WELLINGTON

Conditions of Carriage

Document Purpose

This document outlines the terms and conditions of carriage for passengers travelling with Wellington City Transport Limited, trading as GO Wellington (“GO Wellington”). A person who uses any part of the transport system provided by GO Wellington (“Passenger”) agrees to abide by these conditions.

1. Fares

1.1 Passengers must either pay a fare, or show a valid pass issued by GO Wellington, or show a SuperGold Card, or present a pre-paid 10 trip ticket, or pay using a Snapper stored value card for their journey in accordance with GO Wellington’s fare schedule. If evidence of payment of the correct fare cannot be shown on demand another fare must be paid.

1.2 Illegible tickets or passes or faulty Snapper cards will not be accepted.

1.3 Cash tickets are not transferable to any other person.

1.4 No Passenger shall travel on the vehicle beyond the point for which they have paid a fare.

1.5 Groups of Passengers travelling on the same ticket must be able to produce the ticket on demand. Any Passenger continuing on a journey without a ticket will be required to pay another fare.

1.6 All fares include GST.

2. GO Wellington Prepaid Tickets and Monthly Passes

2.1 When the Passenger produces a valid prepaid 10 Trip Ticket the Operator will clip the ticket for each use.

2.2 Adult 10 Trip Tickets:

(a) From 29 August 2008, adult prepaid 10 Trip Tickets will no longer be sold for travel on Go Wellington services.

(b) Passengers may continue to use adult prepaid 10 Trip Tickets for bus travel until 1 December 2008 or such later date as may be advised on www.gowellingtonbus.co.nz

(c) Go Wellington will provide refunds for all unused tickets after this date. Details will be advised on www.gowellingtonbus.co.nz

2.3 The Platinum Pass, Gold Pass and Bus King are not valid until signed by the holder and the scratch panel removed to validate the pass.

2.4 All passes are non-transferable and non refundable; and remain the property of GO Wellington and may be withdrawn in the case of misuse.

2.5 Passes will not be replaced if lost or stolen but may be replaced at the Company’s sole discretion if damaged or defaced.

2.6 Platinum Passes and Gold Passes may be used on the After Midnight Service (not Bus Kings monthly passes though).

2.7 GO Wellington monthly passes, 10 Trip Tickets and day passes may be used on Valley Flyer services in Wellington (routes 80, 81,83,84,85) between Courtenay Place and Ngauranga (specifically Ngauranga Gorge Intersection). This includes: monthly Gold Pass, Bus King, Wellington Daytripper, Wellington Group Daytripper and 10 Trip Tickets.

2.8 Gold Passes are valid on the Airport Flyer service but not north of Molesworth Street (no other GO Wellington tickets are valid on this service).

2.9 Passes must be shown on request.

3. Child & Student Fares

3.1 Children under the age of 5 years will be carried free of charge on all services, if accompanied by an adult or child ten years of age or over. Children aged 5 to 15 pay child fares at all times.

3.2 16-19 year olds who are in full-time secondary education can pay child fares if they are wearing school uniform or on production of a current photo ID issued by their school. Failure to provide a current school photo identification may result in the passenger being required to pay an adult fare.

3.3 Any Passenger travelling on a child fare must stand if an adult requires a seat.

3.4 Students are only permitted to board or exit a bus via the front door on all school bus services. The only time when students may use the back door to exit the bus is when the bus is at the finish of a school run at a school.

3.5 Adults are responsible for the behaviour of accompanying children in their care or under their supervision.

4. Concessionary Fares

4.1 Passengers with an approved Blind Persons Permit are entitled to travel on Child Fares at any time. Passengers who fail to provide their permit upon request may be required to pay the adult cash fare.

