Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) is the smart way to pay for public transport in North East England, and if you have an NFC (Near Field Communication) Android smartphone you can now buy and store PAYG balance on it in Google Wallet, and travel on Metro using your phone instead of a Pop PAYG smartcard.

Simply top up your Pop PAYG balance in your Google Wallet ticket by selecting ‘Add money to balance’ or at a Metro Ticket Machine and use it to pay for your Metro journeys as you make them.

You can only use Pop PAYG on Android to travel on Metro and the Northumberland Line. If you use Pop PAYG to travel on the Shields Ferry or on local buses, you should continue to use a Pop PAYG smartcard.

Using Pop PAYG on Android means you no longer need a separate smartcard to travel on Metro at PAYG prices. Just add balance in your Google Pay account and use your smartphone to touch in and out at Metro station gates and validators.

To use Pop PAYG on Android you need an Android smartphone with NFC (Near Field Communication) and a Google Wallet account.
In your Google Pay account, select Add a card, then Public transport and Pop under North East England, UK. You can then choose to purchase either £5.00, £10.00 or £20.00 balance, which you pay for using Google Wallet.

You can top up your balance by selecting ‘Add money to balance’ in your Google Wallet ticket or at a Metro Ticket Machine.

You can check your PAYG balance on your ticket displayed in your Google Wallet account, it will also be shown on the Metro station gate or validator every time you touch out. You can also check your balance at Metro Ticket Machines by placing your smartphone to the orange reader.

You can’t transfer balance on your Pop PAYG smartcard to Pop PAYG on Android. If you wish to switch from using a smartcard to Android for PAYG on Metro, you’ll need to either use up the balance on your Pop PAYG smartcard or apply for a refund of the unused balance, and start using Pop PAYG on Android separately.

No. Once you’ve activated a Pop PAYG card you can’t move it to another phone, because it’s linked to both the phone and the Google Account used with Google Wallet. Also, if the Pop PAYG card is deleted, or a phone is factory reset, the card can’t be restored to that phone.

On Metro, you can’t start a journey if you have a negative Pop PAYG on Android balance (i.e. less than zero), so you need to top up your balance or find another way to pay for your journey.
If your balance is in credit when you touch in at a Metro station, we’ll give you one last trip to make sure you can get to where you need to be, even if making another journey will take you into a negative balance. You then can’t use Pop PAYG on Android again until you top up.

Please only add one Pop card (either Pop PAYG or Pop season) to your Google Wallet. If you add both, you will not be able to choose which one to use at the gate or validator, and the gate will always prioritise PAYG.

At the moment Pop PAYG is only available for Android devices, but we’ll continue to seek to increase its availability on other operating systems.

You need to ensure that your smartphone can display your Pop PAYG on Android Ticket at all times when travelling. If you are unable to display your Ticket, you will need to buy an alternative ticket for your journey or you will be liable for a Penalty Fare and/or prosecution

You need to touch in at the start of your journey and touch out at the end. You do this by touching your smartphone onto the reader on the yellow Metro station validator or the orange card reader on the Metro station gates – even if they’re open.
If you don’t do this, you won’t have a validated product and you could be issued with a Penalty Fare Notice.
When you touch in at the start of your journey, we deduct up to the cost of an all zone single Pop PAYG fare from your Pop PAYG balance. When you touch out at the end of your journey, we calculate the cheapest fare for that journey and then adjust your balance.
Please note that you can’t use your Pop PAYG on Android balance to buy tickets from Metro station ticket machines.

Pop PAYG is cheaper than adult Single and Day tickets.
You can travel as many times as you like in a day. You will be charged each time you travel until you reach the daily price cap for the number of zones you’ve travelled in. You’ll never pay more than the daily price cap for the number of zones you’ve travelled in that day as long as you touch in and out.
Please note that if you’re using Pop PAYG on Android more than 3 or 4 days a week, it might be cheaper to buy a Metro Season Ticket. See nexus.org.uk/metro for more information and current Pop PAYG fares.

If you can’t touch in or out, your journey will be incomplete and you may be charged a maximum fare.
You should make your journey as planned, and touch in or out where you can.

If you are charged the maximum fare because you were unable to complete your journey you can request a ‘Close Your Journey refund’. Select the ‘Request a Refund’ link within your Google Pay ticket and follow the links to the ‘Close Your Journey’ form.

What happens if I forget to touch in or out?
If you don’t touch in or out, your journey will be incomplete and you may be charged a maximum fare.
Because we don’t know where you either started or ended your journey, we are unable to calculate the cheapest fare, so we deduct a maximum fare of up to the cost of an all zone single Pop PAYG fare from your balance for that journey.
If you forget to touch in or out, select the ‘Refund Request’ link within your Google Wallet ticket and follow the links for the ‘Close Your Journey’ form to apply for a refund and close your journey.
You can only ask us to close your journey once a calendar month, so remember to touch in and out.

The Shields Ferry and local buses use different types of ticketing infrastructure to Metro, which aren’t currently configured to accept Pop PAYG on Android, but we’re working to introduce it in the future.

If you change your mind about using Pop PAYG on Android, you can apply for a refund on any unused balance by selecting the ‘Request a refund’ option in your Google Wallet account.