Metro’s 25,000 season ticket customers can now use a new ‘click and collect’ service to buy online and pick up at any station with a Pop smartcard.
Nexus, which owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, has launched the new website which makes it even easier for Pop card holders to pay for travel.
Pop Shop, www.popcard.org.uk, allows anyone with a Pop card to buy and renew Metro season tickets online at the touch of a button – cutting out the need to queue at Metro ticket machines.
All they need to do is register their existing Pop card online and select the required product.
First time customers can also buy new Pop cards from the site, which can also be reached through www.nexus.org.uk.
The Metro season tickets are uploaded directly to the Pop card when the customer touches in at any Metro ticket validator, eliminating the need to go to a Metro ticket machine or Nexus Travel Shop.
Director of Finance and Resources for Nexus, John Fenwick, said: “The Pop card has revolutionised Metro travel – and the new Pop Shop website makes it even easier for customers to pay for and collect their season tickets.
“It’s a really simple click and collect website. Each pre-paid travel product is uploaded automatically to the Pop card when customers touch into the system on their next journey after the online payment has been made.
“This cuts out the need to go to download the season ticket from a Metro ticket machine. It saves time and allows customers the chance to buy Metro travel from the comfort of home using a lap top, a tablet or a smart phone.”
The Pop Shop site also has a prompt for customers who would like to apply for a Pop card.
More than one in four journeys on the Tyne and Wear Metro are now made with smart cards.
The Pop card was launched by Nexus in 2011.
Metro passengers have made almost three million journeys using smart cards since the start of April.
Nexus has invested in new smart ticket machines and validators at all 60 Metro stations, along with gate lines at some key stations to help reduce fraud.
More than 40,000 children and young people already hold Under-16 Pop cards to get cheaper Child Concessionary Fares in Tyne and Wear on local services, subsidised by the North East Combined Authority.