“North East bus passengers will soon be able to use Oyster-style tickets, travel operators have announced. Britain’s biggest bus operators – including Newcastle-headquartered GoAhead and Sunderland-based Arriva – have announced plans to launch London-style smart ticketing across England’s largest city regions.

The pledge by Stagecoach, First, Arriva, Go Ahead and National Express aims to deliver multi-operator smart ticketing to millions of bus customers across England next year. Greater Manchester will be an early adopter of what is described as a “transformational initiative”, helping support the area’s wider growth plans. The smart tickets will then be rolled out across Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire along with the city regions of Nottingham, Leicester and Bristol.”
Newcatle Journal 4th November 2015 Read more here.