Banks put city's smart card on hold

By Keith Newman.

Plans to make Wellington the first in the world to introduce a city-wide smart card have been stalled by the failure of banks to invest in the technology.

The Smart City project which proposed to distribute smart cards to 160,000 ratepayers was originally scheduled for earlier this year but it fell through despite widespread support from Wellington businesses and the city council.

The idea originally came from Westpactrust bank and Visa but both parties have now shut down all new projects until after February next year in order to concentrate on Y2K readiness - meaning it's unlikely the Smart City project will be revived until late next year.

A limited smart card release is however being planned in conjunction with the opening of the WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington on January 1st, 2000. Partners to that contract are in the process of signing off on a cash card and loyalty programme for vendors at the stadium, although details are not yet available.

Charitable trust Totally Wellington, set up to promote the idea of a city-wide card to ratepayers and businesses in the capital city, believes there's a sound business case. Terminal suppliers and retailers are ready but the banks have so far failed to invest in the technology to re-load a cash value on the cards. High hopes had also been placed on Telecom choosing an 'open' operating system for its new 'smart' telephone cards and a relationship being struck for a single card. Telecom however, chose proprietary card technology for its new 6000 strong network of payphones. While the hardware is smart card capable, its phone cards aren't currently re-loadable.

Trevor Hall manager of Totally Wellington said phone card carriers would have been the ideal 'migrants' for the VisaCash smart card, which would also contain loyalty and reward schemes to keep people shopping in central Wellington. Support had come from retailers, local taxi companies, the Stagecoach bus company, McDonalds, Te Papa museum and the city council for which considered using the card for library and tip access.

"No-one wants to invest in switching gear until people are carrying smart cards and no-one can carry smart cards until the switching gear is there," said Mr Hall.

"The market for a cash card is fading rapidly. We believe there will now be a direct migration to national re-loadable smart card which will sit on your normal eftpos and credit card," said Mr Hall.

However Peter Marshall, of terminal supplier Eftpos New Zealand and spokesman for the WespacTrust and Visa, said there was still hope the Wellington-wide project could go ahead around mid-2000.