Metro customers who switch from paper tickets to Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) from Monday, 1 April, will get bigger discounts on the cost of their travel.
By choosing the Pop PAYG product, which is available on smartcard and Android smartphones, customers save up to £1.60 a day.
Other Metro fares, including season tickets, singles, and day tickets, are subject to a below inflation rise to help meet Metro’s running costs, including the cost of high voltage power.
We are also giving commuters who buy travel through their workplace more choice and flexibility – a move timed to coincide with the forthcoming roadworks on the Tyne Bridge - which could save money for thousands of customers.
Customers who buy a Metro Corporate Season ticket will be able to choose the zones they want for the first time, with unlimited travel within those zones starting from as little as £10 a week, paid in convenient monthly instalments deducted from their salary.
The cost of Metro travel for young people aged 16-21 using the Pop Blue smartcard is to be frozen in price, along with the cost of the Metro Gold Card for pensioners and customers with disabilities.
Huw Lewis, Customer Services Director at Nexus, said: “The best way for customers to keep saving money on the cost of Metro travel is to switch from paper tickets to Pop Pay As You Go.
“Discounts for PAYG customers have been improved, saving you up to £1.60 a day with a Pop card, or the same product through an Android smartphone, compared to paying at a Metro ticket machine
“Moving to Pop Pay As You Go in Google Pay, or getting a free Pop card from nexus.org.uk, which now has a minimum top up of just £5, means customers will save money.
“This is something that we are actively encouraging people to do, so that they enjoy the lowest possible fares on Metro, and it’s something we are promoting through high profile marketing campaigns across the Metro system.
“Other fare rises, including single and day tickets bought from ticket machines, do need to increase in order to help us meet the challenge we face with Metro’s running costs.
"Metro is a public service, one that doesn’t make a profit, so we require Government support alongside the revenue that we get from fares, all of which goes back into keeping the network running.”