The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and Northern Trains have been working in collaboration with Nexus to extend the Pay as You Go (PAYG) Pop contactless Network, with the project delivered on behalf of Kim McGuinness, Mayor of the North East.

Similar in style to other PAYG systems across the country, like the Oyster card in London and the Bee Network in Manchester, the Pop cards allow travel between light rail and national rail transport across zones in the North of England.

Using existing ITSO technology, the project acts as a blueprint to grow and facilitate integrated fares across the North East, which will offer cheaper long-distance travel between the zones.

The recently reopened Northumberland line is already part of the Pop travel network thanks to a joint effort between Northern and Nexus, which has enabled passengers to change between the two rail company networks with ease using the Pop card, which saves paying two separate fares.

The Pop card ensures that the lowest possible combined fare is deducted on a journey that involves a change of trains en route, helping customers get the best price for their journey. There is also a daily price cap in place, enabling several trips to be made at a lower cost.

The Pop travel network will soon consist of 65 stations and feature seamless interchanges at Newcastle and Northumberland Park.

A new map of the larger Pop card area will see stations at Seaton Delaval, Newsham, Blyth Bebside, Bedlington, and Ashington added onto the familiar Tyne and Wear Metro network, with the most northerly stations on this line being in a new ‘zone D’.

Passengers only wishing to travel on Northern services along the Northumberland line and on into Newcastle can still buy standalone Northern Rail tickets offering, £3 for a single adult ticket from Ashington to Newcastle.

“Our integrated fares, available through Pop Pay As You Go, offer North East passengers a simple and affordable way to travel using the Northumberland Line and Metro. I want to give people in the region the best opportunities and that includes better access to education, jobs and leisure through a simple and good value rail and Metro offer.

Passengers using the Northumberland Line and Metro can also access our popular £1 fare for those 21 and under which is of course good news for young people and a step in the right direction. I hope to see the success of our integrated fares be rolled out across other local rail services in the North East and we’re working hard behind the scenes to make this a reality”

North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness

“We’ve put a huge amount of work into the fare integration on the Northumberland Line, and it’s delivered the first ever roll out of Pay As You Go on a stretch of the mainline railway network using the established and lower cost ITSO technology. 

It’s something that we’re really proud of and is an essential part of the ongoing success story of the Northumberland Line since it opened to the public in December.  

This is the first seamless intermodal travel between a light rail system and a heavy rail network in the UK. It allows customers to travel seamlessly between the Tyne and Wear Metro and the new Northumberland Line using Pop PAYG.  

Paul Welford, Major Projects Director at Nexus