It's been a couple weeks since we last checked in on Snapper.

The Snapper rollout has continued apace, and some of us haven't used our old ten-trips for two whole weeks! (Well, we were excited about this, anyway.)

More and more people are boarding buses armed with the cards; and more and more buses (and their drivers) are ready to take them.

And in the meantime we've learnt many things. (Read on for more.)

Today, reader DaveK let us know that Snapper cards have finally gone on sale at a couple of retailers in town, at least. They're also available, along with the card readers that allow WinIE types to do refills at home, from the Snapper website.

Of course there's been a few more teething troubles reported; difficult questions haven't been answered; not all buses (or drivers for that matter) seem to be enabled for the new technology; and retailers still don't seem all that fussed. Meanwhile, as Poneke has reported, the 10-trip tickets will be withdrawn from sale from August 29.

But while the whole thing seems very much a work in progress, we're just glad they've started on the rollout to us, the public transport punters. It's the Future™, you know.

So in the spirit of the week we're in, we'll offer some words of encouragement:

He ika kai ake i raro, he rāpaki ake i raro.

So we can confirm that yes, the new Snapper cards do work pretty well in the buses (based on the small sample of one attempt earlier today using our trial USB snapper pictured). One would expect so, given that the technology comes from the giant T-Money install in Seoul, where their mega-city sized public transport operation will have smoothed all the rough-edges out of it long ago.

But WTF is happening with Snapper?

First, the Dom Post reports that the rollout, due for Monday 14th, has been delayed again (originally the rollout was supposed to be in June). Then we find that at least some buses are running with live, lit-up and useable Snapper readers anyway - such was the one we caught this morning. And to confuse the matter further, no retailers appear able to sell commuters the cards until the end of the month... well, those retailers that actually have agreed to sell the things in the first place, that is.

But... we wants it!

So what might have caused this Clayton's delay? In the absence of anything useful from Snapper themselves we can, of course, indulge in wild speculation (after the jump):

So maybe it's been easy to escape, but next week the new Snapper cards come into circulation.

Anyone who travels on a Wellington Bus cannot have failed to notice the newly installed orange and black fish logo-ed teardrops at the front and side doors. These are the readers for the cards. Just wave the card over the reader, and value is debited from them to fund your bus trip. You can recharge them over the 'net (but only if you have a Windows PC and a masochistic willingness to subject yourself to Internet Explorer) and at any of the supporting cafés and former 10-trip ticket sellers.

It all sounds pretty good really: no more being stuck for the right change; never a click short on your 10-trip; and never even having to think about how much extra is stop past your usual. And then there's the possibility (as some of us, trialling Snapper, are doing now) of putting the first coffee of the morning on it as well.

And it's cool. We like the logo; the different form factors; and just the sheer techno-geekery at play.

Others have been positive, too; Poneke has had a reasonable time with their card. So here at Wellingtonista we're all really looking forward to it.

We do have a few questions though, (after the jump):

This post is ground zero for the Wellingtonista "live" blog of the attack of the truckers. Wellingtonistas will update as the drama progresses:

Hadyn - Wandering into my dairy this morning I hear an update on the impending menace. They've left their starting points but have yet to to join forces into the rolling maul of traffic delays.

The dairy owner blames the government and says "they have to go", I'm still half asleep and don't argue.

I get on my usual 7.15 bus to find it packed to the gunwales. The roads are fairly busy too, but not dramatically so. Who knew it would take truckers gunking up the roads to fill up public transport?

Despite all the people I still manage to get to work fairly smartly. Hadyn 1, Truckers 0.

Hadyn - Holy Shit! They're here! They're HERE! (sorry, don't have a camera, oh I know, check the webcam)

Tom - arrived at work at 8:30, and everyone was raving about how easy the commute was. Strangely, I noticed a couple of buses coming down Willis St that weren't packed out (a strange occurence) - maybe it's just a nice day for a walk?

James - #4 from Island Bay to CBD, route was probably quieter and quicker than average. Travelling time was 8:20 - 8:40am. Bus no more overcrowded than usual. Got to the Courtenay/Taranaki intersection where I suspected some grid-lock might be occuring (with Taranaki being on the truckers' route), but, nope, looked pretty deserted in both directions.

