy of such practises. Customers were encouraged to enter details and "register" your card. Some users would seek out people to swap their cards with when they became empty, meaning the information about an individual's travel was harder to track.
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Wikipedia