ANOTHER change in the way passengers can pay for bus travel has been announced after Merseytravel confirmed its pre-paid bus tickets are set to go electronic on the Walrus card.

One-week and four-week adult Solos and one-week young persons’ Solos will replace the current paper tickets from from Monday, September 7.

The passenger transport authority says the smart ticket Solos, which are credit card sized and similar in appearance to the Oyster card used on the London transport network, will be much more convenient to purchase and users will no longer be required to provide photos.

People are encouraged to keep their cards and re-use them.

A strategy, being taken forward jointly by Merseytravel and operators, will seek to transform the approach to tickets and how they are bought across the region.

A Merseytravel statement read: "Recommendations will be set out later this year. The focus will be on making the process more convenient and efficient for public transport users, making the most of technology and simplifying the zoning system and price structures where possible.

Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of Merseytravel, said: “This is another step forward in going ‘smart.’ Eighty per cent of public transport journeys are on bus so it makes sense for our most popular bus tickets to go electronic, giving people more choice on where to buy, cutting out the need to provide photos and with the ability to mix and match tickets.

“While our smart ticketing scheme is already the most active outside London, we recognise we’re only scratching the surface. As well as making our existing products smart there’s much work going on in parallel to ultimately transform the way people buy tickets for travel.

“Plans for an Oyster-style scheme across the North will ultimately build on the work that we and other city regions already have underway.”

Further information on changes to the tickets and how to purchase them is available on the Merseytravel website Merseytravel.gov.uk/tickets