Central Auckland bus passengers are having to carry two smartcards - both confusingly called Hop - to guarantee cash-free travel for the next few weeks.
Auckland Transport says that passengers travelling on central routes should keep carrying the purple Snapper Hop card introduced in 2011 by NZ Bus, as well as its own new dark-blue AT Hop card, during a transition between separate ticketing systems.
That is because some North Star buses, which are operated by NZ Bus from North Shore and were switched from Snapper to Auckland Transport's new $100 million AT Hop system last week, are also being used at odd hours to make up numbers on central city runs - causing confusion and inconvenience to passengers not armed with both cards.
Westmere resident Richard Dale is unhappy at being kicked off a bus after heading to the city on a Snapper Hop card but being asked to produce an AT Hop for a return trip three hours later on the same 020 route via Richmond Rd.
"The driver refused to let me on with my Snapper card and, because I didn't have any cash, kicked me off," he said.
