That’s not fare, Metrolink!

Reporter: Andrew Rudkin
Date published: 31 December 2012


CHRISTMAS shoppers and festive sales hunters have been paying more than they bargained for at two new Metrolink stops.

With a selection of ticket prices being hiked up on Wednesday, passengers have been forking out the inflated prices at Derker and Shaw and Crompton stations for more than a week.

The Chronicle discovered the machines for the network-wide Family Day Saver tickets — which should be currently £6.20 — are charging a bumped-up £6.70.

Also, four adults who want to travel together outside peak hours anywhere on the Metrolink service should only pay £10. But our findings show the machines at the stations which opened over a fortnight ago are currently charging £10.50 for the Group Day Saver — the price which is supposed to be introduced on Wednesday.

Joe Millington, a commuter who was travelling from Shaw to Manchester, on December 21, bought the Group Day Saver fare.

He said: “I thought there was mistake which I understand, until one of the Metrolink team came up to me and informed me that Metrolink knew about the issue on the two new stops on the line, but hadn’t done anything to rectify the problem.

“I know that theincrease isn’t much, but on hundreds of tickets it will be mounting up and Metrolink will be making a lot of money on it.”

The fares for the Saver tickets were the correct price at Oldham Mumps — but like everywhere across the Metrolink service, they will be increased.

A spokesman for Transport for Greater Manchester said: “We were pleased to be able to open the Shaw & Crompton and Derker stops earlier than expected — in mid-December rather than early 2013 as planned.

“As a result, the ticket machines at these two stops are programmed with 2013 prices for some network-wide tickets, which normally cost the same wherever you buy them on the tram network. The Metrolink website is showing different fares for these tickets and we apologise to any customers who have experienced confusion about prices as a result.

“As a gesture of good will to our new passengers, anyone who holds one of these tickets, purchased at one of these stops, can contact Metrolink Customer Services for a refund in difference between the website price and the fare charged.”

Network-wide ticket prices on the rest of the Metrolink network will come into line with those charged at the Shaw & Crompton and Derker stops from Wednesday.

To apply for a refund between the Metrolink website price and the ticket paid for, ticket-holding passengers should contact Metrolink Customer Services with details of the journey, using the online enquiry form at www.metrolink.co.uk or by calling 0161 205 2000.

On Wednesday, passengers will see a 20p increase for peak-return and off-peak return fares from Oldham Mumps to the City Zone — with a peak-return ticket rounded off to a fiver.

Fares will increase “to meet operating costs and support ongoing investment in stop improvements, new trams and expanding the network.”, according to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).

Members of the TfGM Committee, which oversees Metrolink, have considered the network’s annual ticketing review in light of the introduction of smartcards on to the network during 2014.

Ticket income is used to run and improve the Metrolink network and to pay towards the £1.4 billion expansion that will make it the largest system of its kind in the country.

Child fares will be frozen and 51 per cent of individual fares will not change.