North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’s plans to transform the affordability of Metro travel have been given the green light, capping single tickets at no more than £2.50, no matter how many zones customers travel in.
Customers will save between £1 and £2.60 on their tickets by switching from paper tickets to using a Pop Pay As You Go card, while some Pop journeys will themselves be cut in price by 30% from 1 April compared to today’s prices.
The new Mayor’s Fares which will be in price until April 2027 were approved at the North East Combined Authority’s Cabinet meeting today, Tuesday 3 February.
They fulfil Mayor Kim’s pledge to make travel more affordable and match the price of bus tickets in the North East. Fares for young people aged up to 21 have also been frozen at £1 until 2027.
Adult single journeys will be capped at no more than £2.50 and day tickets at no more than £5.00 when using Pop Pay as You Go on the Tyne and Wear Metro and on the Northumberland Line.
It heralds the biggest and most significant change to Metro fares for more than 20 years, and will see the Mayor using £1m of funding to cut the cost of travel and grow Metro passenger numbers.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “I’m delighted we're bringing Mayor’s Fares to Metro. Whether you travel by bus or Metro the most you’ll pay for a single ticket in the North East is now £2.50, saving Metro passengers up to £2.60 for a single journey.
"This marks the biggest change to Metro fares for 20 years as we make public transport better, easier to use and cheaper. Since we introduced our £2.50 bus cap, we've seen local people make 9 million more journeys and we hope to see more people using the Metro now too."
John Fenwick, Director of Finance and Resources at Nexus, said: “The Mayor’s Fare will cap single tickets at £2.50, no matter how many zones you travel in. It means that people won’t pay more on the Metro than they would on the bus, making public transport simpler to use. The price freeze to under 21s travel also delivers affordable pricing for young people in the region.
“The best way for customers to save is to use Pop PAYG. These are the biggest savings we’ve been able to deliver for our customers in a very long time.
“It’s a change that we believe will help us grow journey numbers at the most exciting time in the Metro’s history as the roll out of our new fleet of trains completes.
"Mayor’s Fares have already significantly increased customer growth on the bus network, and we're confident it can also deliver successful growth on Metro journeys."
“We have set a balanced package of fares, one that will help us to meet our running costs, support the essential services that we deliver, and offer savings to our customers on the cost of travel.”
Click here to learn more and register for Pop PAYG.