Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive

Nexus

Type	Passenger Transport Executive
Founded	Transport Act 1968 (as Tyneside PTE)
Headquarters	Nexus House, St James' Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England
Area served	Tyne and Wear
Key people	Tobyn Hughes, Managing Director
Parent	North East Combined Authority
Website	www.nexus.org.uk

The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE) using the brandname of Nexus, is the Passenger Transport Executive for Tyne and Wear, a county in North East England. Nexus is an executive body of the North East Combined Authority.

Operations

Tyne and Wear PTE is responsible for the following aspects of the Tyne and Wear transport system:

• operating, maintaining and modernising the Tyne and Wear Metro;
• owning, maintaining and operating the Shields Ferry;
• coordinating local bus services;
• subsidising socially necessary, but unprofitable, bus services, including school buses;
• subsidising local rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland;
• running the concessionary travel scheme for people aged 60 and over and eligible disabled
• subsidising public transport for children aged under 16 and further education students
• providing public transport information;
• maintaining bus stops and most bus stations.
• running Taxicard, a subsidised taxi service for disabled people
• administering the concessionary travel scheme;
• setting fares on secured bus services, local rail, metro and ferry services;

Policies and programmes

Nexus is pursuing a number of major programmes aimed at improving public transport in Tyne and Wear. These include the £389 million "Metro: All Change" programme to modernise the Tyne and Wear Metro over eleven years. Funding has been secured from government. Nexus will continue to own all infrastructure, set fares and service frequencies through the ITA, while the operation of trains and stations is carried out on its behalf by a concessionaire, it being a condition of Government funding that this area be market-tested. The "revenue risk" from passenger numbers changing will remain with Nexus, unlike in UK rail franchises. Most of the capital money will be invested in renewal and upgrade of infrastructure, with modernisation of stations and trains also included. Trains will not be replaced within this programme, but are expected to be replaced in around 2023.^[1]

In April 2009 Nexus launched a Bus Strategy aimed at improving the bus network in Tyne and Wear, which accounts for around 77% of all public transport journeys in the area. Nexus said it wished to work in partnership with commercial bus companies which operate 90% of services in Tyne and Wear. Priorities include increasing the punctuality and reliability of bus services, improving information and ensuring the network offers a high level of access to local shops, services and workplaces. In October 2014 the North East Combined Authority accepted a recommendation from Nexus to take forward a Quality Contracts Scheme as the best means of meeting this objective.^[2]

Nexus seeks to reduce social exclusion, particularly for disabled people, through a number of overlapping schemes. These include subsidised taxis, weekly community bus services between sheltered accommodation and supermarkets, a "companion card" allowing free use of public transport by caretakers, and specialist training and mentoring for people with learning difficulties.

Fare collection changes

Nexus and bus companies in Tyne and Wear in 2010 simplified the previously-complex zone structure on which ticket prices are based. There are now five travel zones for "network"' season tickets and "Transfare" day tickets valid across operators on both bus and Metro. Metro uses three of these zones. Each bus company may have its own zone structure for its own services.

NESTI, the North East Smart Ticketing Initiative, is a joint programme with local councils and commercial transport operators to introduce a smart card payment system for North East England, including Northumberland, Durham and the Tees Valley. The core of the system would be public transport use but it could be extended to other public and commercial services. Nexus introduced smart ticket machines and readers on Metro in 2011, inter-operable with technology also being rolled-out by bus companies. 'Pay As You Go' pilots are currently under way on Metro,^[3] and on bus serviced in Northumberland and County Durham^[4]

LinkUp

LinkUp was a demand responsive transport system in Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom. The service was funded and coordinated by Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive. The service replaced the smaller scale U-Call which replaced the yet smaller Western Links. The service carried the tag line "Phone up and go" which was included in the LinkUp livery. The service was closed in 2011 due to the relatively high subsidy per journey, with funding moved to conventional bus routes following a public consultation. A limited demand responsive transport service continues for local journeys in Sunderland.

Travelshops

Nexus runs six travelshops selling season tickets, providing information, etc. These are located at:

• Gateshead Interchange
• Newcastle (Haymarket Metro station)
• North Shields Metro Station
• South Shields 34-36 Fowler Street
• Sunderland Park Lane Interchange
• Newcastle Central Station

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive.

• Nexus (Tyne and Wear PTE)
• North East Combined Authority
• Map of Tyne and Wear zones
• Annual Nexus Strategic Intelligence Report, 2012-13 - includes socioeconomic context