Transport bosses are expecting major progress on bringing in London-style smart travel across the North East’s public transport in the next 12 months.
There have long been hopes of creating a ticketing system where passengers can travel seamlessly across the region’s Metro, rail, bus and ferry services using a single smart card – as has long been the case with the capital’s Oyster cards. Last year saw the launch of new, cheaper fares allowing unlimited travel across bus, Metro and ferry throughout Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham for a maximum of £6.80 per day.
But there are plans to simplify travel further by expanding the Tyne and Wear Metro’s Pop pay as you go smartcard to other forms of travel. That would allow passengers to tap in and out, either with a physical card or one stored on their smartphone, of whatever services or stations they travel through and have the best possible fare automatically calculated for them up to a capped price level.
It was confirmed last month that the Pop card will be usable on the new Northumberland Line…
