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A plan by Metro operator Nexus to replace the current complicated fare system with three simple zones will go before politicians next week. Under the proposal, the three zones will replace the existing system and are designed to make tickets and fares easy to understand. There are three key aims to the plan, which will be subject to the decision by the PTA (Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority). They are: To simplify the Metro fare zones system bringing it into line with similar systems across Europe.
To make the switch "revenue neutral" which means the costs will not be passed onto customers
To allow passengers to know how much they can expect to pay easily by examining the easy to read Zone to Zone and Zonal map.
The idea for the fare zones has been brought about thanks to the success of the City Returns launched by Nexus as an experiment last October. This gave fixed rate tickets off peak between "Zonal" destinations and demand has outstripped all other tickets since they were introduced. That offer comes to an end on August 6th and the next day the new fare zones will come into place, if approved by the PTA. Mike Parker, Director General of Nexus, said: "This is great news for our passengers because having three fixed fare zones will simplify information for people from home and abroad and make the Metro one of the easiest systems to understand in Europe. "People don’t have the time to waste trying to decipher complex instructions and we believe that three, simple, fare zones which mirrors somewhere like the Tube in London is the answer. "Ten years ago we had nine different kinds of fares and our market research tells us that people want that Nexus has also assured passengers that the new zones are not a price rise. In fact, they say, under the new regime 25 per cent of station to station fares actually go down. Councillor David Wood, Chairman of the PTA, said: "The objective at the start of this was to ensure the new zones system is revenue neutral i.e. Nexus don't earn any more money as a result. "It’s an exercise to make it easier to understand and access Metro which we hope both current and potential customers will applaud." Under the three zones 68.6% of station to station fares remain the same, 25.4% are reduced and 6.1% rise.
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