Auckland Council transport leader Mike Lee says correspondence released by the Beehive confirms government responsibility for the debacle of having two separate electronic passenger cards called Hop.
"We are having to clean up a mess here because of political interference at the highest level," he said yesterday, after the correspondence emerged from documents released under the Official Information Act.
"The reason we have got two separate Hop cards is a direct result of government interference."
He was referring to the supply of a Hop card by Snapper Services to NZ Bus passengers more than a year before Auckland Transport was able to roll out its own ticket under the same name on trains a week and a half ago under a scheme expected to cost ratepayers, taxpayers and bus operators $110 million.
Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has denied a claim by Labour transport spokesman Phil Twyford that he misled Parliament in saying there was no ministerial involvement in a decision to include Snapper in Auckland's integrated ticketing scheme.
