Turnout holds up rise approval

TICKET PRICE HIKES COULD BE DELAYED

TICKET price rises on the Tyne and Wear Metro might not come into force as planned in January – because too few councillors turned up to a vote to approve them.

Plans to introduce higher Metro fares were expected to be rubber-stamped on Wednesday afternoon, in time for them to be brought in on January 2.

But not enough councillors showed up to a crucial meeting of the North East Joint Transport Committee’s Tyne and Wear sub-committee to give the plans the green light.

The fare increases will see adult single ticket and DaySaver prices increased by 10p, alongside hikes to weekly, monthly, and annual passes.

Both Newcastle City Council and North Tyneside Council’s representatives failed to attend the meeting in Gateshead or send a substitute.

With only representatives from Gateshead, Sunderland, and South Tyneside present, the committee lacked the necessary quorum to take any decisions.

Transport bosses are now left scrambling to arrange an extraordinary committee meeting in the coming weeks in order to push through the price hikes on schedule.

But if a suitable date cannot be found, the decision may have to wait until the next scheduled meeting on January 31.

A spokesman for North Tyneside Council said: “Our Elected Mayor attended the joint transport committee meeting on Tuesday, however, there was some confusion about having two joint transport committee meetings in as many days and unfortunately there was nobody to attend the second meeting on Wednesday. A new meeting is being set up for next week to deal with the agenda item in question and our representative will be there.”

A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: “Written apologies were provided from Newcastle in advance of today’s meeting as both Newcastle’s designated and substitute members were unable to attend the meeting due to other diary commitments.”