How much Bee Network tickets cost from March 23 as bosses confirm fare overhaul
Bee Network bus ticket prices and a new 'tap and go' payment system will be introduced on March 23, allowing passengers to use bank cards or phones for seamless travel across buses and trams. The £2 'hopper' fare remains, and new annual bus and tram tickets will be available, with flexible payment options.
Bee Network passengers will wave goodbye to paper tickets from March 23 when contactless ‘tap and go’ payments roll out across every bus in Greater Manchester, transport bosses confirmed today.
The £2 ‘hopper’ fare survives the switch, still allowing unlimited transfers within an hour, while daily and weekly price caps will protect regular travellers from runaway costs. The same readers will recognise bank cards and phones on Metrolink trams, knitting buses and trams into one fare system that charges “the best value fare up to the daily or weekly cap,” according to network chiefs.
Mayor Andy Burnham hailed the move as “a huge leap forward” for the network that assumed control of the region’s buses on 5 January. “It’s a key step in our plan to ensure we have a world-class public transport system fit for our needs as a growing city-region,” he said. “With later and more frequent services already in place and tap and go extending to buses in a month’s time, you can be sure that the Bee Network is here to help you get where you need to go regardless of how, where or when you are travelling.”
Alongside the contactless launch, Transport for Greater Manchester will begin selling combined annual bus-and-tram passes priced between £1,005 and £1,496 depending on tram zones. Spread over 365 days, officials say the passes equate to between £2.76 and £4.10 a day for unlimited travel. Credit-union members can pay weekly or monthly at no extra charge, widening access for passengers unable to stump up the full sum upfront.
Daily caps range from £5.40 off-peak for any bus plus one tram zone to £9.50 anytime for the full four-zone network, with weekly equivalents running from £24.80 to £41. Danny Vaughan, the authority’s chief network officer, conceded the region is “22 years” behind London, whose Oyster card arrived in 2003, but predicted the convenience could spark the same surge in ridership seen in the capital. “We’re immensely proud with what we’ve done, and we’ve done it with nowhere near as much funding as London has,” he said. “But we are getting there really successfully.”
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