Llew - completely uneventful stroll down the hill from Kelburn. As usual. Most disappointed. My spies tell me that plumbers are revolting too - in their toyota vans. Not sure what that means.

From the Citylink webcam:

Kowhai - Dear lord the incessant honking on Moleswork is going to drive me to violence! My inner 4 year old boy is delighted but my outer Public Servant needs quiet to analyse some damn data.

Robyn - I went to the Everton Terrace overbridge and caught the arrival of the convoy. There were a lot of convoy supporters watching from there, including one excited woman who remarked of the trucks, "They're not even honking. That's just so polite of them." Only to have the convoy erupt in a cacophony of honking as they came closer.

Given that my morning commute involves walking and catching a train, I wasn't at all inconvenienced. If anything, the reduced traffic on the streets made things easier. And my inner 5-year-old boy secretly enjoyed all the trucks.

More of my photos from convoy morning.

Oh, and now you should watch the "I've Got a Big Truck" song from classic Australian comedy show Fast Forward. Honk! Honk!

stephen - I took advantage of the situation to sleep in 'til 10.30. Traffic was fine when I came in to work from Newtown at about midday.

This particular Wellingtonista was sitting at the bus-stop last night, when a lad on a motorbike scooted up, and asked me if I wanted to make use of his now unneeded daytripper pass. Of course I did! $2.80 saved (the cost of a click on my 3-zone ten-trip)! Score!

This led to some discussion on the Wellingtonista list as to other acts of kindness/generosity you can perform for your fellow citizens without any great opportunity cost of your own.

The other obvious one is parking coupons. Got half an hour left when you go to leave? Just roll the ticket up and pop it in the coin slot of the vending machine. Next person to come along will (hopefully) realise they've got a freebie, and everyone wins (except the council revenue department, I suppose).

Might I also remind our readers that while the library doesn't send out overdue reminder notices until after your books/cds/dvds/whatever are overdue (and thus already accumulating late charges), you can use the Library Elf service to send you reminders before the due date. This has saved my family literally hundreds of dollars over the last few years.

Any other suggestions for ways to save people money or, indeed, just to make their lives more pleasant, with a minimal amount of effort on your own behalf? Pop 'em in the comments.

After being asked (somewhere in the comments here) about Green Cabs possibly buying Regency Cabs we said we'd find out...and we have. Our editor-in-chief Natalie Biz did some in-depth reporting and wrenched an answer from Green Cabs' managing director, Callum Brown:

Hi Natalie

On the Regency Cabs thing, we haven't purchased them but we were looking at this soley to get the spaces at the airport and that's it (otherwise we have to wait for the next airport tender in 2010) .

We are still looking at it and if we go ahead we will be offsetting the emissions from the fleet also and pushing for a more environmentally friendly vehicle moving forward.

It hasn't happened yet. But if we go ahead I'll let you know

We are doing their dispatching though, which reduces the emissions of two taxi companies running from two separate locations into one.

Regards

So there you go, don't say we don't do anything for you.

NOTE: We don't want a stupid slanging match in the comments like the previous times we've blogged about Green Cabs. Be civil and don't spread malicious rumours or you will be removed. You can be anonymous but we'd prefer you to write in a name (at the very least to distinguish you from the other Anons). And finally, we will close down all comments after 24 hours if any of the above gets out of hand. Now go play nice.

Our favourite cab company has expanded to Auckland and Christchurch and are doing pretty well in both. But it's not all expansion and increasing profits.

Recently the eco-friendly cab company has had to defend itself against statements from the head of the Taxi Federation. Then they had to fend off spurious claims from other taxi companies (Combined in this case) that they were also "green".

The commission began investigating Wellington Combined Taxis in March after receiving complaints about claims on its website. The website suggests the company's LPG taxis reduce carbon dioxide pollution by up to 25 per cent, and its Nissan Maxima engines are 20 per cent more fuel efficient than traditional automatic transmissions.

And then today I heard another mean story. Green Cabs received a call for a big job: 9pm, 40 people, 10 cars. They naturally accepted. But 10 cabs is a lot out Green Cabs' fleet so it was also a gamble.

You know what's coming don't you? That's right, nobody showed. The cars didn't wait around for long but it was long enough at that time to miss out on a large number of jobs.