4.2 Work and Income New Zealand beneficiaries receiving the Domestic Purposes Benefit, Widows or Invalid Benefit who are Wellington City residents are eligible to apply for a GO Wellington Beneficiaries Permit. The permit allows passengers to travel between 9.00am and 4.00pm and after 6.00pm Monday to Friday and anytime Saturday, Sunday and Statutory Holidays. The permit must be renewed by application on an annual basis. Passengers who fail to provide their permit upon request may be required to pay the adult cash fare.

4.3 Card Holders of SuperGold Cards are eligible to travel free of charge on services boarded between 9.00am and 3.00pm and after 6.30pm Monday to Friday and anytime on Saturday, Sunday and Statutory Holidays. A Card Holder who fails to provide their SuperGold Card upon request may be required to pay the adult cash fare.

4.4 Disabled Soldiers and recipients of War Pensions who are Wellington City residents may travel for free upon the presentation of the appropriate GO Wellington Permit. These permits are valid at all times. Passengers who fail to provide their permit upon request may be required to pay the adult cash fare.

4.5 Blind Persons Permits, Beneficiaries Permits made available to disabled soldier and recipients of war pension are not transferable.

4.6 In each bus four front seats have been nominated for the use of the elderly and disabled. Able-bodied passengers are required to give up these seats if an elderly or disabled person requires these seats.

4.7 Special fares may be set for particular services. They will be identified by a message on the destination blind or sign, or by a sign by the front door. These are usually indicated as "Minimum Fare" or "Special Fare" or “Adult Fares only.” In such cases, the discounts offered upon presentation of one of the aforementioned permits will not apply.

4.8 The beneficiaries concessions do not currently apply outside Wellington City. For the application of this concession Wellington City is defined as south of Onslow College and Ngauranga.

5. Snapper Stored Value Cards

5.1 Go Wellington Bus is a Snapper Services Limited authorised public transport operator and as such, can accept payment of adult bus fares by way of the Snapper stored value cards (“Snapper Card”) on Snapper compatible buses. Such acceptance is subject at all times to the Snapper terms and conditions (found at www.snapper.co.nz) and subject to the below.

5.2 Adult passengers who pay for their journeys by using their Snapper Card are provided with a discount of 20% off the price of 1 zone, 2 zones and 3 zones cash fares. This discount is not provided on special fares, ie the City Section cash fare, Stadium Shuttle fares and After Midnight service fares and any other special fares as may be advertised from time to time on www.gowellingtonbus.co.nz.

5.3 Go Wellington Bus retains the right to review and amend the discounts provided to Snapper Card holders from time to time. Any amendments to the discounts or fares payable will be advertised on www.gowellingtonbus.co.nz.

5.4 Each time a Passenger uses their Snapper Card, they must ensure that the stored value on the card is at least the minimum permissible fare for that route at the start of the journey. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the Passenger being required to pay a cash fare for their travel.

5.5 The Snapper readers indicate the amount of remaining value on the card when the Passenger tags off the bus, once the stored value reaches the sum of $12.00 or less.

5.6 Passengers may review their Snapper Card transactions using the online registration facility noted at www.snapper.co.nz. Go Wellington Bus encourages Snapper Card users to register their cards, however accepts no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions on the transaction records provided by Snapper Services Limited.

5.7 Passengers using a Snapper Card must hold, not swipe, their card against the Snapper reader. Failure to do so may result in the card not being read in the system and an error message displaying on the card reader.

5.8 If the Snapper Card is unable to process payment for a journey for any reason whatsoever, the Passenger may be required to pay a cash fare for their travel.

5.9 Those persons wishing to pay for transport for more than one Passenger using their Snapper Card must advise the driver upon entry onto the bus. This option is only available where all Passengers relying on the Snapper Card are travelling to the same destination.

5.10 Passengers using the Snapper Card must ensure that they tag off the bus when exiting. Snapper readers give confirmation of successful tagging off by an illuminated green circle and audible signal tone. Failure to tag off will result in the maximum cash fare on that route being charged to their Snapper Card. This may result in a Passenger’s card going into debit.

