Nexus, which owns, manages and is modernising the Tyne and Wear Metro, is to install the final two Metro stations with automatic ticket gates as part of the £389m Metro all change modernisation programme.
Byker Metro station in Newcastle and Chichester Metro station in South Tyneside will both have the automatic gates fitted.
A total of 13 Metro stations will have ticket gates installed, with 11 stations completed so far. All of the gatelines will be staffed, improving security and customer service.
The last two gatelines at Byker and Chichester will be installed by Spring 2014 but this will not impact on the phased switch on of the other gated Metro stations during this Autumn and Winter.
Nexus will begin switching on the new ticket gates in phases to get passengers used to the new way of accessing the Metro system.
The ticket gates will enable Nexus to cut down on Metro fare evasion, which costs local tax-payers £1m a year.
The new ticket gates will allow the public to access Metro using smartcards – the Pop card – as well as the traditional paper Metro tickets.
Deputy Director General of Nexus, Tobyn Hughes, said: “We are now starting work on the last two stations to be gated, with Byker and Chichester stations being brought into the programme.
“A total of 11 Metro stations now have ticket gates installed. Passengers will start to see the gates in operation at selected Metro stations over the next few months.
“The switch on is being phased so that passengers have time to get used to the gates. Staff will be on hand to provide assistance, so customers don’t need to worry about using them. All stations with gates have to be staffed when they are in operation.
Testing and staff training on new the gate arrays took place during the summer.
Passengers will have to ‘touch’ their Pop smartcard on a card reader or insert their paper ticket into the front of the gate in order to activate it and gain access to a station.
Metro stations without gates have had smartcard validators installed and passengers with a Pop card will use these to ‘touch in’ and ‘touch out’ on every journey they make.
Nexus has already installed 225 smart ticket machines at all 60 Metro stations, giving people new ways to buy tickets. Passengers can now pay with notes, coins and credit/debit cards and buy multiple tickets in a single transaction.
Byker and Chichester were chosen to be fitted with ticket gates instead of South Gosforth and West Jesmond, as was originally planned. This is due to the estimated cost of converting those station buildings to house the gatelines being too high for the benefits that would have been realised.