Is the Tyne and Wear Metro too cheap?

[Fleetmaster]

I'm struck by how cheap the daily cap for all day travel on the Metro is if using the prepaid POP card (£5.00 for a first use). In comparison, a day ticket with a single bus operator (none of whom cover the entire Metro area) is also at least £5, a day ticket ticket for the Metro only is £6.20, and the Day Rover, giving unlimited travel on Metro and all buses, is £9.10.

Despite the fact the Rover or bus only day tickets potentially being very cheap to facilitate, at minimum being able to be bought via Google Pay on a bus operator's app, requiring no physical ticket or ticket machines, cards or card readers, it seems that the more expensive POP card is being heavily subsidized.

Needless to say, you can get to so many more places by bus (including every single Metro station) in a single day.

I can't help feel this disparity played a not insignificant party in the decrepit state of the Metro compared to the local bus fleet, and will do so again in the future if the imbalance is not corrected.

 

[Haywain]

it seems that the more expensive POP card is being heavily subsidized.

I'm curious why you see the POP card as being "more expensive".

 

[HSTEd]

The cost of contactless smart cards like the "Pop" card has fallen to being literal pennies.

The card reading equipment also has no moving parts.

They aren't significantly more expensive than "app" based purchasing systems when you are going to have to maintain ticket machines either way. Which you have to do unless you want to move to app-only purchasing which has its own set of major problems.

 

[ainsworth74]

Is it "decrepit"? A brand new fleet of rolling stock is in the process of being introduced in the near future (including a complete rebuilding of the depot), a significant upgrade has been completed between Pelaw and South Shields to remove capacity bottlenecks by removing single track sections (and building a new station at South Shields) and core stations have been refurbished. I don't dispute that the Metro has been having a difficult time recently (primarily to its trains operating beyond their intended life span) but seems to me that it has quite a bright future once the new rolling stock is in place.

 

[DanNCL]

I’ll say the opposite that it’s too expensive. If you don’t have a Pop card, which many don’t and you can only get them online, a journey from Newcastle City Centre to the northern outskirts of the city such as Kingston Park is £3.60 (or thereabouts). On the bus it’s £2, and the bus journey time is competitive.

If the TVMs issued pop cards like the LU TVMs issue Oyster cards we’d likely see Pop cards making up a much higher percentage of sales.

As for the state of the system as a whole, the trains are being addressed and the South Shields line has recently had a lot of investment, but there are issues that need addressing. Signalling in particular needs renewing, it’s already at life expiry now.

 

[Haywain]

If the TVMs issued pop cards like the LU TVMs issue Oyster cards we’d likely see Pop cards making up a much higher percentage of sales.

Equally, if they made it a bit clearer that a virtual card exists in Google Wallet they might make up more sales. It's what I've now set up ready for use at the weekend without the need to go near a TVM (which would be 250 miles away!).