If you top up your card at a Regional Council office, your money is loaded on to your card straight away.
Online transactions generally go through the system within 12 hours and show on your Bee card when you next tag on. In the meantime, your money is sitting under pending transactions in your online account.
Top-ups purchased from a bus driver can also take up to 12 hours as the bus needs to finish it's route and make it back to the depot for the information to be downloaded.