A huge step towards cheaper travel for young people in education across the North East has been announced.

From New Year's Day, young people in education aged 16 to 18 will travel for half the price of an adult fare on Metro services throughout the North East.

The new fare was approved by a recent meeting of the Tyne & Wear Integrated Transport Authority, following a proposal from Nexus (which runs the Metro).

After the meeting, Nexus General Director, Bernard Garner said, "Students aged 16 to 18 are being offered a 50 percent discount compared to the equivalent standard adult fare. This is in recognition that the school leaving age is going up from September next year". All university and college students who apply to renew travel tickets online will receive a further 10% discount.

The move has been welcomed by Newcastle Youth Council which has been campaigning for affordable transport costs for all young people in education. The Youth Council would now like to see similar concessions introduced for bus travel in the region and the extension of concessionary fares to all young people in education under the age of 21.

The chairman of the Tyne & Wear Integrated Transport Authority, David Wood, has also backed the call for an extension to concessionary travel. "We could afford a better deal on fares for everyone under 21 and full-time students", he said.

The Youth Council is now looking to set up an e-petition to force the Government to debate the issue of concessionary travel for young people and will be looking to working with the UK Youth Parliament to achieve this. At a recent meeting in Newcastle, Nexus pledged their support for such a move.

Photo courtesy of freefoto.com. Taken by Ian Britton.