Contactless in Newcastle upon Tyne

Yes on the buses and the Shields Ferry, no on the Metro and no on the trains — which is the wrong way round from what most visitors expect.

On Go North East, Stagecoach North East and Arriva buses your own card or phone works — though not an American Express card on Go North East or Arriva — but the three companies do three different things with the tap. Go North East takes it when the driver prompts you, and the tap buys the ticket you asked for, with no tap off — except on four routes, the Voltra 53 and 54 and the QuayCity Q3 and Q3X, which are genuine tap on, tap off, and where forgetting the second tap charges you a £2.50 single. Stagecoach North East is one tap and no tap off at all. Arriva runs two things through the same reader: a plain single tap that buys you a ticket outright, and a separate Tap On Tap Off product on the routes and zones it publishes for it, where a missed tap off charges you the single fare from where you boarded all the way to the end of that route. The Shields Ferry takes a card on board as well, at a flat fare for the crossing.

The Metro is where a bank card stops being a ticket. Nexus does not accept one at a gate or a platform reader, and neither does Northern on the Northumberland Line. What a card is good for there is the machine: the Metro station ticket machines take a contactless tap and sell a paper ticket. It is also where you top up a Pop card, Nexus's own pay-as-you-go smartcard — but the card itself is ordered online, not bought at the machine.

On those same four routes, tap on and tap off the Voltra 53 and 54 or the QuayCity Q3 and Q3X and Go North East holds your card to £4.80 in a day and £16.50 in a week. For the Metro, tap that same bank card at the station machine and buy a paper ticket before each journey.

No — not as a ticket. A bank card or a phone will not open a Metro gate or satisfy the yellow reader on the platform, and Nexus does not accept one as a Metro fare at all.

It does pay at the machine. Every Metro station ticket machine takes a contactless card or phone and sells a paper ticket for the journey you are making. It is also where you top up a Pop card — Nexus's own pay-as-you-go smartcard, and the thing the Metro actually runs on — though the card itself is ordered online, not bought at the machine. With a Pop card you touch in on the yellow platform reader or the orange reader on the gate at the start of the journey and touch out at the end, and you are charged for the zones you crossed.

The touch out is what protects your money. Touch in and not out and the journey is incomplete and charged at the maximum all-zone fare, which counts towards nothing — while a day of complete journeys caps at £3.30 inside one zone, £4.50 across two and £5.00 across three or four. Not touching in at all is the serious one: it counts as travelling without a valid ticket, and a Penalty Fare Notice is £100 plus the price of the full single fare, or £50 plus that fare if you pay within 21 days.

So use the bank card for what it is good for here: buy a paper ticket with it at the machine before each journey, or, if you already hold a Pop card, top it up there and touch it at both ends of every trip.

Yes, on Go North East, Stagecoach North East and Arriva buses, though Go North East and Arriva refuse American Express. The tap means three different things with the three companies, so watch what the reader and the driver tell you.

Go North East takes your card when the driver prompts you, and the tap buys the ticket you asked for. There is no tap off. Four of its routes are the exception and are true tap on, tap off — the Voltra 53 and 54 and the QuayCity Q3 and Q3X — where forgetting the second tap charges you a £2.50 single that you then have to dispute through customer services or your online journey and fare history. Stagecoach North East is one tap and nothing else: the tap buys a ticket, there is no tap off, and an adult single across most of the North East Combined Authority area is held at £2.50 — though not on the routes Stagecoach lists as excluded from that ceiling, so ask the driver the fare if you are unsure. Arriva runs two things through the same reader: a plain single tap that buys you a ticket outright, and a separate Tap On Tap Off product on the routes and zones it publishes for it, and that second one is the expensive one to forget — a missed tap off charges you the single fare from where you boarded to the end of that route.

On those four routes, Go North East's Tap On, Tap Off holds your card to £4.80 in a day and £16.50 in a week.

Travelling without a valid ticket costs £60 on Go North East, halved to £30 if you pay the supervisor on the spot or by card over the phone within seven days, and up to £60 on Stagecoach North East. Arriva has a penalty fare and puts no figure of its own on it, so treat a notice from an Arriva inspector as one to read carefully rather than one you can price in advance.

So tap as you board, and know before you sit down whether that route wants a second tap: never on Stagecoach North East, on Go North East only on the Voltra 53 and 54 and the QuayCity Q3 and Q3X, and on Arriva only where its Tap On Tap Off list covers the route. If you are unsure, ask the driver as you tap on.