The plan to make travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro more affordable has been approved. The new fares are to be introduced from 1st April and are part of the Mayor of the North East, Kim McGuinness’ pledge to make travel more affordable and match the price of bus tickets in the region.
The new fares will mean that single tickets are capped at £2.50 (when using Pop Pay As You Go), regardless of the number of zones being travelled through. And anyone who switches from paper tickets to using a Pop Pay As You Go card will save between £1 and £2.60, with some Pop journeys themselves being cut in price.
In addition, adult day tickets will be capped at £5.00.
Kim McGuinness said: “I’m delighted we’re bringing Mayor’s Fares to Metro. Whether you travel by bus or Metro the most you’ll pay for a single ticket in the North East is now £2.50, saving Metro passengers up to £2.60 for a single journey.
“This marks the biggest change to Metro fares for 20 years as we make public transport better, easier to use and cheaper. Since we introduced our £2.50 bus cap, we’ve seen local people make 9 million more journeys and we hope to see more people using the Metro now too.”
John Fenwick, Director of Finance and Resources at Nexus, said: “The Mayor’s Fare will cap single tickets at £2.50, no matter how many zones you travel in. It means that people won’t pay more on the Metro than they would on the bus, making public transport simpler to use. The price freeze to under 21s travel also delivers affordable pricing for young people in the region.
“The best way for customers to save is to use Pop PAYG. These are the biggest savings we’ve been able to deliver for our customers in a very long time.
“It’s a change that we believe will help us grow journey numbers at the most exciting time in the Metro’s history as the roll out of our new fleet of trains completes.
“Mayor’s Fares have already significantly increased customer growth on the bus network, and we’re confident it can also deliver successful growth on Metro journeys.”
“We have set a balanced package of fares, one that will help us to meet our running costs, support the essential services that we deliver, and offer savings to our customers on the cost of travel.”
These fares will be in place until at least April 2027.