Parents are being warned they have just a few days left to renew their children’s Nexus Under 16 travel card for free.
Nexus is replacing around 60,000 Under 16 Cards in Tyne and Wear to new Pop smart cards.
The deadline for free renewal in Monday, 28 February – after this date parents will be charged an administration fee of £5 per card.
All the parents of holders (apart from those in their final school year) need to do is send in an up-to-date photograph with the renewal form sent to them by Nexus earlier this month.
In return they will get a new free Pop card posted to them next month, avoiding the £5 administration fee.
Parents who have lost the renewal form can instead go through a Nexus Travelshop to get their children’s new free Pop card
Under 16 Card holders will the be among the first to receive a Pop card, which as well as showing entitlement to cheaper tickets, will in future be used to pay for travel.
Anyone under the age of 16 at the start of their current academic year and resident in Tyne and Wear can apply for a Nexus Under 16 Card.
It entitles the holder to travel at the child concessionary fare of 50p single and £1 all day on all bus, Metro, Shields Ferry and local rail services.
Tobyn Hughes, Nexus Director of Customer Services said: “Under 16 cardholders will be among the first to get Pop cards – and they are free as long as we get the renewal forms back before 28 February.
“We’re asking parents to do one simple thing – dig out the envelope from Nexus and send updated photos of any Under 16 Card holders in your family by the end of February.
“This is the first step to introducing smart travel technology, a much simpler and more secure way of paying for your child’s travel.”
Existing Under 16 Cards will be phased out later this year, when they will no longer be accepted as proof of entitlement to cheaper concessionary travel.
An administration fee of £5 will apply to anyone who replaces an Under 16 Cards with a new Pop card after 1 April 2011.