Metro Gold Card holders will once again this year get the added benefit of all-day-travel throughout July and August, Nexus has announced.
Nexus is repeating last year’s scheme by lifting the restriction which prevents holders using the pass before 9.30am on weekdays for the next two months.
Gold Cards, which cost £25, were introduced in 2006 by Nexus, the public body which sets all Metro fares, to offer pensioners and disabled people discounted off-peak travel on Metro for a one off yearly payment.
Director of Customer Services for Nexus, Tobyn Hughes, said: “We’re pleased to be extending the Metro Gold Card scheme during July and August to offer holders unlimited all day travel on weekdays.
“We have run this offer on the Metro Gold cards in the last few years and it has proved popular as more people get out and about during the summer months, especially when the schools are off.”
Nexus has already introduced greater flexibility in the way people buy Gold Cards this year. As well as an annual Gold Card for £25 people can buy a £10 card valid until the end of September 2011 (£5 after August 1), if they use Metro mostly during the summer months, or want to split the cost of buying a card. A further six months travel, from October 2011 to March 2012, is available for £10.
For people not resident in Tyne and Wear, Gold Card will cost £35 for the whole year, or £15 until September 2011 (£10 after August 1) and £15 from October 2011 to March 2012.
Gold Cards also now offer holders free and travel on the cross-Tyne Shields Ferry service. Gold Cards are this year sold exclusively through the Nexus Travelshop network.
In a separate offer, bus company Go North East is offering concessionary passholders the chance to travel for 50p before 9.30am on its buses. The offer is being made by Go North East, not Nexus, and is only available on its services.