Metro customer journey data for last year revealed that up to one in five Metro customers are spending more than they need to on their tickets.

By switching paper day and single tickets for a Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) card, Metro customers could save up to £1.60 per day.

Highlighting how savvy customers can save money on the cost of their Metro journeys with smartcards, the ‘Top of the Pops’ leaderboard shows where the savviest customers start their journeys. Stations are listed from highest percentage of journeys made with Pop PAYG cards, to lowest.

At the bottom of the leaderboard are the stations where customers could be making the most savings by swapping their paper day and single tickets to Pop PAYG cards.

Manors had the highest percentage of Pop PAYG journeys started in 2023.

Customers who saved the most on their journeys boarded Metro at Benton, Monkseaton, Bank Foot and Ilford Road, with over 17% of journeys started with a Pop smartcard, including PAYG, Pop Blue, or Junior Blue.

Sunderland, Airport, Felling and Pelaw had the lowest percentage of smartcard journeys, at just over 5%.

20% of journeys started at Heworth were with paper day or single tickets, and could have been cheaper if started with a Pop PAYG card.

The stations with the highest percentage of paper ticket usage were Airport where nearly half of all journeys started were with paper tickets, followed by Manors, Chichester and West Jesmond. At these stations, at least one in three journeys could have been cheaper by switching their paper tickets for a Pop PAYG card.

Even if you don’t travel by Metro regularly, use a Pop card to make sure you’re not spending more than you need to on your tickets. There’s no expiry date and you can top it up with as little as £5. Even if you only use Metro once a week, you’d save over £80 in a year.  

Find out more about Pop smartcards and the right ticket for you at nexus.org.uk/pop