Metro ticket app launched – but not for iPhones yet
A long-awaited ticket app to “revolutionise” the Tyne and Wear Metro has been launched – but it could be some time before iPhone users get to see it.
The Metro’s new Pop card app was released last week, allowing passengers to buy and store tickets on their phone and use it to open gates at stations.
But the technology is only available on Android smartphones, meaning that anyone who has an iPhone can’t access it.
Nexus, which runs the rail system, says it “would welcome the chance to work with Apple”.
But it says there is no time scale set for when iPhone users might be able to download the app on the world’s most popular smart
phone.
A Nexus spokesman said: “The Po pap pi snot currently available on Apple smartphones, but there are ongoing talks to make this happen.
"We hope that is something we can introduce and that work will continue.”
Nexus says that the reason the app cannot be used on an iPhone is that the tickets are stored on Google Pay, which is not available on iPhones, and Apple is not currently allowing them to be stored on Apple Pay.
The app is available for free for download from the Google Play Store on Android phones.
It means that Metro passengers can avoid queues at ticket machines and don’t need to purchase a separate paper ticket or plastic Pop card.
Only weekly tickets are currently available to purchase on the app.
Other tickets, including the Pop Pay As You Go card, are due to be added in 2021.
Customer services director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “The Pop card app will revolutionise how people can pay for their travel and then access the Metro network by simply touching their phone on to a gate or validator.
“It’ s convenient, easy to use, speeds up journey times, and, in this Covid-19 era, it will further minimise the need for customers to use cash and come into contact with touch surfaces on our ticket machines.
“We have worked with one of the world’ s biggest companies on one hand and Nebula Labs, a tech start-up from here in North East England, to make this happen.”