How much Bee Network tickets cost from March 23 as bosses confirm fare overhaul

Bee Network bus ticket prices have been confirmed as a new ‘tap and go’ payment system will be introduced in a month.

From March 23, passengers will be able to use a bank card or phone onboard a Bee Network bus rather than buying a physical ticket.

The £2 ‘hopper’ fare will remain available via the system, where passengers can catch as many buses as they like within one hour.

The system will also be integrated with Metrolink trams, so a passenger can hop on trams and buses seamlessly and only be charged ‘the best value fare up to the daily or weekly cap’.

Andy Burnham is touting the ‘tap and go’ system as a ‘huge leap forward’ for the Bee Network, which took over every bus service in Greater Manchester on January 5.

“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.”

However, tap and go will not be the only change to Bee Network tickets on March 23.

On the same day, a new combined annual bus and tram ticket will be available, with transport chiefs estimating customers can gain ‘unlimited travel across both modes for the equivalent of between £2.76 and £4.10 a day’.

The yearly passes will also be available via Credit Unions, so those who can’t afford the upfront cost of an annual ticket can spread payments out monthly or weekly at no additional cost.

In a recent interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Transport for Greater Manchester’s chief network officer, Danny Vaughan, said the introduction of tap and go tickets puts the Bee Network ‘22 years’ behind London’s buses and tube - when the Oyster card was introduced.

“That’s probably how far behind we are,” he said. “I think if you look at bus passenger growth in London, it took off around the same time.

"I think we’re at the start of that journey.

“We’re immensely proud with what we’ve done, and we’ve done it with nowhere near as much funding as London has.

"But we are getting there really successfully.”

How much will Bee Network tap and go cost from March 23?

Here is a full breakdown of the daily and weekly caps on the Bee Network from March 23, meaning it is the maximum a passenger can pay.

Multi-modal ‘tap-in, tap out’ caps

Ticket                                                                  Daily (off peak)        Daily (anytime)    Weekly price

Any bus + one tram zone (1, 2, 3, and 4)                 £5.40                           £6                   £24.80

Any bus + two tram zones (1 and 2)                         £6.70                       £7.30                  £30.30

Any bus + two tram zones (2 and 3 or 3 and 4)        £6.40                       £6.70                  £28.40

Any bus + three tram zones (1, 2, and 3)                  £7.30                       £8.70                  £36.40

Any bus + three tram zones (2, 3 and 4)                      £7                         £7.60                  £32.50

Any bus + all tram zones                                           £7.80                       £9.50                      £41

Annual multi-modal tickets                         

Ticket                                                                           Price

Bus and any one Metrolink zone                                £1,005

Bus and Metrolink zones 1+2                                     £1,211

Bus and Metrolink zones 2+3 or 3+4                          £1,140

Bus and Metrolink zones 1+2+3                                 £1,418

Bus and Metrolink zones 2+3+4                                 £1,293

Bus and all Metrolink zones (1+2+3+4)                      £1,496

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