TransPennine Express vs Bee Network
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TransPennine Express
Plan your next UK train journey and purchase tickets without any booking or card fees. Save money with advance bookings and store your eTickets or digital railcards directly within the app for easy access.
- Book train tickets with no fees
- Save up to 50% with advance tickets
- Store eTickets and digital railcards
- View live departure and arrival times
- Save common journeys for quick search
- Manage bookings in 'My account'
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No booking or card fees – download the TransPennine Express app to plan your next journey and buy train tickets to any UK railway station. Key Features: - Book in advance and you could save over 50%* with Advance tickets - Store eTickets in our app or save them to your Apple wallet - Buy Digital Railcards, conveniently stored in our app for easy access - Enjoy discounts and promotions on TransPennine Express fares, subject to availability - View live departure and arrival times for all UK Rail services - Make searching quick and easy by saving common journeys - Easily manage your bookings on the go in My account Together, we’re going places. Download now and book your journey. Information to note: Got a question? See our FAQs: https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/help/contact-us/faqs Need to get in touch? Find the best way to here: https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/help/contact-us Follow us on Social Media @TPExpressTrains on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Learn more about us at https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/ * Full T&Cs for Advance tickets available at https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/special-offers/advance-bookings
Bee Network
Plan your public transport journeys, track buses in real-time, and purchase tram and bus tickets. Find nearby stops, get live departure times, and save your favorite locations for quick access. Rate your travel experience to help shape future services.
- Live bus tracking
- Nearest stop finder
- Live departure times
- Journey planning
- Buy tram and bus tickets
- View active tickets
- Rate your journey
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Say yellow to the Bee Network app, brought to you by Transport for Greater Manchester. You can find your nearest stop, get live departure times, track your bus, plan a journey and buy and use tram tickets. Use the Bee Network app to: • Track bus live locations • Find your nearest stops and departure times, save your favourites for quick access • Plan your journey on public transport or by active travel • Buy and display tram, bus and multi modal tickets • View active, purchased and expired tickets • Rate your journey BUS TRACKING View the live locations of buses on a map and track them along the route to your stop. You can also see the locations of subsequent buses and where they are currently are on the route. LIVE TRAVEL UPDATES Get live departure times for bus, tram and train. Find your nearest stop, select it as a ‘favourite’ and stay updated. JOURNEY PLANNING You can plan public transport journeys on buses, trams and trains as well as active travel via cycling, cycle hire and walking. Filter results by travel mode or step-free access. Park and ride options are provided when available. We will let you know the right ticket for your journey and either give you the option to buy it in the app or provide you with pricing information and instructions for other retail channels. BUY, SAVE AND DISPLAY TICKETS FROM THE APP You can buy selected bus and tram tickets on the Bee Network app, including our new Bee AnyBus+Tram tickets and use the app to display or scan your ticket when boarding or for inspection. You can now pay easily with Apple Pay and Google Pay as well as the option to save your payment details, to make it quicker and easier when you’re buying your tickets. RATE YOUR JOURNEY Let us know about your bus and tram journeys in Greater Manchester. We will use your feedback to shape the Bee Network. For further information go to beenetwork.com Please note that you must have a valid ticket to travel on public transport otherwise you are liable for a Penalty Fare. If you are using the app to buy and display tickets for travel, make sure your phone has enough battery to display your ticket for the duration of your journey. Bee Network: Powered by Transport for Greater Manchester. Every journey. Every day.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: TransPennine Express at free against Bee Network's free with in-app purchases. TransPennine Express also leads on review sentiment (28% vs 18%). Bee Network's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (2.2K vs 197). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bee Network holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bee Network has 2.2K ratings behind it against 197, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 28% of TransPennine Express's written reviews are positive against 18% of Bee Network's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
TransPennine Express ships an update every 2 weeks, Bee Network every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TransPennine Express | Bee Network |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (197 ratings) | 4.7 (2.2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 27.9% of reviews — better | 17.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 197 | 2.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 83 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TransPennine Express | Transport for Greater Manchester |
Customer experience
TransPennine Express
Bee Network
User reviews
TransPennine Express
From 197 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy and quick to use
- 👍 Straightforward app
- ⭐️ Great savings and easy to navigate
- ⭐️ Efficient and quick to book and pay for tickets
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes and technical issues
- 🔒 Frequent log-outs and login problems
- 🔍 Difficult to find and access tickets
- 🤔 Unintuitive user experience and poor design
- 🔍 Lack of useful features like Apple Wallet integration
Bee Network
From 2.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient information in one place
- 🚀 Great journey planning
- 👍 Improved over time
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inaccurate bus/tram times
- 🐛 Unreliable live tracking
- 🐛 Frequent glitches and crashes
- 🐛 Logging out issues
- 🐛 Missing key features like timetables and route search
Bugs and requests
TransPennine Express
Reported bugs
3 issues- Tickets disappearing from the app
- Issues with adding tickets to Apple Wallet
- App not working outside the UK
Requested features
5 requests- Add tickets to Apple Wallet
- Remember login details and payment info
- Improve user interface and flow
- Provide better information on tickets and journeys
- Allow booking of open return tickets
Bee Network
Reported bugs
3 issues- Buses disappearing from the app
- Incorrect ticket validation leading to fines
- App unable to load tickets or log in at times
Requested features
4 requests- Add offline mode for tickets
- Integrate with Apple Wallet
- Improve journey planning and route search
- Provide more detailed service disruption information
In-app purchases
TransPennine Express
No in-app purchases
Bee Network
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is TransPennine Express free?
Is Bee Network free?
Which has better reviews, TransPennine Express or Bee Network?
Do TransPennine Express or Bee Network have ads?
Which is updated more often, TransPennine Express or Bee Network?
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