UK: Tyne & Wear Metro passengers can now use an Android smartphone to pay for travel and open ticket gates, in a partnership between transport authority Nexus, Google Pay, mobile ticketing provider Yotra Ltd, ticketing and gating supplier Scheidt & Bachmann and Newcastle-based software company Nebula Labs which developed the app.
Passengers download the ‘Pop’ branded app from the Google Play Store and use it to buy and store electronic tickets through Google Pay. They then travel using their smartphone instead of the Nexus Pop smart card, touching in and out at automated ticket gates and station validators.
Weekly tickets are currently available, with other products including pay-as-you-go to be available next year.
‘The Pop card app will revolutionise how people can pay for their travel and then access the Metro network by simply touching their phone on to a gate or validator’, said Nexus Customer Services Director Huw Lewis. ‘Customers can buy and store electronic tickets on Android smartphones, and then travel without needing to carry a separate ticket or smartcard. It’s convenient, easy to use, speeds up journey times, and, in this Covid-19 era, it will further minimise the need for customers to use cash and come into contact high with touch surfaces on our ticket machines.’
Alistair Smith, Chairman of the Yotra Ltd commercial arm of ticketing standards organsation ITSO Ltd, said ‘mobile payments are on the rise, with one in six UK adults registered for mobile payment services such as Google Pay. We recognise public transport needs to embrace the digital world and have developed ITSO on Mobile to offer passengers a seamless, and, importantly in today’s world, a touchless journey.’
Passengers can continue to use contactless payment using a bank card or smart device, as well as cash and credit or debit cards, to purchase a ticket or top up their Pop card at ticket machines.
