There is hope that digital tickets offering cheaper travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro will at last be available on iPhones soon.
Metro passengers with Apple devices have long been frustrated at the fact that, unlike Android users, Pop cards cannot be stored on their phones. Transport bosses have been pleading with customers to make the switch from paper tickets to the smartcard and have frozen fares on Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) for the last two years, while traditional tickets bought at machines have been subject to major increases.
With a ticket price hike of up to 13.9% coming into force this Saturday, it will mean that journeys made using a Pop card will be at least 95p cheaper. But the digital Pop PAYG card is only available via Google Pay on Android phones and cannot be added to the Apple wallet – meaning that iPhone users must order a physical Pop card if they want to get the discounted travel prices.
Read More: Metro chief admits services 'not good enough' as passengers prepare for ticket price hike
Huw Lewis, customer service director for Metro operator Nexus, confirmed on Thursday that software upgrades are actively being worked on that will allow passengers to tap in and out at stations using an iPhone. Speaking ahead of the ticket price increase this weekend, Mr Lewis said: “We want to provide Pop on every kind of phone. At the moment we are updating the operating system that our validators and gates work on so that we can move forward with that with other phone providers.”
He added: “We were the first in the UK to get Pop [or equivalent travel card] into the Google Pay wallet. We hope to be one of the first, if not the first, to do the same with Apple.”
Metro passengers are also not able to tap in and out at stations using contactless credit or debit cards, whether physical or digital, as users of the London Underground and Manchester’s tram system can. It is understood that the upgrades currently being worked on would only allow Pop cards to be stored on iPhones, rather than having contactless bank cards work at Metro ticket gates – though that remains a long-term ambition of the region’s leaders.
For the second year running, the price of single and daysaver tickets bought using a Pop smartcard are being frozen – meaning that travelling with a Pop card will be up to £1.35 cheaper per day from April 1. But the equivalent paper tickets will see their prices jump by between 8.8% and 13.9%, depending on which zones they cover.
Monthly and yearly passes will also be up to 11% more expensive from Saturday, though the price of a week-long Metro ticket is being kept lower and will rise only by a maximum 3.4%. The maximum cost of a single journey will rise from £3.90 to £4.30, a day ticket from £5.70 to £6.20, a weekly pass from £24 to £24.40, and a four-week ticket from £81.30 to £90.20.
Read Next:
- 'Absurd' and 'soulless' plan to turn historic Newcastle bowling alley into flats rejected by council
- Award-winning Newcastle micropub bids to open new Heaton venue as 'drinking strip' worries shot down
- Newcastle police station saga could be nearing end after battle over Burger King plans
- Plans for anti-social behaviour wardens in Newcastle dropped as council goes 'back to the drawing board'
- Second seat up for grabs in Newcastle election battleground after North Jesmond Labour councillor resigns
