Smarter travel on buses and trams

COUNCILLOR Andrew Fender with the original "get me there" smart card system

A ONE-TICKET smart solution for buses and trams across Greater Manchester will come into place next year.

In a new report, transport bosses say the smart card will make travel easier for all.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will be given the update at a meeting tomorrow.

The report states that the next phases of the smart ticketing roll-out will include, by the end of next year:

• Extending the get me there smart card on Metrolink to all passengers - currently get me there is available as an app on Metrolink but only Greater Manchester's 500,000 concessionary travel pass holders can use the smart card system.

• Introducing multimodal smart for joint bus and tram travel - currently get me there smart cards are only available for customers on buses who pay for their journeys, with passengers required to buy printed tickets if they want to combine with trams or trains.

• Adding more places and ways to pay for get me there - as well as online accounts, get me there passengers will also be able to use cash or cards at Metrolink ticket machines.

Greater Manchester Mayor Tony Lloyd said: "There is a strong and clear ambition in Greater Manchester to deliver a modern smart ticketing system across our transport network. We must meet that ambition.

"People in Greater Manchester expect this project to be a priority and we should ensure that progress is measured against that legitimate public expectation."

Councillor Andrew Fender, chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said: "We want to make travel easier for everyone and ensure public transport provides a real choice for people. We are clear about what we want to achieve and we are working through the details to ensure the delivery of smart ticketing within the time scales which we have set out."

Vital

Stephen Rhodes, TfGM's customer operations director, said: "We want to ensure we deliver the best solution for people in Greater Manchester and have been working in a complex environment which has meant we have had to adapt to changing circumstances, new technology, new legislation and changing expectations from customers. As such careful planning and assessment has been vital.

"We have made a good start on our smart journey and we still have a way to go to reach our destination but we now have a road map and a realistic timetable to get there."

Concessionary travel pass holders have been able to use get me there on Metrolink since autumn, 2014, and in November, 2015, a Metrolink mobile ticketing app was launched - followed by the introduction of get me there for bus passengers.

The report outlines a series of smart ticketing developments to be phased in over the next five years including:

• Smarter contactless travel ­- where passengers use their bank card to touch in and touch out instead of a smart card. Contactless bank card payments, in exchange for a printed ticket, are initially being rolled out on Metrolink.

• Smart capping ­- where get me there automatically works out the best value fare for passengers who make multiple journeys but only by a series of one-trip tickets. Smart capping would also work with contactless bank cards, recognising that it was the same person travelling even if they had not registered with get me there.

Train travel will also be added to the suite of smart ticketing options, to be developed as part of TfGM's work with Transport for the North.