New Metrocards to cost $10 from April 1, 2011

Environment Canterbury commissioners have approved the introduction of a $10 charge for new Metrocards issued in Greater Christchurch and Timaru from April 4 this year. The new charge will not apply to existing Metrocards.

At today’s first Regional Council meeting for the year, Wayne Holton-Jeffreys, acting director operations, said the new charges are in response to the New Zealand Transport Agency’s requirement that 50 percent of the cost of public passenger transport be recovered from users.

“The $10 fee is consistent with what the banks charge for new and replacement cards. It is the same charge as for Wellington’s Snapper card. In fact, on Christchurch's Metro services, a new Metrocard will effectively pay for itself inside two weeks if used to commute to and from work, based on the savings made compared to cash fares.”

Much smaller Metrocards called ‘stickkis’ are also now available as an alternative. They stick firmly to a mobile phone or wallet and cost $15 because they are more expensive to produce than the standard Metrocard.

Mr Holton-Jeffreys said that Environment Canterbury expects to cut administration costs and reduce the number of cards issued without reducing the actual number of people who use them.

“We have issued more than 320,000 cards since they were introduced, yet just 75,000 are regularly used. The rest are presumably lost, destroyed or simply not being used. Under the new system, people are likely to only pay for a card if they intend to use it and will take good care of it if they have to pay for a replacement.

“Environment Canterbury will also soon be advertising to Metro users the need to ensure they don’t have any old Metrocards with unused credit on them, as we are looking at cancelling the balances on cards that have not been used for two years or more.

“Environment Canterbury’s Metro services are used for more than 17 million trips per year. They represent some of the cheapest fares in Australasia, with the lowest public funding per person using them,” said Mr Holton-Jeffreys.