5.11 Go Wellington Bus will make every effort to ensure that the Snapper readers installed on the Go Wellington Buses are fully functional, with all readers tested at the commencement of each journey. However, Go Wellington Bus does not accept any liability for any loss caused by faulty Snapper readers or any consequential loss flowing from a failure or fault with a Snapper reader for any reason whatsoever.

5.12 Any issues or concerns regarding a faulty Snapper Card should be referred to www.snapper.co.nz or 0800 SNAPPER (0800 762 773).

6. Refund of Tickets

6.1 Unused 10 trip tickets may be refunded at the sole discretion of the Company. A 10% administration fee will be charged where a refund is provided.

6.2 Unused Platinum, Bus King and Gold Passes will not be refunded.

7. Duty To Carry Passengers

7.1 The Operator shall, within the legal loading limits of the vehicle, or any applicable passenger restriction, carry all passengers who wish to use the service. The Operator may refuse to carry any person, or may require any person to leave the vehicle, if that person:

(i) Is in a filthy condition; or

(ii) Is consuming food or drink or appears to be under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substance; or

(iii) Is noisy, offensive, violent or is disturbing the public peace, or the Operator otherwise has reasonable grounds to believe that the personal safety of the Operator or any other passenger is being threatened by that person; or

(iv) Has damaged or is threatening to damage the vehicle or its fittings; or

(v) Is accompanied by an animal, unless that person is disabled and the animal is an assistance dog; or

(vi) Is unable or refuses to pay the correct fare for the journey, or has travelled beyond the point to which he has paid to travel and is unable or refuses to pay the additional fare due; or

(vii) Is smoking any substance or material whether by use of a cigarette or pipe or any other means.

7.2 Customer’s Agreed Responsibilities:

(i) No food or drink is to be consumed on the bus.

(ii) Passengers must not enter or leave (or attempt to enter or leave) a vehicle other than at an authorised bus stop when the bus is stationary, nor behave in a distracting or irresponsible way.

(iii) Passengers must not enter (or attempt to enter) the vehicle through any entrance until all alighting Customers have alighted.

(iv) No Customer shall stand on the steps of the vehicle or alongside the Operator.

(v) No customer shall play aloud any musical instrument, radio or musical apparatus.

(vi) No Customer shall produce a ticket that is improperly altered or has expired or has been wholly cancelled.

(vii) Every Customer shall upon request give to the Operator true and correct information as to where they have boarded the vehicle and details as to payment of the fare and shall produce for inspection the ticket which relates to the fare.

(viii) Every Customer upon request shall give to the Operator true details of their name and address, where the Operator has good reason to require that information.

(ix) Where the contract of carriage would otherwise be subject to the provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and where the transportation services are supplied for business purposes, the customer agrees that such services are supplied for business purposes in terms of Sections 2 and 43 of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and that the provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 do not apply to the Customer. Such a Customer is not a Consumer for the purposes of these terms and conditions.

8. Luggage and Freight

8.1 The Company shall be under no liability for any loss or damage caused to any article it agrees to carry as luggage and freight.

8.2 No customer shall bring any large luggage, parcel, pram or pushchair onto the vehicle unless approved by the Operator and shall place it in the area provided for luggage. The customer agrees to indemnify the Company for any loss or damage caused to the Company property or other persons by the carriage of such articles. Customers with prams must not block the aisle with the pram. If there is no space available to park the pram away from the aisle, the chair should be folded and placed in the luggage compartment area and the child held on the knee or seated.

9. Lost Items

9.1 Any customer who finds any money or item which appear to have been lost or left on any vehicle shall hand it to the Operator or company employee and (if requested) be given a receipt.

9.2 GO Wellington has the right to sell any lost items that have been unclaimed for three months by public auction (excepting perishable items which may be disposed of in such manner as the Company thinks fit). The net proceeds of such sale together with unclaimed monies shall be given to a charity of the Company's choice.

