Merseytravel is introducing a new MetroCard to replace the Region’s Walrus card.
The new cards will be phased in from December 2019, when Merseytravel’s adult daily, weekly and four-weekly Solo bus tickets will be available online for the first time.
Merseytravel hope the programme will ultimately deliver a London-style smart ticketing scheme with ‘tap and go’ travel, digital season tickets and online accounts for customers across bus and rail.
The new online ticketing system is expected to go-live before Christmas for testing before becoming available to the public in the new year.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham said: “Our city region already has more than 400,000 journeys per week on the Walrus smart card, the largest scheme outside London, but I’m not satisfied with being the best of the rest.
“Right now, our ticket system overall is a confusing mix of prices and products, with the challenge put to the travelling public to find the cheapest price – if they can. We need to change this by making catching a bus or train as easy as possible and ensuring that passengers know they are not being ripped off.
“The first step will be the phasing out of Walrus to be replaced with a new MetroCard, with the ability for tickets to be bought online, coming in the next few months.
“But the longer-term vision is to transform this into the simple tap-in tap-out system that London has had for years.”