Smart Ticketing Takes The Next Step

PASSENGERS could be hopping on trams using their existing concessionary passes by next spring, according to Transport for Greater Manchester. This should be available to all customers by the autumn.

Over half a million commuters already have a get me there-ready smart card in their pocket or purse in the shape of an over-60s bus pass or an under-16s igo pass. 

Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, explained: “We’ll be rolling out the scheme in different phases during 2014, making sure that different customer groups get used to it. Travelling with Get Me There will feel a bit different to start with but we’re confident passengers will quickly recognise it’s a much easier and hassle-free way of using public transport.”

Smart readers are currently being fitted at Metrolink stops so passengers will be able to touch in and touch out again at the end of each journey.

Over half a million commuters already have a Get Me There - ready smart card in their pocket or purse in the shape of an over-60s bus pass or an under-16s igo pass. It’s these pensioner passengers who will be first to try out this new technology, followed by season ticket holders when the new Get Me There smart cards are available.

People will be able to buy new travelcards and travel credit – a ‘smart’ pot of money to use for individual journeys – online at the get me there website as well as managing their account. They will also be able to buy credit and travelcards at Metrolink ticket machines which will be upgraded in the new year.

Once the get me there scheme is up and running across Metrolink, it is hoped to expand and introduce get me there on the buses once agreements are in place with the operators. Eight out of ten journeys by public transport are by bus, so it makes sense to include bus routes in the smart ticketing developments.

If you want to register your interest in Get Me There, and find out when it is up and running, click here.