SuperGold eligibility verification
Miss M Quicken made this Official Information request to Wellington Regional Council
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Wellington Regional Council should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Miss M Quicken
Dear Wellington Regional Council,
Background
As part of LGOIMA 2026 05 I was advised of the following:
> On bus services, drivers are required to check SuperGold passes when a service user boards and then select the relevant button on the Bus Driver Console each time. Rail staff are also required to check passes manually and keep a count of SuperGold service users per service that they are on, which is then reported to Greater Wellington.
However pursuant to s.12 (Unauthorised use of SuperGold Cards) of Social Security (SuperGold Card) Regulations 2007 includes:
(3) Only an employee of the department or a person described in regulation 11(2) is entitled to demand or request a SuperGold Card as a form of identification of the cardholder.
(4) Only an employee of the department is entitled to demand or request a SuperGold Card as evidence that the cardholder is eligible for it.
(6) A person required or requested to produce his or her SuperGold Card by a person entitled to require or request its production may be treated as if he or she does not hold a SuperGold Card (or, as the case requires, is not eligible for a community services card) if he or she does not produce it within a reasonable time.
It puzzles me that regional transport authorities or agencies (such as contracted transport providers) are not authorized to in fact request SuperGold Card as a form of identification.
In combination that GRWC treats it as identification of the user.
Request
Please provide
A) Current training materials provided to the bus drivers on how to deal with SuperGold
B) Policy / strategy document that outlined why council chose the option of not requiring SuperGold users to register through snapper which then can be used to authenticate and verify the user
C) Briefing and any other material that formed the basis of treating SuperGold holders differently from the rest of the population, who both need a registered snapper and go through the process of tagging on and off.
Yours faithfully,
Miss M Quicken
From: Records
Wellington Regional Council
Kia ora Miss M Quicken,
Acknowledgement of Requests for Information under the Local Government
Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Thank you for your four emails received on Friday 20 March 2026,
requesting information regarding SuperGold card funding and eligibility,
as well as revenue recovery options to maintain the current ticketing
system in the bus network.
Greater Wellington intends to provide a single response to your four
requests and will treat the four requests as a single request for the
purposes of the Act.
The reply to your requests will be sent to you by Tuesday 21 April 2026
within 20 working days of the request being received.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to
official information requests on our website where appropriate. Personal
information will not be included.
Ngā mihi,
Information Management Team
For Luke Troy
Group Manager
Strategy
Greater Wellington Regional Council
ATTENTION: This correspondence is confidential and intended for the named
recipient(s) only. If you are not the named recipient and receive this
correspondence in error, you must not copy, distribute or take any action
in reliance on it and you should delete it from your system and notify the
sender immediately. Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions
expressed are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of
the organisation.
From: Jamie Wallace-Thexton
Wellington Regional Council
Kia ora Miss M Quicken,
I am writing to you regarding your request for information under the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
For the purposes of the response, we have designated the four emails you
sent on 20^th of March 2026 as a single request for information under the
Act designated as 2026-117.
In this email, we are seeking clarification of information you are
requesting, specifically with your references to a “SuperGold scheme
funding gap”.
Under the current funding model of the scheme, which was introduced in
2016, SuperGold concessions are funded by central government with a bulk
funding approach.
This means that Greater Wellington annually receives a lump sum of funding
for the concession, then a reporting process from Greater Wellington to
NZTA identifies any over or under funding and adjusts the subsequent
year(s) funding appropriately.
As a result of the above, Greater Welington does not consider that there
is a “gap” in the amount of the funding received, as the concession is
funded by central government and any discrepancy in the amount received is
adjusted for in the following year.
Greater Wellington is therefore asking that you clarify what you are
referring to by “SuperGold scheme funding gap.”
Please note that amendments to your request will reset the 20-working day
timeframe for a response as set out by the Act.
If we do not receive any clarification of your request, then we will look
to answer your current requests to the best of our understanding. This may
result in a refusal to this part of your request under section 17(e) of
the Act, wherein “that the document alleged to contain the information
requested does not exist”
Ngâ mihi,
Jamie Wallace-Thexton (he/him)
Kaitohutohu | Project Advisor
Metlink
M 021 972 588
100 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
To find out how to plan your journey, go to metlink.org.nz
show quoted sections
From: Samantha Gain
Wellington Regional Council
Tēnā koe Miss Quicken
Request for information 2026-117
I refer to your four requests for information dated 20 March 2026.
Our response is enclosed.
Ngā mihi
Samantha Gain | she/her
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Metlink | Group Manager Metlink
Metlink
100 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 11646, Manners St,
Wellington 6142
Follow us online: [1]Facebook
ATTENTION: This correspondence is confidential and intended for the named
recipient(s) only. If you are not the named recipient and receive this
correspondence in error, you must not copy, distribute or take any action
in reliance on it and you should delete it from your system and notify the
sender immediately. Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions
expressed are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of
the organisation.
References
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From: Michelle Groves
Wellington Regional Council
Tēnā koe Miss Quicken
Request for information 2026-117
I refer to your four requests for information dated 20 March 2026.
Our response is enclosed.
Regards
Michelle Groves on behalf of Paul Tawharu, Group Manager Metlink (Acting)
Kaiāwhina Matua ki te Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka | Executive Assistant to
Group Manager Metlink
Metlink
100 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 11646, Manners St,
Wellington 6142
Follow us online: [1]Facebook
[2]Metlink Co Branded logo
ATTENTION: This correspondence is confidential and intended for the named
recipient(s) only. If you are not the named recipient and receive this
correspondence in error, you must not copy, distribute or take any action
in reliance on it and you should delete it from your system and notify the
sender immediately. Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions
expressed are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of
the organisation.
References
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1. https://www.facebook.com/MetlinkOnOurWay/
From: Official Correspondence
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Kia ora Miss Quicken
Please find attached the response to your request of 20 March 2026 for
information under the Official Information Act 1982.
Ngâ mihi
Ministerial Services
Te Waka Kôtuia | Engagement & Partnerships
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi
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From: Official Correspondence <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, 26 March 2026 2:26 pm
To: [email address]
Subject: OIA-21653 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Kia ora Miss Quicken
This email acknowledges your below request for information made under the
Official Information Act 1982, which has been partially transferred to our
agency from Greater Wellington Regional Council:
B) The minutes or such document which documented both the decisionmaker/s
and the decision itself to delay it for at least a year
C) Impact assessment of the decision adopted
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate section of NZ Transport
Agency Waka Kotahi for response. They will contact you if they require
clarification of your request, more time to respond, or if your request
has been transferred to another organisation to respond to. Unless more
time is required, NZ Transport Agency will send a response to you within
20 working days of receiving your request – in this instance on or before
28 April 2026.
If you would like to discuss your request with NZ Transport Agency, please
contact us by email at [3][email address].
Ngâ mihi
Ministerial Services
Te Waka Kôtuia | Engagement & Partnerships
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi
[4]Connect with us on Social Media
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This message, together with any attachments, may contain information that
is classified and/or subject to legal privilege. Any classification
markings must be adhered to. If you are not the intended recipient, you
must not peruse, disclose, disseminate, copy or use the message in any
way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us
immediately by return email and then destroy the original message. This
communication may be accessed or retained by NZ Transport Agency Waka
Kotahi for information assurance purposes.
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