Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham praised the Bee Networth for the successful launch of the new way of paying, describing it as a ‘huge step forward’.
Sunda marked the first day of the “tap-in, tap-out” system on buses, which will let travellers use contactless cards to easily pay for journeys.
The new system will apply for both buses and trams to enable journeys using both to be seamless.
Those just travelling by bus, only need to tap once when boarding – if using the tram then passengers tap on to board and tap off when you reach your destination.
Mr Burnham praised the launch, which has seen Bee Network employees handing out fliers in the lead up to let the public know of the changes.
The Greater Manchester Mayor said: “It went as well as we could have hoped – credit to the team, we were working hard.
“While there were a few questions, I’m really pleased that the public were aware of the change.
“You know, a lot of people have said they’ve started to use the Bee Network because of how easy it’s getting and the low fares.”
The new tap-in, tap-out system came into effect on Sunday (March 23) (Image: Newsquest) However, Mr Burnham also said that the Bee Network has a long way to go before it reaches the “London-style network” that he’s aiming for.
He said: “I would be the first to acknowledge that the Bee Network isn’t yet where we fully want it to be and there’s lots of improvements that are still needed.”
The mayor arrived at today’s event from Leigh, travelling on the V1 bus route into Manchester.
He said: “On the V1 this morning people were saying to me it’s packed at times, you need more services.
“So we will look to make those changes.
“Growth isn’t a theoretical, abstract thing, you know, we’ve got it – we’ve got growth in our city.
“Population is growing, the economy is growing, and to work to get ahead of that growth you need to have the money to get new trams on, and in order to put extra buses on.”
The next step for the Bee Network is to integrate rail services into the system, which Mr Burnham hopes to start rolling out by the end of next year.
He said: “We want to see the first Bee Network trains rolling into Victoria and Piccadilly by the end of 2026.
“That will initially be on the Stalybridge to Victoria, Glossop to Piccadilly line.
“A huge step forward, because for people at the end of those lines they’re just tapping in there and then coming into the city and able to use trams and buses all in the cap system.
“It will make a massive difference.
“It begins to really then address the issue around congestion when people have got a much stronger reason to use public transport than they currently do.
“I think that will be really beneficial.”
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(Image: post) The “tap-in, tap-out” system will make it easier than ever to pay using a contactless card, but Mr Burnham assured people that they will still be able to pay using cash.
He said: “There is an argument some people make that it’s safer to have a system that is cashless, safer for the drivers.
“But we’re not going there at this point in time, and no time soon, because I recognise there’s a significant number of people in Greater Manchester who don’t have a bank card.
“In that scenario, there’s no way we can move to a cashless system.
“I know some people, maybe for money management purposes, prefer to pay by cash – so we fully respect that.
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“Obviously, it’s helpful if more people do use contactless because it makes the bus queue come on more quickly, so it speeds up the journeys.
“So, we would say to people, please do use tap and go if you can because it helps everybody as well as yourself.
“But, we are not going to make any change anytime soon to people’s ability to pay with cash on the bus.”
