Tyne and Wear commuters can take advantage of the first daily fare cap offer outside London when they use a new PoP 'pay as you' go top-up card, regional public transport executive Nexus has announced.
Head of communications, Huw Lewis, said: ‘We’ve seen strong sales in the first week. Our users are already confident about loading value'.
The PoP offers a discount on standard single fares on the Newcastle upon Tyne area metro network, while a best price guarantee means people can pay less than the price of a DaySaver rate for any number of journeys within the zones they regularly use.
They can also benefit from a ‘last journey’ guarantee, which allows them to travel in order to get themselves home even if the cost of the trip gives them a negative balance on the cash value stored on the card. The stipulation is that they top up to achieve a positive balance before they start on their next journey,
A Nexus spokesperson told Transport Network: 'We believe that this is a first for a travel card that has been developed to the national ITSO specification.'
The PoP card is currently usable on all buses serving areas on the north side of the Tyne, but its availability is patchy elsewhere.
Some operators are currently trialling the technology with passenger groups; while Nexus is still working on persuading others to join up to the scheme
