Bee Card FAQs

A Bee Card is $5 and can be bought online, on buses in Dunedin and Queenstown (CASH ONLY) and at your usual retailers including ORC offices.

Remember to register your Bee Card by going online here.

Once you have bought your Bee Card you then need to "top up" to prepay for your travel.

The government is working towards a national ticketing solution. Find out more here.

Bee Cards are available to purchase from:

• ORC offices
• Bee Card retailers
• your bus driver (cash only on the bus)
• Bee Card online

Remember to register it by going online here.

Dunedin

• ORC office: Level 2, 144 Rattray Street, Philip Laing House
  Monday to Friday: 8am to 4:30pm
  (Cash or EFTPOS only)

Dunedin retailers

• Dunedin City Council Civic Customer Service Centres
• Mosgiel Library and Service Centre
• Port Chalmers Library and Service Centre
• Blueskin Bay Library and Service Centre
• Waikouaiti Library and Service Centre
• University Bookshops (all Dunedin locations)

Queenstown

• Otago Regional Council: Terrace Junction, 1092 Frankton Road
  Monday to Friday: 8am to 1pm; 2pm to 4pm
  Closed on public holidays
  (EFTPOS only)

Queenstown retailers

• i-SITE at 22 Shotover Street, in The Clocktower Building
• Paper Plus Queenstown Airport
• RealNZ kiosk at Earnslaw Park, by the Queenstown Ferries stop
• Hilton Queenstown

On the bus

• You can buy a Bee Card while on board the bus, along with topping up your Bee Card with credit (plus minimum $5 top up). Note: You can only buy a Bee Card or top up on the bus using cash only.

Online

• Order online at www.beecard.co.nz (you will need to add at least a $5 top up)

When buying a Bee Card from a retailer or on the bus, please note it can take up to 12 hours before you can register the card and add concessions.
We recommend waiting until the next day.

If you topped up when you purchased the card, you can use the funds straight away, so catch the bus home!

It's easy. Head to www.BeeCard.co.nz and follow instructions. Check out these great videos supplied by Bay of Plenty Regional Council where the Bee Card also operates.

Bee Card – Create an account
Bee Card – Manage your card
Bee Card – Register your card

Top up your Otago Bee Card on buses with CASH or at www.BeeCard.co.nz.

Dunedin 
Otago Regional Council offices:
70 Stafford Street
Level 2, 144 Rattray Street, Philip Laing House
Dunedin City Council Customer Service Centres 
University Book Shop

Queenstown 
Otago Regional Council office:
Terrace Junction, 1092 Frankton Road
Stanley Street Orbus ticket hut (this is currently closed until further notice)
Retailers will have contactless (payWave or Eftpos) payment, but buses are not loaded with this technology so CASH only.

The minimum top up will be $5.

Check out this great video of Dunedin passengers giving the Bee Card a go.

• Top up with a minimum of $5
• The first "tag" will take a few seconds longer than usual – just present your card across the scanner near the door and wait for the beep. That is how you know it has worked.
• Bee Cards activate when they are tagged, so if you've topped up online but it says 'pending balance' don't worry, it'll pull through the funds when you tag on
• Online top ups can take up to 12 hours, so don't top up 5 minutes before your journey
• Concession changes may take 30 minutes to pull through, so don't register your child's concession right before the journey or they will end up being charged the adult fare.
• If your balance says you were charged $3 but you're sure you tagged on and off, it may just be the system processing the information. Check later!

Do not forget to tag off!
When a Bee Card user swipes their card as they enter - tagging on - the system recognises where they are travelling from.
When they tag off, it closes the loop and charges a passenger for their travel. Forget to tag off and you get charged a default fare, which is the $3 flat cash fare.
Tagging off also ensures you won't be charged if you have changed buses within the free transfer window of 45 minutes from the last tag off.
Tagging on and off also gives us rich data about where people travel helping us improve the network according to people's travel habits.

Unfortunately, you can't use the same email to create more than one account, BUT you can have up to 100 cards linked to the same account, so you can use a shared family email account.

Once you have created an account at www.BeeCard.co.nz select 'Register card to account'  and enter the Bee Card number for each extra card.

