Auckland Transport (AT) says seniors who haven't yet got their Gold AT HOP card won't be "left behind".
On Friday the council-controlled organisation said more than 90,000 seniors have transferred their SuperGold public transport benefit onto a new Gold AT HOP card, giving them free off-peak travel.
Today's launch comes after claims many elderly were struggling to get their new cards.
"We acknowledge that in some instances there have been some challenges, but we have worked through those," AT customer experience manager Peter Paton said on Friday.
There have been reports of seniors being turned away from AT customer service centres after showing up with cash. They don't accept cash, and asked people to either come back with an EFTPOS card or go to a retailer that does accept cash.
Mr Paton says AT considered making an exception for the Gold AT HOP card rollout, but decided against it.
"There are local retailers who do accept cash payments, and we've been able to refer people to those. In most instances, people have been able to provide an EFTPOS card... most people do have an EFTPOS card."
Others were posted a 'Swap to Hop' pack, allowing them to apply to transfer their benefit via snail-mail.
Another problem that arose was that many seniors don't have driver's licences or passports to prove their identity. AT responded by saying it would accept other forms of identification, which came under criticism by New Zealand First, which said many foreign ID cards would be "false and worthless".
Mr Paton says more than half of Auckland's SuperGold card holders now have a Gold AT HOP card, and expects the rest either don't want one, or will make the switch soon. There will be a grace period so those who haven't got theirs yet don't get caught out.
"We don't want to see people being left behind and we do not expect that to happen. Our operators, we've got good working relationships with them and they will be exercising common sense out there," says Mr Paton.
"They will have tear-off slips that they can give to customers that advise them of the need to get the SuperGold card."
He could not say how long the discretion would be applied.
The $10 fee for getting a new card has also been criticised. Mr Paton says this was a "reasonable" figure to pay for a "comprehensive and very valuable benefit".
"If somebody walked up to you in the street and asked you for $32 for a return trip to Waiheke, would you give it to them? It's a very good benefit for people," he said.
The switch was prompted by a Government report which called on local government, where possible, to integrate the public transport benefit with existing transport card systems. The drawback is if seniors from outside Auckland want to take advantage of the free transport, they'll have to go through the process of buying, registering and loading credit on a Gold AT HOP card.
And when Auckland seniors go elsewhere in the country, they'll have to make sure they don't forget their original SuperGold card.
Despite these drawbacks, Mr Paton says it's worth having the SuperGold transport benefit combined with the normal AT HOP card system as it will allow AT to find out where and when seniors are using public transport and develop better services for them.
Seniors who don't yet have a Gold AT HOP card can get one via the AT website, at a customer service centre or by phoning 0800 AT GOLD.
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