The new fares structure on the West Midlands Metro is to be introduced from Monday 28th March. Announced earlier this year “Metro Ticket Zones” will see the current network split into four zones and is said to be an easy to understand system giving more flexibility as it won’t be necessary to specify which stops you are travelling between. But probably the key message from WMM are giving on this is that the majority of journeys will now reduce in price or will see no increase to current tickets (although some journeys will go up).
The full zone map can be downloaded on the West Midlands Metro website at https://westmidlandsmetro.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WMM-METRO-TICKET-ZONE-MAP_page-0001-2-scaled.jpg with the line – and soon to open extensions – split into four zones.
The zones will be:
Zone 1: Edgbaston Village to Jewellery Quarter
Zone 2: Jewellery Quarter to Black Lake
Zone 3: Black Lake to Priestfield
Zone 4: Priestfield to Wolverhampton St George’s/Wolverhampton Railway Station
The stops at Jewellery Quarter, Black Lake and Priestfield are considered as “border” stops and are listed in two zones. However, this doesn’t mean you have to pay for it being in two zones as it all depends on your direction of travel. For example if travelling from Jewellery Quarter towards Birmingham City Centre it is considered in zone 1 but if you were travelling the other way its in zone 2.
The all important question of all this though will be how much will it cost? Single tickets will range from £1.90 (for a journey solely within one zone of zones 2,3 and 4) up to £4.50 (covering all zones). Return tickets have been axed with one day tickets offering the same value if your journey is there and back in the same day. Peak time day tickets range from £2.90 (one zone for zones 2,3 and 4) to £6.50 (zones 1 -4) with off peak day tickets costing £2.70 (one zone within zones 2, 3 or 4) up to £5.00 (all zones). There are also all zone 3 day and 4 day tickets with 1 week, 4 week, monthly tickets available for all zone combinations. An annual all zone ticket will also be available.
The full range of adult tickets available can be seen on the West Midlands Metro website (https://westmidlandsmetro.com/ticketzones/) but some of the highlights are:
Zone 1 Single – £2.00
Zone 2 Single – £1.90
Zone 3 Single – £1.90
Zone 4 Single – £1.90
Zone 1-2 Single – £2.90
Zone 2-3 Single – £2.80
Zone 3 -4 Single – £2.80
Zone 1-3 Single – £4.20
Zone 2-4 Single – £3.90
Zone 1-4 Single – £4.50
Zone 1-4 1 day Metro – £6.50
Zone 1-4 1 day off-peak Metro – £5.00
New signage has started to be added to the network to show the new zones. This is the stop sign at West Bromwich Central showing that the stop is in zone 2.
A poster explaining the new ticket zones. This also confirms that the terminus of the Westside extension will be known as Edgbaston Village with that at Wolverhampton Bus Station will be Piper’s Row. (Both Photographs by Andy Walters)
Due to “Operational Issues” West Midlands Metro have cancelled all services for at least the rest of today, Saturday 19th March.
As usual, no official word on the current problem.
And no trams again today. Unfortunately, I’m not near a computer at the moment but we’ll report on the latest start of next week (not that there is anything official to say yet).