Each Bee Card added defaults to the account holder name. To change these details, select 'Manage Card' then 'Edit Card Holder' and enter the name and DOB of whoever you want the card associated with.

Alternatively, pop by our office and we can give you cards without having to top them up, and link them to your account for you.

No, however there are a whole lot of benefits to registering. Find out here.

Other benefits to registering online include loading concessions and linking to and managing other cards, such as family members.

Children 4 and under are free, so they don't need a Bee Card until they turn 5. Just tell the driver your child is under 5 when boarding.

If you try to register your under 5 year old on www.BeeCard.co.nz when you register other family members you will find that the Bee Card system won't recognise the age as it's free of charge in the system. The best thing to do is hold on to the card and give it to them when they turn 5.

No.
If you got a paper ticket from your driver, your journey has been accounted for. Do not tag off, or the ticketing machine will think you are tagging on for the first time.

You do need a New Zealand address to register - but you don't need to wait to have a card sent to you, pick one up in person.  When you register use your home address, it doesn't have to be an Otago address.

If you don't have a fixed address at the moment, there are other options. Citizens Advice Bureau has some suggestions that could help.

Yes, you will get cheaper fares with a Bee Card than paying in cash.
Dunedin fares
Queenstown fares
SuperGold fares 

If you need to take two buses as part of your commute, you may still only pay your minimum fare.

When a Bee Card user changes buses as part of their commute, they get a free transfer, so long as they change buses within 45 minutes. That means you should tag on your next bus within 45 minutes of tagging off your last bus. Remember to tag off the second bus too.

When you order cards via the website, and apply a top up, the balance will remain at $0.00 until you have activated the card.

To do this, you need to activate the card on the website using the 3-digit security code on the back of the card. Once this is done, the balance will display as 'Pending' until tagged on a bus, when it will change to cash value balance.

Top ups only show immediately if your Bee Card has been placed on a Bee Card machine (such as on the bus top ups or at an ORC office).

All other top ups, including online top ups can take up to 12 hours to show on your card.

When available it will display as a pending balance until the first time you tag on after the top up.

To see a pending balance:

1. Go to BeeCard.co.nz
2. Log into your account
3. Select 'Manage Card' on the Bee Card you need to activate

This will then open the card details, with pending balance displayed.

Yes, there are. You must register your Bee Card to receive these concessions. 

Find more out about fares and concessions

Half price fares ended 30 June 2023.

Find out about fares from 1 July

Concession changes may take 30 minutes to pull through from time it is changed on the website.

If the concession was loaded more than 30 minutes ago, check the account and that the correct card has been updated.

Yes, but we recommend that every passenger has their own Bee Card.

If you're travelling with a friend or family member who doesn't have a card, you can get them discounted travel with your Bee Card. Tag your own card on, and then talk to the driver about using your Bee Card to pay for your friend/family member.

The driver will give them a paper ticket. If you have a paper ticket you don't need to tag off. Only tag off if you have tagged on.

The only available tickets for this are adult and child, not other concession fares.

No, you must purchase separate fares to catch the ferry and the bus in Queenstown because there are no free fare transfers between these services.

You can see your Bee Card balance:

• on the card reader screen when you tag off the bus at the end of your journey
• at our Dunedin or Queenstown customer service points
• Level 2, 144 Rattray Street, Philip Laing House, Dunedin 
• Queenstown Terrace Junction, 1092 Frankton Road, Queenstown
• Online - if you have created a Bee Card account and registered your Bee Card

The easiest way to top up is online on the Bee Card website (www.beecard.co.nz) using your debit or credit card. Note there is a minimum top up of $5.
You can also top up at the following locations:

DUNEDIN

• ORC office: Level 2, 144 Rattray Street, Philip Laing House (EFTPOS only)
• Dunedin City Council Civic Customer Service Centres 
• Mosgiel Library and Service Centre
• Port Chalmers Library and Service Centre
• Blueskin Bay Library and Service Centre
• Waikouaiti Library and Service Centre
• University Bookshops (all Dunedin locations)

QUEENSTOWN

• Otago Regional Council
  Terrace Junction, 1092 Frankton Road 
  Monday to Friday: 8am to 1pm; 2pm to 4pm
  Closed on public holidays
  (EFTPOS only).
• i-SITE at 22 Shotover Street, in The Clocktower Building
• Paper Plus Queenstown Airport
• RealNZ kiosk at Earnslaw Park, by the Queenstown Ferries stop, between 10am - 4.30pm (winter hours)

On the bus:

You can also top up on the bus using cash.

