Councils are scrambling to switch over to new age-based discounted fares.

The new ticket prices are set to kick in in two weeks, with most adults back to paying full price.

But children will ride free, and people under twenty-five will keep the current half-price discount permanently.

Councils and transport operators say they haven't been given any help by the government to include the new age-verification requirements in their ticketing systems.

Auckland's Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson spoke to Jimmy Ellingham.