Fight launched to stop Seaburn Metro re-zoning treating Fulwell residents as a “cash cow”
Liberal Democrats in Sunderland are launching a bid to stop plans by Nexus to change the zone boundary on the Tyne and Wear Metro which would see higher fares for people travelling from Seaburn station.
Wearside Liberal Democrats are urging Nexus and Sunderland Council bosses to think again on a plan to re-draw the zone boundary on the Tyne and Wear Metro that would see passengers from Seaburn face higher ticket prices to travel into Newcastle.
Councillors on the North East Combined Authority's Tyne and Wear Transport Committee will meet next week (13th January) to vote on changes to fares on the Metro from April 2022.
As well as increases to paper ticket and travelcard prices, Metro bosses at Nexus also want to change the zone boundaries meaning Seaburn station would move from being in both zones B and C, to just being in Zone C.
On top of the system-wide increases in ticket prices, it would mean passengers travelling from Seaburn into Newcastle would see a bigger hike in fares than from any other station on the network.
Local Liberal Democrat campaigner for Fulwell and Seaburn Malcolm Bond now wants the plan scrapped.
Commenting, local resident Malcolm Bond said:
"Moving the boundary between fare zones B and C on the Metro from Seaburn station to East Boldon will mean passengers, no matter what type of ticket they use, will face higher prices at a time when they can least afford it.
"It is a real kick in the teeth given that we have to put up with regular delays, frequent cancellations and the fact we didn't have a working lift at Seaburn for months. It beggars belief that Fulwell and Seaburn folk are now going to be charged more for such a rubbish service on the Metro.
"Yet again, passengers in Sunderland are facing bigger hikes in ticket prices than anywhere else in Tyne and Wear. For too long, Nexus chiefs based in Newcastle have treated Mackems as second best and now Seaburn passengers are being used as a cash cow.
"Sunderland Council's representative on the Tyne and Wear Transport Committee must vote against this shameful change to the zone boundary which will hit residents in Fulwell and Seaburn harder than anyone else in the region."