Prefer not to get caught out? You can now set an auto top up on your Bee Card when your balance is down to certain amount. It's just another advantage of having a registered Bee Card.

How to set up an automatic top-up:

Go into your account on www.BeeCard.co.nz
Click the card you want to set the auto top up for.
Check the left-hand menu to find "Auto top up".

Put in your "Top Up Threshold". This is the minimum amount you want to make sure is on your Bee Card at all times (usually enough to cover at least a day's worth of your normal travel).

You then put in the amount you want to automatically top up. The minimum is $5.

Then choose your payment and follow the instructions.

If you forget your password, you can reset it by clicking 'forget password' on the login screen on the website.

Our customer service support at the Otago Regional Council can reset your password for you, but phone or in person.

Once done, you will be sent an email prompt with the temporary password.

When a Bee Card user swipes their card as they enter - tagging on - the system recognises where they are travelling from.

When they tag off, it closes the loop and charges a passenger for their travel. Forget to tag off and you get charged a default fare, which is the $3 flat cash fare. 

Tagging off also ensures you won't be charged if you have changed buses within the free transfer window of 45 minutes from the last tag off. 

Tagging on and off also gives us rich data about where people travel helping us improve the network according to people's travel habits.

You can ask our customer service team for support with this at the Otago Regional Council in person or by phone.
In Dunedin, call 0800 ORBUSDN (0800 672 8736).
In Queenstown call 0800 ORBUSQT (0800 672 8778).
Or email transport@orc.govt.nz.

The common reasons this happens are:

1. You may not have tagged the card in the right place.
2. You may have insufficient funds - you will need to top up.
3. You may have been given unissued card - you can talk to our customer service support in person or by phone for assistance with this.
4. Most likely you have not activated your card online using the 3-digit security code.

To activate your card:

1. Go to BeeCard.co.nz and log into your account
2. Select 'Manage Card' on the Bee Card you need to activate
3. Select 'Activate Card' an enter the 3-digit security code that is on the back of your Bee Card

Note - some mobile devices don't show the full screen so you may need to do this from a larger tablet or laptop

You can ask our customer service team for support with this at the Otago Regional Council in person or by phone.
In Dunedin, call 0800 ORBUSDN (0800 672 8736).
In Queenstown call 0800 ORBUSQT (0800 672 8778).
Or email transport@orc.govt.nz.

No. GoCards can no longer be used for travel in Otago.

All refunds and re-imbursements will be applied at the discretion of the Otago Regional Council (ORC).
Refunds will be considered in the following circumstances:

• Genuine error with Bee Card top-up
• For a faulty card
• Extreme hardship

Faulty Card
A faulty card means a Bee Card that does not tag on or off or top up.

Hardship
In certain cases, at the discretion of the ORC, we may be able to provide a refund for circumstances of extreme hardship. Please note:

• Provide a registered Bee Card
• Passenger must surrender card to ORC
• One off occasion only for the same passenger
• An admin fee may be charged (at the discretion of council)

If your registered Bee Card is lost or stolen, you can cancel your card online (www.beecard.co.nz) or in person at one of our ORC offices, and your balance can then be transferred to a new card. In person cancellations are quickest if you need your card for travel within the next few days.

On the www.beecard.co.nz website, simply select ‘order replacement’ after cancelling your registered Bee Card and your balance will be transferred to the new card once issued. You will need to pay for a replacement card. Balances cannot be transferred on cards that are not registered.

Alternatively, you can purchase a new Bee Card from your bus driver, the ORC offices or one of our retailers. Once you have this, give us a call, send us an email or come in and see us. We can transfer the balance for you.

If we identify a technical fault with your registered Bee Card, we can provide you with a free replacement card. You can then register the new card to your account and complete a balance transfer.