The name of Greater Manchester’s much-anticipated and long-awaited version of London’s Oyster card can be revealed today. It will be called... “My Get Me There”.

Transport chiefs say they won’t refer to it as a card like the Oyster or Liverpool’s Walrus scheme, as passengers will also be able to use bank cards, bus passes and mobile phones to pay for ticketless journeys.

But politicians have labelled the Get Me There system ‘confusing’ and say it fails to rival the catchy branding used by other cities.

The M.E.N asked readers at the time what they thought the scheme should be called – with suggestions including the Cotton Card, the Busy Bee Card, and the Ryder Card, after Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder.

Travel bosses say it will be one of the world’s most advanced smart-ticketing systems when it is launched in phases from next year.

Coun Andrew Fender, chairman of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said the scheme would ‘revolutionise’ how travellers used transport.

He said: “But we want it to be as simple as possible for people at the point of use – hence a name that ‘says what it does on the tin’.”

The travel boss said the validating technology will not just read smartcards, but passengers’ bank cards and phones.

This video from Transport for Greater Manchester explains how the system will run

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He added: “London may have its Oyster and Liverpool its Walrus, but we like to embrace the challenge of doing things differently here, which is why we have chosen a different kind of name with ‘Get Me There’.

“We knew that people would expect our scheme to be like Oyster, but both life and technology have moved on since its introduction.”

The scheme is being backed with part-funding by a £32.5m grant awarded last year to promote sustainable transport. The first ticket validators will be installed at Metrolink stops later this year. The scheme will be introduced on the trams first in the second half of next year. It will be rolled out on to buses in 2015 and then on to trains.

The scheme has the full backing of bus chiefs and the biggest firms already have ticket validators on their vehicles.

Richard Soper, from bus firm First Group, said: “It will give everyone greater choice and greater flexibility in their travel options.”

Chris Bowles, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, said: “If you include all the existing concessionary card holders, there are over half a million smart-enabled cards already out there in Greater Manchester.

“Once the scheme goes live, concession holders will be able to register with ‘Get Me There’ to enhance the benefits of their existing card.”

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Get me there: your questions answered

How did the name come about? Transport chiefs have used in-house expertise and researched other smartcard schemes around the world and taken soundings from staff, customers and stakeholders.

Why ‘Get Me There’? Bosses have rejected a snappy one-word name, saying the scheme will be more than just a card.

They say London is now referring to its scheme as ‘Oyster Smart’ to acknowledge the changing influence of new payment devices including bank cards.

How will it work? Cards will be introduced first on Metrolink next year. Passengers will be able to load it with credit or buy season travel based on zones. Passengers with one of the cards, or a contactless bank card, can simply touch-in and touch-out at the start and end of their journey.

When will we get to use it? It will be rolled out in phases – on Metrolink this year and buses in 2015. Rail will follow after that, with the exact details to form part of the discussions around the process of re-franchising the railways. London took several years to roll-out its full scheme.