It has been revealed that both weekly and season tickets on Manchester Metrolink will not be included in next year’s fare increases. Other fares will rise by an average 3.6% on Monday 5th January 2009 but the GMPTE have pledged weekly, season, child or family tickets will not be increased – this means some season tickets will have stayed the same price for six years.
Philip Purdy, GMPTE’s Metrolink Director, said: “We want to encourage more people to become regular Metrolink travellers and so have decided not to put up the cost of season tickets next year. We've tried to keep the increase to single and return tickets as low as possible, and are encouraging passengers to switch to weekly or season tickets to make savings on the cost of travel. Some passengers will be able to save hundreds of pounds a year by buying weekly or season tickets instead of single or return tickets each weekday. They'll also be able to use their tickets to travel on Metrolink at weekends."
Single and off peak return tickets to the city centre will increase by a maximum of 20p and peak returns by a maximum of 30p. Some passengers will be able to save more than £5 a week by buying a weekly ticket and more than £25 a month with a four weekly ticket- compared to the cost of buying peak return tickets each weekday.
Source: GMPTE