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All local public transport in Tyne and Wear meets the Government’s Covid-secure standard, to make your journey safe, secure and comfortable.

New measures include: increased daily cleaning regimes across all the modes of transport: extra cleaning throughout the day including high level touchpoints, deep cleans of buses each night, Metro trains are being treated with an anti-microbial sanitiser spray throughout the passenger area which protects surfaces for up to 30 days and ultraviolet light devices are being used to sanitise escalator handrails.

Watch our short video below to find out more.

Continue to follow the Government’s advice about Hands – Face - Space: continue to wear a face covering when on your journey, in interchanges or stations (unless exempt), pay using contactless, wash or sanitise your hands regularly, stay apart from others, open train/bus windows to help with ventilation and do not travel if you have symptoms of Covid.

Signage and notices are displayed to remind customers to wear a face covering (unless exempt).  

Children under the age of 11, disabled people and those with breathing difficulties are exempt.  A full list of people who do not have to wear a face covering is on the Government website here.

If you are exempt from wearing a face covering because of a disability or health condition, click here for our Journey Assistance Cards. 

As Government restrictions change Metro, buses, the Shields Ferry and local trains are likely to become busier.  Most services have returned to their full timetable to help accommodate the increased numbers.

Safety advice across all modes of transport will remain in place until the Government advises measures can be lifted.

Peak travel times have changed since the start of the pandemic.  Metro and the three main bus operstors have introduced ways to help you identify quieter times to travel.

The Tyne and Wear Metro app has a new feature called ‘How busy is the Metro?’. Users can see a rating of how busy trains are from a station and lets them submit their own rating of how busy their train was. Download the Metro app here Tyne and Wear Metro app | nexus.org.uk or go to How Busy is My Metro | nexus.org.uk

Arriva North East, Go North East and Stagecoach also have apps and online information with up to date timetables, how busy the buses are and what happens if it’s full.
 

Use Pay As You Go on Metro – A Pop PAYG card allows you to travel as many times as you like in one day. You are charged each time you travel until you reach the daily price cap for the number of zones you’ve travelled in. You can also use Pop PAYG to pay for travel on selected bus services and the Shields Ferry. Find out more here: Pop Pay As You Go.

Find out about the latest tickets from Arriva here,  Go North East here and Stagecoach here, 

There are many cycle storage facilities on or near Metro stations and bus interchanges, locations are listed here Cycle | nexus.org.uk. 

Folding bikes are allowed on Metro anytime.  Non folding bike can be taken onto Metro stations and trains between Callerton Parkway-Jesmond, Manors-Jesmond (via Whitley Bay), Gateshead Stadium-South Shields/South Hylton during the following times: Monday to Friday 10.00am-3.00pm, Monday to Friday 7.00pm until end of service and all day at weekends.

Could you allow your staff to have more flexible start and finish times, so that they can avoid travelling at the busiest, peak times?

Sharing the link to this page, with its FAQS, would be useful.

And we've developed an animation and other assets, to reassure customers that public transport is Covid secure. They're available in the download section at the bottom of this page - please share them.