Six Travelshops on the Tyne & Wear Metro will close permanently under plans announced by Nexus this week. The Travelshops have been closed since lockdown back in March.
Nexus says that all the services provided by the Travelshops are now available online, at a ticket machine or through staff at bus and Metro stations.
Seventeen employees who work in the shops will be found alternative roles by Nexus.
An eight-week public consultation has begun with Nexus asking people to get in touch if they feel they may be affected by the closure of the Travelshops and to help them get access to the service they require elsewhere.
For more information and share your views at www.nexus.org.uk/consultation
Huw Lewis, Customer Services Director at Nexus, said: “Our customers can now do almost everything they used to do across a counter faster and more conveniently online – people simply don't need our shops any more.
“Our shops team have proved to be unsung heroes of the pandemic – switching overnight to frontline customer service roles offering reassuring presence to customers, and helping encourage social distancing and the use of face coverings. We will find alternative roles for all of them, working with customers on stations or in other parts of Nexus.
“Our Travelshops have been used less and less in the last decade as customer switched to Pop smart tickets and online purchase. These and other products, including Gold Card and Network One season tickets, can now be bought at ticket machines throughout the day and week, not just when shops were open.
“We speeded up our move online as a result of lockdown, and we have completed thousands of applications for older person's concessionary travelcards and Under-16 identity cards online – these were things you could only apply for over a counter or by post before March.
“We have begun a public consultation so that anyone who is concerned they may be affected can get in touch for us to discuss alternatives, although only a handful of people have done this since the shops were closed suddenly at the start of lockdown.”
Where Next?
RailAdvent Plus
Get image downloads, Prints and Streaming Video
RailAdvent News
The latest railway news
RailAdvent Shop
Railway Prints, DVD's / Blu-Ray's and more
LocoStop Community
Come and share your railway pictures
Mainline UK Steam Info
Upcoming mainline steam tours/loco movements
NEXUS
Visit their website
Hi,
I have a pensioner Gold Card for the Metro but because it was issued linked to a West Cumbria bus pass it is not read by ticket machines and therefore cannot be renewed that way. There is no online facility to renew..Now there are no shops how cam my card be renewed?
Oh dear! Here we go again. When will organisations realise that there are still a lot of people who don’t have “smart” phones or want to use the internet particularly families / people on low income. It sounds to me the decision has been made anyway & the way Nexus & Metro are going at the moment, I don’t think we will see improvements.