COUNCIL leaders have hailed plans to make travel across the North East cheaper and simpler for public transport passengers.

New fares are set to be rolled out over the next few months that will mean cheaper prices for bus and Metro users.

They will also offer the ability to travel across the entire region using a single ticket, instead of passengers being forced to navigate the “confusing” patchwork of prices from various different operators and purchase multiple tickets.

Members of the North East Joint Transport Committee (JTC) agreed on Tuesday that the new offers will begin in May, from which point under-22s will pay just £1 for any single bus journey made across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham.

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Even bigger changes are then expected in July, when new multi-operator and multi-modal tickets are brought in – ensuring that passengers will pay a maximum of £6.80 for a full day’s travel taking them anywhere from Barnard Castle to Berwick.

The proposed new bus fares are:
Single ticket for under-22s – £1
Day ticket for under-22s – £3

Northumberland multi-operator ticket – £5
County Durham multi-operator ticket – £4
Tyne & Wear multi-modal ticket (including Metro and Shields Ferry) – £6 
Two-Zone multi-modal ticket – £6.50
Regionwide multi-modal ticket – £6.80 

Cllr Martin Gannon, who chairs the JTC, said: “The secret to success for public transport is that it has to be clean, reliable and affordable. This is a major step forward in making it affordable for this generation.”

Councillors were told on Tuesday that the £1 for under-22s had been prioritised to help young people get to school and work.

It comes after North East officials took possession of a £117.8m cash boost from the Government, the first instalment of funding for a regional Bus Service Improvement Plan, to fund the initiatives.

A report to the JTC states that bus fares “are often higher and more confusing in the North East than in other parts of the UK” and that ridership levels had suffered recently amid price rises and declining services.

When the new fares had last been discussed at the JTC, there were claims that private bus operators were still “profiteering” from the scheme – but there was no such dissent this time.

Richard Wearmouth, the deputy leader of Northumberland County Council, said: “I remember 20 years ago when I used to disappear from school to go and get tickets at St James’ Park during the day and it would have cost me more money then to go there and back. The same for college and university.

“This is going to help people do several things. Firstly, to get around in an effective manner. Secondly, for people who are just becoming a bit more mobile in their early life this will get them to embrace using the bus and hopefully other public transport as a way of getting around – which helps on the behavioural side of things with our net zero ambitions.

“I assume it will help as well with the frustrating thing we have been dealing with in terms of bus usage, because putting people back on buses after Covid has been a real challenge in some places.”