Passengers who use the Tyne and Wear Metro are to be given an opportunity to shape the future of the network with a new consultation being launched in conjunction with Newcastle University’s Open Lab. This builds on the consultation carried out in 2020 to hone the design of the new Metro train fleet and will allow people to have their say on fares, timetables, ticketing options, accessibility and security.
A social media campaign will be used asking people how their Metro journeys have changed since the pandemic and what their priorities are for new Metro services. The consultation is aimed to generate ideas for improved people-centred services to restore customer confidence, develop new journey trends and encouraging more environmentally sustainable travel.
Helen Matthews, Head of Corporate Planning at Nexus, said: “We’re delighted to be doing another major public consultation to shape the future of the Tyne and Wear Metro. We are once again working with the team at Newcastle University’s Open Lab to give our customers their say on all things Metro, from safety and security to ticketing and timetables. We want to hear from as many customers as possible. This is a chance for people to have a real say on how we run Metro and how we can make it better as we look to a bright future with a new fleet of trains just around the corner. The consultation will be multi-layered. Customers will be able to provide feedback at stations using interactive technology.
“There will also be workshops, run by Nexus and Open Lab, where customers can come along and give us their views and ideas. This is vital public consultation work in the post pandemic era, given that journey trends have changed. We need to build back our customer numbers. Metro is an attractive and sustainable mode of travel, but we want to what the people who use service think – and how we can make it better. As with the hugely successful public consultation we conducted for the new Metro fleet, customers can be assured their views will be taken into account and they can genuinely help to shape the future of Metro by taking part.”
There will be special electronic interactive posters at Metro stations, which will allow passengers to cast votes and input their feedback at the touch of a button. This will be followed by a series of workshops with Nexus and the Open Lab team. Participants will work with design, technology and data science experts to create ideas for new or improved Metro stations.
More details of the consultation will be made available on Metro’s social media accounts at https://twitter.com/My_Metro and https://www.facebook.com/mymetrotw/.