Paying for travel from 23 March: Children, young people and University students

Find out what ‘tap and go’ contactless payments means for you

On Sunday 23 March, contactless ‘tap and go’ was introduced across Bee Network buses and trams as the easiest, quickest way to pay for full fare paying adults.

With tap and go you just keep tapping with the same card – or the same contactless device. We’ll do the maths and make sure you get charged the best value fare up to a daily and weekly cap.

Child tickets are not available on tap and go.

If you buy child tickets, or have an igo card or Our Pass, read on to see what tap and go means for you.

Child tickets are not available on tap and go.

Children should not use contactless tap and go on Bee Network buses and trams, as they will be charged an adult fare.

Children can continue to buy child tickets on the bus with cash or contactless. Always ask the driver for child fare before tapping the bus card reader to avoid getting charged adult fare.
From 23 March, the child single hopper bus ticket is being introduced on the Bee Network app to help make buying child tickets easier, alongside the range of other bus and tram child tickets now available.
If you load smart tickets to your igo pass, keep it separate from bank cards when tapping the card reader, to avoid your bank card being charged.
If you use the app to buy tickets, make sure that any payment cards kept in the back of phone cases are removed, otherwise the reader may charge the card.

Find the right ticket for you.

You can continue to use your Our Pass as normal.

As always, please make sure you keep your pass separate from your payment cards when you tap-in on bus – to avoid getting charged adult fare on a bank card you didn’t mean to use.
For example, if you keep your pass in a purse, wallet, or phone case with other payment cards, take it out before you tap the bus card reader.

If you’re a young person attending a Greater Manchester university, there’s lots of easy ways to pay for bus and tram travel, including tap and go. From Sunday 23 March:

Bus: For a single hopper ticket or 1-day Bee Bus ticket then tap and go is the cheapest and easiest way for you to pay, but you can still pay with cash if you prefer.
Tram: If you’re only travelling by tram, tap and go at the tram stop is the easiest way to pay.
Bus and tram: It may be cheaper to use tap and go if you’re travelling by bus and tram. It’s worth considering your options before buying a combined ticket.

If you pay with tap and go, you should always use the same card – or same contactless device – to benefit from the daily and weekly cap.

To avoid card clash, keep the card or contactless device you are paying with separate to avoid paying twice or paying with the wrong card or device.

You can already use the Bee Network app to buy 7-day, 28 day or term tickets for bus travel. Students can buy Bee Bus tickets as a smart ticket at an Information and Ticket Office at any Bee Network bus station or interchange.