Smartcards offering cheaper travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro could be given out at stations – and mobile tickets could finally be available on iPhones this year.
Plans have been revealed to hand out Pop pay as you go cards to Metro passengers, in a bid to encourage more people back onto public transport and cut the cost of printing thousands of paper tickets every day.
The price of single and daysaver tickets on the Metro is going up by 9.5% from April, with operator Nexus facing a major financial crisis, but will be frozen for people using Pop cards.
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With the overwhelming majority of Metro riders still using paper tickets, bosses say they are keen to make Pop cards more easily available – both in their plastic physical form and digitally.
While the smartcards are free, users must currently create an account and apply online to receive one – something which most passengers have not done.
It was also announced on Monday that Pop cards can now also be loaded onto Android smartphones, meaning people can top up using an app and tap in and out of station gates with their phone.
Metro’s mobile ticket app first launched on Android in 2020, but could only initially be used to buy weekly tickets and remains unavailable for iPhone owners.
Nexus chief operating officer Martin Kearney said that local officials were “working with other handheld providers and we hope to have some positive news later this year”.
He added that moving towards a totally cashless Metro service with every passenger using either a smartphone or Pop card would be “a massive step forward for us”, though it is still not possible at this stage for contactless bank cards to be used to tap in at stations like on the London Underground.
Mr Kearney said: “We had to put up fares this year into an economic position that is unpalatable in some ways, but we don’t have a choice.
“I have challenged the team to make this affordable and set our stall out for the future.
“The number of paper tickets we use in our organisation is phenomenal, 88% of our daily travel is done by paper tickets.
“We can challenge ourselves to be much better with the Pop card, but what was the incentive for using it?
“In freezing the daily Pop tickets we have a huge differential in price now and we are beginning a process of really marketing it now and making it so our staff can hand them out.”
From April, the price of a single Metro paper ticket will rise by 20p – making a one-zone ticket £2.30, a two-zone single £3.20, and an all-zone single £3.90.
Paper daysaver tickets will increase by 30p – making the new prices £3.60 for one zone, £4.70 for two zones, and £5.70 for three zones.
But equivalent tickets purchased using a Pop Pay As You Go smartcard will be frozen at 2021 level.
On the introduction of the Pop card on Android, Nexus customer services director Huw Lewis, said: “Two-thirds of Metro customers tell us they are keen to move to smart phones as a way to pay for their journeys, and today we are making that possible for Android users.
“All you need to do is top up the app on your smartphone and then touch in and out through gatelines with your phone. The app automatically deducts the fare for you and applies the Pop Pay As Go fare cap. It’s convenient, easy to use, and will speed up journey times."
