Abolish Heritage NZ

Stuff reports:

Heritage New Zealand is opposing the design of the Snapper machines proposed for Wellington Railway Station.

Official information documents provided to Stuff show the Crown entity told Greater Wellington Regional Council in June it did not support the proposed card validators, because they did not match the building’s design and layout.

Not content with designating some of the ugliest buildings in Wellington as historic, they’re not impeding the use of Snapper on trains because they think the Railway Station should be more concerned about aesthetics than functionality. It is not a museum, it is a railway station.

Currently, Wellington train commuters need to buy paper tickets before travelling, or pay by cash on board.

I used to travel on the Kapiti line as a kid a lot in the 1970s to visi tmy grandmother in Pukerua Bay. After 45 years away from the trains, I was amazed to find in 2018 that the method of payment and ticketing was unchanged – a paper ticket you can only pay for by cash (or eftpos if at one of the rare stations which sell tickets).

Since the 1970s the Internet has changed the world, but not the trains. It is beyond belief that you can’t pay for your fare electronically – either by Snapper type card or EFTPOS.