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Ticket extensions for unused MCards during COVID-19 lockdown
11 June 2020COVID-19
On 26 March 2020, we said we would extend the duration of our customers tickets for unused travel during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Current Situation
We are now in a position to honour our commitments to you and share the details of the MCard Travel Extension scheme. We would like to thank you for your patience so far.
We appreciate that you may not be in a position to start travelling right away so we have developed an extension scheme that is open until 21 June 2021. We hope this will give you the time you need to plan when you might return to using public transport again.
MCards ‘Paused’
Between 17 March and 23 March, as the country went into lockdown, you may have stopped using your MCard. If you have not used your MCard since this time you can now apply for an extension or cancellation of your MCard through our online MCard Travel Extension scheme. You have up to 21 June 2021 to do this. We will pause your MCard from 17 March or the last date you used it.
Here’s how it works for each of our products
Weekly MCards – For Adults, Under 19s and Under 26s or Students
If you had a valid weekly ticket issued between 16/03/20 and 23/03/20, please visit your local Metro Bus Station Travel Centre. Staff will check the system to see if the card was used and load any unused days of travel onto your MCard. Please note, if you have purchased your ticket on a Pink MCard, please make sure that you have registered your MCard before you visit the Travel Centre otherwise Travel Centre staff will not be able to assist as they cannot see your travel journeys. You will need to visit the Travel Centre on the day you wish the card to start.
We are unable to issue refunds unless the MCard was not used at all for the full week.
Find out when your local Metro Bus Station Travel Centre will be open.
Monthly MCards – For Adults, Under 19s and Under 26s or Students
If you had a valid monthly ticket, which you were unable to use in full due to lockdown, please visit your local Metro Bus Station Travel Centre. Staff will check the system to see if the card was used and load any unused days/weeks of travel onto your MCard. Please note, if you have purchased your ticket on a Pink MCard, please make sure that you have registered your MCard before you visit the Travel Centre.
If you would prefer to receive a partial refund, visit your local Bus Station Travel Centre and bring along your MCard and proof of purchase. If you have purchased your ticket on a Pink MCard, please make sure you have registered it before-hand. Your refund will be based from 17 March or last time the card was used by deducting the full price weekly tickets from the purchase price of the Monthly ticket. For instance, if you had used two weeks on a monthly ticket, your refund would be based on:
£92 (monthly ticket price) – (£24.50* x 2) = £43.
*weekly ticket price
All admin fees for refunds have been suspended.
Find out when your local Travel Centre will be open.
Termly MCards for Under 26s and Full-Time Students
If you had a Spring Term MCard (06/01/20 to 05/04/20) and didn’t use it after 23 March, please visit your local Metro Bus Station Travel Centre to re-start your card. Staff will provide free equivalent tickets for the unused days of travel. Under our current terms and conditions Termly tickets cannot be refunded.
Find out when your local Metro Bus Station Travel Centre will be open.
Annual MCards
If you have not used your MCard during lockdown, you can apply for a travel extension to start on any date up to 21 June 2021. When you are ready to travel again, just let us know 21 days in advance of your planned re-start date and we will get a new MCard out to you with your new expiry date. Your new expiry date will be calculated based on the unused travel from 17 March 2020 or the last date you used it.
For instance If you had six months travel remaining on your card at 17 March and did not use the card from that date, we will issue you with a new MCard which will have six months validity starting from your chosen date.
If you didn’t use your MCard during the lockdown period but have started using your card again recently as restrictions have been eased, we can issue you with a new MCard with the unused travel added.
Please complete the MCard Travel Extension web form and request a ticket extension. You will receive this MCard at the address you confirm in the web form.
MCard Cancellations
If you decide later in the year that you no longer require your MCard, you can cancel the card and we will backdate your cancellation request to 17 March or the last date you used the card since then. The amount calculated will be based on deducting full priced weekly and monthly tickets from the purchase price, as per our normal refund policy. You can cancel the card using the MCard Travel Extension web form.
Annual tickets that expired in the last 3 months of their 12-month ticket validity e.g. April, May, or June 2020, are not eligible for a refund. We can only issue a ticket extension for the time that was remaining on your card from 17 March 2020. Please complete the MCard Travel Extension web form within the next six months with your preferred re-start date and we will issue you a new card and cancel your old card.
Please note, we are unable to process cancellations of Annual MCards at our Bus Station Travel Centres.
Corporate Annuals
For Corporate Annual ticket holders who request a cancellation, any monies due back will be paid to your workplace as they have paid for your ticket in advance. Please fill in the MCard Travel Extension web form in the first instance and contact your Travel Plan Network Coordinator who will inform you how this affects your payments to your employer. Your employer will credit or debit you accordingly.
Customer Services
We would like to thank all our customers for the patience and consideration they have shown to us over the past few months and we appreciate this has been a difficult time for everyone.
We have several thousand customers who require compensation against ticket purchases. We estimate that compensating all customers will take several months, but we will do our best to process requests as quickly as possible.
These are unprecedented times and our customer services staff will be doing their best to respond to customers as quickly as possible
Further information can be found on our FAQs page.
Best regards,
The MCard Team
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