Almost £10m will be invested in revolutionising public transport ticketing across the Liverpool City Region with the development of a new tap-and-go system, contactless payments and fare capping.

The £9.86m investment, approved at a meeting of the region’s Combined Authority, will deliver on the Mayor’s ambition to build an integrated London-style transport network with a simplified, cheaper ticketing system.

Under the planned improvements, people will be able to use the same card or ticket whether travelling on buses, trains or ferries.

This further investment will help push forward several projects in the smart ticketing programme, including:

• Continued development towards a tap-and-go ticketing system
• Future ability to introduce fare capping – ensuring that passengers always pay the cheapest possible fare
• Ability to pay by contactless bank card or mobile payment through services such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet
• An app for buying and using tickets
• Increased range of products across the MetroSmart Portal and additional tickets added to the MetroCard

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“Travelling on public transport should be simple, especially when it comes to how people pay for their journey. Yet, the reality is that our current ticketing system is no longer equipped to meet the demands of a growing 21st century city region like ours.

“I understand people’s frustrations about the current system and that’s why we’ve been working towards introducing a more simplified ticketing structure, but increasing public demand has meant that we’re now accelerating our plans.

“By upgrading our current paper ticketing with a new and improved smart system, we can make it easier and quicker for people to get from A to B. The tap-and-go, contactless ticketing system I want to introduce will unlock so many benefits for our region, removing the need for unnecessary queues, and ensure that no one spends more than they need to get around our region.

“London shows how it can work well – and I want to build a similar system in our area that makes ticketing easier, quicker and cheaper and, most importantly, works in favour of passengers, not profit.”

The aim of these developments is to enhance the experience for public transport users in the city region, making it quicker and easier to plan journeys and purchase tickets and as a result, encourage more people out of polluting vehicles and onto trains, buses and ferries. This in turn will help to improve air quality and support the city region’s ambition to be net zero carbon by 2040.

The city region’s smart ticketing programme has already seen the successful introduction of the MetroCard, a smart card for public transport that is able to have a range of products loaded onto it, and MetroSmart, the smart ticketing website that allows passengers to purchase Solo products online, as well as the Merseyrail RailPass.

More than 750,000 MetroCards and concession smart card tickets are currently in use across the Liverpool City Region. The MetroSmart portal accounts for 25% of all ticket sales, demonstrating the demand for digital ticketing options.