New Oyster-style smartcards for travel on trains and buses will soon be introduced across West Yorkshire.

The cards, called M-Cards, are being rolled out by transport authority Metro, which is planning a publicity drive later this month.

Passengers will be able to use them on bus and train services run by different companies across the county. Metro hopes the new system will make travelling by public transport easier and simplify fares.

Ninety per cent of buses are now equipped with smartcard-enabled ticket machines, and this is expected to rise to 98 per cent by summer.

All Metro-owned vehicles, such as AccessBus and MyBus, have been given the new kit.

Ticket barrier gates at Bradford Interchange and Leeds stations are being converted, and this is expected to be complete by June.

The first people to be eligible for the new smartcards will be those getting a Young Persons photocard. Applications for these will open next month.

Then in July or August, people will be able to buy an annual smartcard.

Cards for students and school pupils will then be unveiled in September, to coincide with the start of the academic year.

The smartcards will replace MetroCards, which passengers have been able to buy from Post Offices as well as bus and rail stations.

But instead of being available at Post Offices, the new smartcards will be sold at shops and newsagents operating the Payzone system.

A meeting of the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority’s Bradford Passenger Consultative Committee yesterday [Monday] heard the Post Office hadn’t put in a bid to sell the smartcards.

Committee member Graham Peacock asked why Post Offices hadn’t been chosen, as they were often very prominent, unlike Payzone points.

He said: “I can only think of one Payzone place in my neck of the woods, and that’s a bit inconspicuous.”

But Dave Pearson, Assistant Director of Transport Services at Metro, said when the authority had held a procurement process for selling the new smartcards, Post Offices hadn’t participated.

He said: “To an extent, we were forced into this. I think one of our jobs to do is to make sure people know where their nearest Payzone is.”

He said offering the smartcards would be good for retailers as it could increase footfall in shops.