There is hope that digital tickets offering cheaper travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro will at last be available on iPhones soon.
Metro passengers with Apple devices have long been frustrated at the fact that, unlike Android users, Pop cards cannot be stored on their phones. Transport bosses have been pleading with customers to make the switch from paper tickets to the smartcard and have frozen fares on Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) for the last two years, while traditional tickets bought at machines have been subject to major increases.
With a ticket price hike of up to 13.9% coming into force this Saturday, it will mean that journeys made using a Pop card will be at least 95p cheaper. But the digital Pop PAYG card is only available via Google Pay on Android phones and cannot be added to the Apple wallet – meaning that iPhone users must order a physical Pop card if they want to get the discounted travel prices.
