PEOPLE in Wirral will be the first to be able to buy an electronic Saveaway as it replaces the scratch off ticket in the borough from Monday, becoming the first product on the Walrus smartcard.

Smart Saveaways, which cover off-peak day travel on bus, trains and the Mersey Ferries, will be available at around 190 PayPoint outlets in Wirral as well as the Birkenhead travel centre.

They will be loaded on to a free Walrus smartcard, which people will be encouraged to keep safe and re-use every time they buy a Saveaway as there will be a £1 activation charge for all new cards from April 2015.

The smart Saveaway is being rolled out in one borough first so any unforeseen issues can be identified and put right before they are made available across the rest of Merseyside by the end of March 2015.

Though the smart Saveaways are being launched in Wirral, travel will not be restricted to within the borough. There is no change to where the Saveaways can be used as long as the right one is purchased to cover the customer’s area of travel.

On launch, smart Saveaways will be available for on-the-day travel only, but the opportunity for customers to load multiple Saveaways on the card for future use is being explored.

Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of Merseytravel, said: "This is an exciting milestone. This electronic Saveaway marks just the start of our smart ticketing journey which will be focussed on giving public transport users convenience, choice and flexibility in when and how they purchase travel.

“We sold around three million Saveaways last year so it’s quite overwhelming to imagine that in just a few months we could be one of the top regions outside London in terms of smart ticketing transactions.

“We’re currently working on a broader ticketing strategy, with operators, which will set out what Merseyside’s smart ticketing future will look like and will guide where we go next.”

As not all current Saveaway retailers will have the facility to retail smart Saveaways, there will be a phasing out of scratch off Saveaway tickets at these outlets from the time the scheme is introduced in each area.

Smart Saveaways will not be available from rail stations, but people will still be able to purchase rail-ticket style Saveaways.

A ticketing strategy is being developed to set out the focus and next steps in Merseyside’s smart ticketing journey.

It follows a ticketing review which has looked afresh at Merseytravel’s suite of ticketing products, many of which have been around for 30 years, to ensure that ticketing options best meet the needs of the modern traveller.

This has included looking at the overall price structure and zoning system.

For more information, visit merseytravel.gov.uk/smartsaveaway