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Bee network Hopper fare time limit

Trackman

Established Member
Joined
28 Feb 2013
Messages
4,252
Location
Lewisham
Last week I had to go to Bolton for an appointment.
I was surprised to see on my statement that I was only charged Hopper fare when my second tap-in was over 60 mins.

Here is what it says on the travel history from Bee website:

Thursday
26th March
Total
£2.00

11:46
***********
36
Manchester - Salford Shopping Centre - Bolton
Tap and Go Charge £2.00

12:51
Bolton Interchange
36
Manchester - Salford Shopping Centre - Bolton
Tap and Go Bee Bus Hopper cap Charge £0.00

These are the times I actually tapped in, and the 12:51 opened its door early as it didn't depart until 12:54.

Is there some sort of grace period or are the clocks not synced, or have I missed something else?

Thanks in advance.
 
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stadler

Established Member
Joined
5 Jun 2023
Messages
3,304
Location
Horsley
Last week I had to go to Bolton for an appointment.
I was surprised to see on my statement that I was only charged Hopper fare when my second tap-in was over 60 mins.

Here is what it says on the travel history from Bee website:

Thursday
26th March
Total
£2.00

11:46
***********
36
Manchester - Salford Shopping Centre - Bolton
Tap and Go Charge £2.00

12:51
Bolton Interchange
36
Manchester - Salford Shopping Centre - Bolton
Tap and Go Bee Bus Hopper cap Charge £0.00

These are the times I actually tapped in, and the 12:51 opened its door early as it didn't depart until 12:54.

Is there some sort of grace period or are the clocks not synced, or have I missed something else?

Thanks in advance.
I reckon there must be an extra period of a few minutes like TFL do. TFL originally allowed 70 minutes (giving an extra 10 minutes). TFL changed it on the 01/03/2021 to 62 minutes (allowing just an extra 2 minutes). The hopper fare used in Manchester seems to be modelled on the London one so it would make sense if they copied this too. It might be worth making an FOI request to TFGM to find out what their extra unadvertised period is.
 

Trackman

Established Member
Joined
28 Feb 2013
Messages
4,252
Location
Lewisham
I reckon there must be an extra period of a few minutes like TFL do. TFL originally allowed 70 minutes (giving an extra 10 minutes). TFL changed it on the 01/03/2021 to 62 minutes (allowing just an extra 2 minutes). The hopper fare used in Manchester seems to be modelled on the London one so it would make sense if they copied this too. It might be worth making an FOI request to TFGM to find out what their extra unadvertised period is.
Many thanks for the reply.
Just been reading about it, TfL cut the grace time as the onboard ticketing systems became more efficient.
I assume Bee buses are at 10 minutes for the time being to see how things pan out as it's not that long ago since they went contactless.
 

BusesOfTheNW

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2023
Messages
33
Location
Greater Manchester
About a month ago I used my paper hopper ticket approximately 65 minutes after purchase and it scanned successfully, I was quite surprised. So it does seem they have some sort of grace period
 

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