25 August 2023
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-6116
Delia Mason
By email: [FYI request #23638 email]
Tēnā koe Delia
Request for information 2023-206
I refer to your request for information dated 30 July 2023, which was received by Greater Wel ington
Regional Council (Greater Wel ington) on 30 July 2023. You have requested the fol owing:
“1) the total amount of money col ected as a result of snapper penalty fees for Wel ington, broken
down by month from January 2022 - June 2023.
2) the total amount of snapper penalty fees that are refunded to travel ers for Wel ington, broken
down by month from January 2022 - June 2023.
3) what happens to the revenue from snapper penalty fees - what agency uses it, and for what
purposes?
4) how much funding is retained as a result of lost snapper cards being found by members of the
public and returned to snapper or a transport provider etc? My question is in relation to unregistered
cards that cannot be returned to their owner. What happy to the money that is the balance on the
cards? How is it used and by who?”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Background to penalty fares
Snapper supplies records of the Default Fares to Greater Wel ington, however, the data does not
identify whether the Default Fares applied were due to missed tag offs on the bus network or the
rail network. This data caveat is due to the way that the Snapper ticketing system charges fares.
In the absence of a tag-off for a trip, a Snapper card registers a Default Fare and keeps it in the card’s
memory until next tag on. On the next tag on, the Snapper card deducts the Default Fare from the
remaining balance on your card. For example, if a Snapper card holder misses a tag off on bus, and
connects to a train service, the Default Fare wil be deducted from the card at the time of tag-on on
the train service. The Snapper data would show the Default Fare against the tag-on transaction
Wel ington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wel ington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
recorded for the train leg of the journey, even though it has been incurred due to a failure to tag off
a bus trip.
While it is possible to extract the total amount of Default Fares recorded against rail trips from the
existing Snapper ticketing data, considering the caveat outlined above, this information wil not be
entirely representative of Default Fares associated with missing tag-offs on train services.
Further to the data caveat outlined above, to support rail passengers through the introduction of
Snapper on rail, Metlink also provided a Default Fare amnesty period, up until 30 June 2023. This
amnesty meant that up until 30 April 2023 passengers were able to contact Snapper and request to:
Ful y reverse the Default Fare for the first time it is requested (per card)
Provide a 50% reverse of the Default Fare for the second occurrence on request.
From 1 May 2023 – 30 June 2023 passengers were able to contact Snapper and request a 50%
reverse of the Default Fare for the first time it is requested (per card).
1) The total amount of money col ected as a result of snapper penalty fees for Wel ington, broken
down by month from January 2022 - June 2023
The total amounts charged as default fares for the requested period from January 2022 – June 2023
are provided in the table below, broken down by month and mode.
Please note that Snapper on al rail lines was implemented in November 2022 therefore the default
fares for January 2022 – October 2022 only relates to the Snapper on the Johnsonvil e Line pilot.
An additional caveat, mentioned above, the data does not identify whether the Default Fares
applied were due to missed tag offs on the bus network or the rail network, due to the way that the
Snapper ticketing system charges fares.
Month
Rail
Bus
January 2022
$1,845.00
$27,579. 06
February 2022
$2,257.84
$32,882.46
March 2022
$2,948.50
$31,088.69
April 2022
$1,557.00
$16,656.32
May 2022
$1,808.84
$20,074.13
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June 2022
$1,620.50
$18,842.59
July 2022
$2,128.63
$20, 879. 92
August 2022
$2,523.59
$23,830.70
September 2022
$2,026.59
$23,415.46
October 2022
$1,900.09
$22,318.67
November 2022
$24,147.95
$37,544.65
December 2022
$59,833.57
$44,716.17
January 2023
$51,880.18
$40,157.12
February 2023
$60,404.78
$47,877.17
March 2023
$69,299.70
$51,543.42
April 2023
$43,621.73
$37,332.08
May 2023
$53,418.98
$42,715.31
June 2023
$50,332.33
$42,932.43
Total
$433,555.80
$414,383.18
Default Fares total
$847,938.98
These amounts are inclusive of GST.
2) The total amount of snapper penalty fees that are refunded to travellers for Wel ington, broken
down by month from January 2022 - June 2023.
Snapper on the Rail network was implemented in November 2022 and to support rail passengers
through the introduction of Snapper on rail, Metlink provided a Default Fare amnesty period, up
until 30 June 2023. We do not have information relating to refunds related to Snapper on Rail prior
to this period.
We have provided the total amount of Default Fares that have been refunded since implementation
of Snapper on the Rail network.
Page 3 of 6
Month
Rail
Bus
January 2022
$1,600.43
February 2022
$1,876.96
March 2022
$1,762.61
April 2022
$693.91
May 2022
$754.35
June 2022
$742.61
July 2022
$750.43
August 2022
$1,166.96
September 2022
$1,050.43
October 2022
$635.87
November 2022
$14,610.45
$1,205.00
December 2022
$29,961.61
$980.43
January 2023
$21,756.58
$211.30
February 2023
$19,256.43
$1,363.48
March 2023
$21,326.94
$1,981.09
April 2023
$10,760.31
$1,096.09
May 2023
$14,463.08
$1,575.65
June 2023
$12,843.87
$1,496.96
Total
$144,979.27
$20,944.56
Default Fares total
$165, 923.83
These amounts are exclusive of GST.
Page 4 of 6
3) What happens to the revenue from snapper penalty fees - what agency uses it, and for what
purposes?
When a Default Fare is col ected, this is provided to Metlink as fare revenue and used to recover
part of the cost of operating the Metlink services. Default fares are a necessary deterrent to
discourage the intentional non-payment of fares and to encourage correct tag-on/tag-off activity.
When a Default Fare is reversed in ful then the fare that the passenger should have paid is not
col ected. This is because a Default Fare is charged when a correct fare for the trip cannot be
determined. This means when a Default Fare is reversed no fare revenue is col ected for that
journey, i.e. the passenger travels for free.
4) How much funding is retained as a result of lost snapper cards being found by members of the
public and returned to snapper or a transport provider etc? My question is in relation to
unregistered cards that cannot be returned to their owner. What happy to the money that is
the balance on the cards? How is it used and by who?
Greater Wel ington does not hold the information on funding related to lost Snapper cards nor the
money that is left on these cards and refuse this part of your request for information under section
17(g)(i) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (the Act) on the basis
that the information requested is not held by Greater Wel ington and there are no grounds for
believing that the information is held by another local authority, or a department or Minister of the
Crown or organisation.
Snapper cards are propriety products offered by Snapper Services Ltd and therefore subject to the
terms and conditions set by the provider of the cards. Passengers purchasing a Snapper card are
bound to the terms and conditions set by the provider of the card. These terms and conditions can
be found on Snapper website at the fol owing link: https://www.snapper.co.nz/terms-and-
conditions/
Under the Snapper terms and conditions, an unregistered Snapper card is not protected by Snapper
Services Limited, and if lost, the balance can be used by whoever finds the card. This money is not
retained by Greater Wel ington. If the card is not used, any balance on Snapper card is subject to the
terms and conditions set by Snapper Service Limited. The money stays with Snapper. Greater
Wel ington does not receive or hold the balances on Snapper cards.
A Snapper card that is not used or topped up for a continuous period of five years and eleven months
expires, and any money remaining on that card is forfeited to Snapper.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government
Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Page 5 of 6
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information requests
where possible. Our response to your request wil be published shortly on Greater Wel ington’s
website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Samantha Gain
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka-ā-atea | Group Manager Metlink
Page 6 of 6
