Tyne and Wear Metro ticket price cap set for approval

Fares would be limited for Pop card holders from January to March if the move is approved

The cost of some single journeys on the Tyne and Wear Metro is expected to be temporarily capped at £2.

Transport bosses are set to introduce a price limit for Pop smartcard holders amid the cost of living crisis to match an equivalent offer on buses.

All-day travel would be no more than £4, but the limits would not apply to anyone buying paper tickets.

If approved at a meeting next Thursday, the offer would run from 2 January to 31 March.

The North East Joint Transport Committee heard the step is necessary so Metro passengers are not paying more than bus users who will benefit from a price cap on all journeys in England during those three months.

A report recommended Metro operator Nexus intervenes "so as to not disadvantage Metro customers who do not have access to bus services and to also ensure that Metro does not lose customers to bus where there is a cheaper alternative".

Nexus expects that the Metro offer will cost it just over £300,000 during the three months and generate an extra 9,000 journeys on the system, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The £2 cap would mean an adult traveller with a Pop smartcard would save up to 38% on a single journey, with an all-zone ticket currently costing £3.25. The daily cap on all-zone travel would come down by 85p, from £4.85 currently.

Nexus said the offer was only being made on Pop journeys in order to "encourage further take up" of the pay as you go cards.

It comes as the government announced the penalty for fare evasion on the Metro will increase to £100 from 23 January as part of a nationwide crackdown across the railways.

The fine will be reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days.