Smart ticket travel will make it easy to travel anywhere in North East England using a single card.
Passengers can top up their e-purse online, at Metro ticket machines or in local shops, as well as buy season tickets and other special offer products.
And the smart systems we are creating are integrated across the region so they can be used for a vast range of products and services - like students having a single card covering campus facilities and travel, or councils offering an 'all-in-one' smart access system for services.
Nexus is leading one of the UK's biggest roll-outs of smart technology, in partnership with the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority, local councils, and commercial transport companies.
There are three main strands to our work:
NESTI is a regional partnership to deliver a single smart infrastructure for North East England from the Tees Valley to the Scottish border. This includes major grants to bus companies to equip their vehicles with common smart devices, technology to handle millions of smart transactions a week, including those on concessionary bus passes, and the creation of a regional retail network for smart products. We are also working with councils, colleges and schools on innovative smart products for their residents and students. You can find out more about this major project to bring smart technology to everyone in the region here.
Metro Ticketing and Gating has seen us install 225 new ticket machines and smart card validators across 60 stations, as well as security gate lines at 13 busy locations. From 2013 these will give Metro passengers the ease of smart travel as well as linking with other modes.
Pop is the brand name for smart travel on Metro. Pop card holders can travel using season ticket products or with an e-purse cash balance, depending on what suits them. Tickets can be topped-up and renewed online or at new station ticket machines. Pop cards carry the NESTI logo meaning they can be used for travel and other services throughout the region as these develop. Pop Under 16 cards also confirm eligibility for for some of the cheapest child concessionary travel in the UK, on bus, Metro, Ferry and rail within Tyne and Wear. You can find out more about Pop by clicking here.