Go North East and Google Wallet have partnered to give you better visibility of your fares and contactless payments on Go North East buses.

Google Wallet is a digital wallet on your smartphone that keeps all things transit in one convenient place. Adding a Go North East transit card to your Google Wallet now lets you keep track of your spending on Go North East buses and lets you easily see your progress towards fare caps on our services that have tap-on-tap-off capability (Q3/Q3X/53/54), giving you a better experience than using your plastic card.

This development follows a successful pilot with Go North East’s sister company, Brighton & Hove Buses. It is an industry-first initiative that aims to simplify the way passengers manage their mobile payments for bus journeys, and has been developed by teams at Google and Go-Ahead’s payment provider, Littlepay. Key benefits of this new feature include:

• Real-Time Savings Information: Passengers tapping to pay for a bus journey will now quickly see how much they've saved with fare caps on some services, providing a clear understanding of the savings made by using the bus
• Ride History at Passengers’ Fingertips: Google Wallet will display comprehensive ride histories for passengers, allowing them to effortlessly keep track of their bus journeys and savings
• Enhanced Security and Convenience: The collaboration with Littlepay ensures secure and convenient payment transactions, reinforcing Go-Ahead's commitment to delivering a frictionless travel experience.

Daniel Laird, Head of Commercial at Go North East, said: “Many of our passengers are already using digital or contactless payment methods, so launching the Go North East transit card within Google Wallet makes total sense. This development will enhance the customer experience by giving our customers greater insight into their travel patterns and keep a closer track on their public transport spending. We’re excited to be the first operator in the North East to launch this scheme.”

For more information about how to get the Go North East transit card on Google Wallet, go to https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/google-wallet-go-north-east to find out more.