Credit where it's due yesterday - a broken down train on the heavy rail network near Sheffield yesterday was causing endless chaos and cancellations, so rail tickets were accepted on tram and tram-train between Sheffield-Meadowhall-Rotherham.
As a frequent user of Rotherham station, I'd find it very handy if tickets were inter-available all the time.
There is an arrangement in place between Northern and Supertram to request ticket acceptance at times of disruption - there have been times recently when tram services have been suspended due to signalling issues or breakdowns and Northern have accepted tram tickets whilst as the example here when the Northern Turbostar failed between Sheffield and Meadowhall blocking the main line for several hours Supertram accepted train tickets. Supertram also have the same arrangement with Stagecoach bus whilst a a slightly different arrangement is also in place with First bus.
Ticket interavailability on a regular basis is a tricky one to implement as National Rail and Supertram are two different systems with different ticketing structures and different retail systems. This is something that could change if Transport for the North manage to implement pay as you go smart ticketing.
Locally the Travelmaster and Railmaster range of daily, weekly and 4 weekly passes offer an option of combining Supertram with trains and buses in South Yorkshire.
Incidentally a price comparison between tram and train for Rotherham Central-Sheffield for those interested
SINGLE JOURNEY:
train - anytime day single 3.40
tram - longer journey single 2.50
RETURN JOURNEY:
train - anytime day return 4.40
train - off peak day return 3.70
tram - tram only Dayrider 4.20 (this offers unlimited travel on the whole tram network)
WEEKLY PASS:
train - 7 day season 14.10
tram - tram only Megarider 14.00 (this offers unlimited travel on the whole tram network)
MULTI MODAL TRAVEL PASSES BY TRAVELMASTER:
South Yorkshire Connect - unlimited bus and tram travel in South Yorkshire with any operator
day 6.80 / week 23.50
South Yorkshire Connect Plus - unlimited bus, local train and tram travel in South Yorkshire with any operator
day 8.50 / week 29.70
www.sytravelmaster.com