Tyne and Wear Metro recommends ‘pay as you go’ Pop Card use ahead of ticket price increases

Metro customers who use Pop Pay As You Go on phones or smart cards will see prices frozen for the second year in a row as part of an annual review of Metro fares which comes into effect from this Saturday, 1 April.

Customers who switch from buying paper tickets will save more than £1 a day by making the change to Pop Pay As You Go on Android’s Google Pay or by getting a free smart card online from the Nexus website.

Nexus, the public body which operates Metro, has also said it will bring detailed plans for young people before local councillors for approval next week, including a new £1 single fare for those aged 21 and under.

Other Metro fares, including standard season tickets, singles, and day tickets, are rising from Saturday, April 1 with Nexus claiming this is to help meet Metro’s increased running costs as it faces the ongoing challenge of high inflation and higher energy bills.

The Metro £2 one way and £4 all day offer also ends on Friday, March 31.

One day zone paper tickets will rise from £3.60 to £4.10, two zone tickets will go up from £4.70 to £5.20 while system-wide day tickets will cost £6.20, a rise from the original £4.70 price to get throughout the network.

But customers who switch to Pay As You Go will save 95p per one zone Metro journey, and £1.05 for every two and three zone journey.

The price of the one zone annual Metro Season Ticket is also going up from £462.50 to £513.30; the two-zone annual is up from £646.00 to £717.00 with the all zone annual up from £715.00 to £793.60.

Current prices for young people aged 16 to 21 using Pop Blue or Pop 19-21 smartcards are also being frozen ahead of a new proposal for a £1 flat single fare which will be put forward by Nexus at the Tyne and Wear Sub-Committee of the North East Joint Transport Committee. This is expected to be heard at the start of April.

Nexus is proposing the new fare on Metro as well as the Shields Ferry to match a similar 21 and under fare the Government is subsidising on buses in North East England. If approved, it would come into effect from Sunday, May 7. Gold Cards for older and disabled customers are also being frozen in price for another year.

Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “This is the second year running that we have frozen the price of our PAYG product in order to help our customers with the rising cost of living. A third of adult customers are already using Pop Pay As You Go and we will continue to encourage more people to go smart and enjoy the lowest fares that we have on offer.”

He added: “Single and day tickets and season tickets are going up an average of 7.5% from this Saturday. This is in order to help us meet the challenge we face with higher Metro running costs, not least the big jump in the price of our high voltage power.”