Green Cabs have an idea who was behind the prank but we'll let our readers make up their own mind.

Something else that is interesting to note: the average cab driver spends approximately $80 a day on petrol, the average Green Cabbie spends approximately $20 a day on petrol.

Wellington is now the place to be for flaming vehicles, and it's not just cars. Now even buses explode!

A bus to Karori caught fire tonight as it carried tired commuters home. Like petrol-guzzlers needed more excuses to not take public transport.

"It was crazy really."

That's an actual quote, by the way.

And for those keeping score, it was a number 3 bus.

Here at the Wellingtonista we like public transport, but there are times when you need a car to do stuff, like picking up that flatpack cocktail cabinet out in Lower Hutt.

At the moment your options are pretty much limited to borrowing a friend's car, hiring a taxi, or forking out for a rental, but there is a more sensible option.

It's called car sharing, and is currently up and running in Auckland through a company called Cityhop.

With Cityhop, you pay a yearly fee (currently $75), and when you need to use a car, you make a booking, then pick up your car from one of the specified city car parks, do your car-related stuff, then return it, paying a $13.50 hourly rate (including petrol!) for its use.

Cityhop's been running in Auckland since September last year, and according to their website they'll be opening soon here in Wellington.

Needless to say, we will be keeping a close eye on this. Perhaps now we'll finally be able to get that cocktail cabinet for Wellingtonista Towers.

This just in from Metlink - Disruption to GO Wellington bus services - Wednesday 30 April 2008

On Wednesday 30 April bus services on all GO Wellington routes will be suspended between the hours of 10am and 2pm.

“The suspension of services is to allow a scheduled union meeting for our people represented by the Wellington Tramways Union,” says Zane Fulljames, General Manager Southern Region. “The union has one meeting each year to discuss union business with its members.”

“We apologise unreservedly for any inconvenience this causes our customers” says Mr Fulljames.

“With advance notice we trust our customers can plan their day’s activities with minimum disruption”

Services will be limited between the hours of 9.00-10.00am and 2.00-3.00pm.

Between 10.00am and 2.00pm, there will be no GO Wellington bus services.

A normal full service on all GO Wellington routes will operate up until 9.00am and will resume from 3.00 pm.

Valley Flyer, Runcimans, train and Cable Car services will not be interupted and will operate as normal.

I know we all love trolley buses (and can't wait for the flash new three-axle jobbies to start ripping it up along Kent Terrace) but this must have been horrendous to be involved in at 5.15 yesterday afternoon. And deeply amusing for those of NOT involved, of course.

The bus slipped off its wire (not unusual) and then slid back so the pole-thingy got caught in the wires. Couldn't go forwards (no power), couldn't drift further back without ripping the wires apart. And right, slam bang in the middle of Cambridge Terrace during afternoon rush hour, disabling all the trolley buses behind in the process. Legend.

[Photo taken from the Hannah Playhouse. Click for a larger version.]

For those who weren't aware of it, the Council has a nice online service that allows people to "petition the Wellington City Council, via the internet, on matters relevant to the Council's business".

Anyone can create one, so, if there's something bugging you that you think the council should be looking into, just go right ahead. (Remember though, if it's something that needs fixing as opposed to some more substantial infrastructural problem, just use their Fix It service).

A majority of the current petitions cover one of Wellingtonista's favourite topics, namely urban transport (they're removing cycle lanes!?), so, if you'd like to add your weight to those issues, or raise one of your own, rock on over and have your say.

(Note: this service is bought to you by the excellently entitled 'Democratic Services' council department).

What, exactly, is the correct response to take when you're on the bus with a phantom farter?

I was on a very full #4 on the way home the other evening, and for most of the trip, at regular intervals, the overwhelming pong of a bottom-burp would waft its way through the throng.

Of course, if one is of a guilty disposition like myself, you assume that everyone else assumes that you were the guilty party.

How does one comport oneself as to make it patently obvious that the culprit is not, in fact, one's own bottom?

I've avoided it as long as I can but I'm going to have to start laying into the Wellington buses. This will serve two purposes -- to gather a weight of evidence with which to construct a platform from which I can launch a series of more formal remonstrances; and possibly more importantly, to make me feel better.

I have begun a journal of woe -- chronicling my problems and frustrations -- and you can join in too, if you want.