Wellington needs cheap, reliable public transport to arrest its declining use and get more cars off our congested roads.

Instead, the Greater Wellington Regional Council plans to spend more to get less; and not for the first time.

Those wretchedly inaccurate Real Time Information Boards cost $13 million, when a smart phone app would have cost less than $100,000.

The regional council is dumping the trolleybuses in 2017, ostensibly in favour of hybrids, but the higher cost of hybrids suggests it's a trojan horse tactic to introduce more diesels (cheaper, but more environmentally unfriendly); and Wellington City's recently upgraded overhead wires will be torn down (and it's still not clear who's going to pay that cost).

The regional council has also spent more than $500m upgrading the trains, with no increase in patronage.

Now the regional council has its sights on Snapper.

They want to adopt Auckland's integrated HOP card ticketing system at a cost of up to $50m next year and $5m each following year.

It's hard to understand the reason; clearly its vision for public transport doesn't seem to involve the public as the Snapper has become part of the capital's DNA, even though it's only been around since 2008.

The regional council's preference for Auckland's notorious HOP card is yet another incomprehensible addition to its track record of bad public transport investments that have driven up fares while driving down patronage.

It's hardly surprising our bus passenger numbers have flatlined despite our increased population; bus fares are so expensive, it's often cheaper for people to use their car.

Snapper captured Wellingtonians' imaginations, but it's also a great deal for both ratepayers and taxpayers as it costs us nothing.

The bus operator absorbs Snapper's costs, just like the cost of fuel and drivers' wages.

There are significant differences between the Snapper and HOP cards, none of which make HOP more appealing.

It's been so hopeless that many consider Auckland's decision to buy it akin to buying a pig in a poke. Snapper operates an open platform, so it can be easily adapted to changing customer needs and rapidly changing technology - important when so many are using smartphones.

Snapper can be used on the bus, taxi, to pay for car parks, and even a flat white; some businesses now use Snapper as an ID or access card. It's just been selected as the engine room behind Dublin's public transport Leap Card.

And the HOP card? It has only one use: paying a fare.

Where's the analysis showing that a change of integrated ticket will make just one more person take the bus, ferry or train?

Rather than talking of mind-numbing figures in the millions, think of it this way: switching to the HOP card will cost about $100,000 per bus, train and ferry in the Greater Wellington region, plus another $10,000 for every vehicle in Wellington's public transport fleet, including trains, buses and the two harbour ferries. A new diesel bus costs about $400,000.

The HOP card has had a chequered history, despite its cost (depending on who you believe, between $150m and $250m), including its inability to be reloaded with a smartphone app.

As one blogger said: "Auckland Transport because, well, beggars can't be choosers." The HOP card's only merit seems to be that visiting Aucklanders can use their card down here - hardly enough to kickstart Wellington's bus patronage and its cost will almost certainly push up our fares.

Wellington public transport users will be paying more for the same service to ensure we have the same ticketing system as Auckland. Pointless.

There may be more to come. The regional council is so keen to follow Auckland that it may be contemplating its latest batty idea, painting every bus in Auckland Transport's specified colour scheme (costing $10,000-$15,000 per bus), because it doesn't want its brand defiled by advertising.

Regional council, please get your hands off our Snapper card. Change for change's sake, at a cost of $50m-plus, won't deliver what we want: cheap, reliable transport.

Nicola Young is a Wellington City councillor.