One in three Metro stations now have new machines letting passengers pay with credit/debit cards and bank notes as well as coins – and the number will rise further this week.
Bank Foot, Longbenton and Seaburn have been added to the list of stations where passengers can benefit from using the new smart-enabled machines, which also sell weekly Metro and Network One passes for the first time.
There are now 20 out of the 60 stations on the Tyne and Wear Metro with all-new machines. You can see a full list by clicking here.
Nexus, which owns, manages and is modernising Metro in a £385m programme, is installing new ticket machines at a rate of two or three stations per week.
The new machines are at the heart of a £25m project to update the ticketing system on Metro. Nexus is replacing 225 ticket machines across the system. The project will also see smartcard validators installed at every station and ticket gates at 13 of the busiest stations on the system.
Project Manager, David Bartlett, said: “The arrival of new machines continues to go strong – passengers can see the next stations to benefit on our website nexus.org.uk.
“Our new machines give passengers new ways to pay and the choice of single, day and weekly tickets – it is not surprising passengers have given them the ‘thumbs up’ where they are already up and running.”
Unlike the current Metro ticket machines, which are 30 year-old, the new machines boast touch-screen technology. The information screens display in six different languages, which makes the ticket machines more user friendly, especially for the growing number of tourists coming to the region.
The new machines are enabled to handle smartcard transactions for the new Pop card. Passengers will be able to use the new ticket machines to top up their Pop Cards with cash from next year.
More than 120 staff who work for DB Regio, which operates Metro stations and trains on behalf of Nexus, have been trained to help passengers use the new machines as more and more of them are installed at Metro stations.