10. Company Property & Staff

10.1 Except with the prior written consent of the Company, no person or customer shall put any signs or markings on company property, or beg or solicit money from customers and staff.

10.2 No person shall remove or damage any Company notice or sign or interfere with any part of the Company property used in the Transport System.

10.3 No person shall in any way wilfully impede or interfere with the vehicles used in the Transport System or prevent them from travelling at their ordinary rate of speed.

10.4 No person shall threaten with violence or abuse or wilfully assault any customer or Operator.

10.5 The Company shall have the right at all times to issue passes to enable persons to travel on the Company vehicles free of charge, upon such terms and conditions as it may decide.

10.6 Any person who damages or causes to be damaged any property of the Company shall be liable for the cost of the repair and reinstatement of that property together with any other related or consequential losses, damage or expense the Company may have incurred.

10.7 Neither the Company nor any Operator, employee or agent shall be under any liability whatever directly or indirectly caused by or arising out of anything done by the Company, Operator, employee or agent pursuant to these conditions

10.8 Nothing in these terms and conditions shall prevent a Customer who is a Consumer from holding or exercising any rights of remedies that Customer may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993.

10.9 GO Wellington will make all reasonable efforts to carry passengers on time, however advertised times are not guaranteed and do not form any part of any contract of carriage. The Company does not assume responsibility or liability for missing connections. If necessary the Company may without notice abandon, cancel or alter any service, substitute one bus for another, commence a service before or after the scheduled time of departure or deviate from the advertised route.

11. Complaints Procedure

11.1 For any complaints or comments regarding Go Wellington services, please either:

(a) complete the Feedback form
(b) Contact the METLINK Service Centre on 0800 801 700.

12. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in all respects in accordance with New Zealand law and subject to the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.

Definitions

In these conditions unless inconsistent with the context the following terms shall bear the following meanings:

“Card Holder” means a person who is entitled to hold a SuperGold card and produces that card on request by an Employee.

"Employee" means and includes any servant or agent of the Company with responsibility, express or implied, for the proper operation of the Company's services or for the protection of its vehicles, revenues or other property.

"Company" means Wellington City Transport Limited and its subsidiary and associated companies including GO Wellington.

"Consumer" means a consumer as defined in Section 2 of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 but does not include a passenger, who, by clause 7.2 (ix) of these terms and conditions, has agreed not to be subject to that Act.

"Customer" means any person being carried by or about to be carried by the Company on a vehicle whether by special pass, hire or reward on the transport system and every other person bound by these conditions.

"Fare" means any fare, toll or charge, which may be fixed from time to time by the Company in respect of its Customer service, or any special Customer service, which it may from time to time provide.

"Operator" means and includes any Depot Officer, Supervisor, Driver or Customer loading assistant for the time being in charge of a vehicle or engaged in the duties of issuing or inspecting tickets or regulating the loading or operation of vehicles.

"Pay and Payment" and words of like meaning in relation to fares, include:

(i) The production of an authorised concession ticket/card, transfer ticket/card or other special ticket, card or electronic device for cancellation or partial cancellation either by the Operator or by machine for the Customer's journey.

(ii) The production of an approved pass or season ticket.

(iii) The offer of money to the Operator in payment of the fare for which a ticket or electronic device shall be issued as a receipt and paid has a corresponding meaning.

“SuperGold Card” means a valid SuperGold card issued to a Card Holder by the New Zealand Government under the Social Security (SuperGold Card) Regulations 2007.

"Ticket" includes a pre-paid multi-trip fare card or period pass.

"Transport System" means and includes the public Customer Transport System for the time being under the control and management of the Company.

"Vehicle" means and includes any omnibus, van and any other public Customer conveyance belonging to the Company, or worked upon or in connection with the Transport System and used for the carriage of Customers.

Effective 1 September 2009

Terms and Conditions of Carriage