Great Western Railway vs Translink Planner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Great Western Railway
Plan train journeys and book tickets across Britain. Save money with advance fares, store mobile tickets, and access live train times and platform information. Earn rewards and manage digital railcards within the app.
- Book train tickets across Britain
- Save on advance fares
- Store mobile tickets in-app
- Check live train times and platform numbers
- GWR Rewards loyalty program
- Manage digital railcards
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Use the Great Western Railway app to plan your next journey and book train tickets with ease. Key features: Book train tickets * Purchase train tickets across all networks to anywhere in Britain * Save up to 50% with an Advance train ticket; compared to standard Anytime fares * No booking or card fees * Store mobile train tickets in-app to use straight-away * Convenient home screen widget for ease of access to your tickets for travel today GWR Rewards * Join our loyalty programme in-app * Track points and transactions * Easily access your rewards to redeem in-app and onboard GWR services Digital railcards * Ability to purchase 8 different railcards and store in-app * Railcards purchased via our website can be stored in-app using your unique code Check live train times * View departure and arrival times for all National Rail services * Check live train timetables and platform numbers * View facilities and how busy it is onboard with live loading data * Save your frequent journeys for ease of checking again later * Keep updated with live GWR network information provided on the home screen Download now and plan your next train journey. -- Information to note: You'll need to create an online GWR account or sign-in before you can purchase your train tickets. Got a question? Here's our FAQs: https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/faqs Need to get in touch? Find the best way to here: https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/contact-us Follow us on Twitter: @GWRHelp Learn more about us at https://www.gwr.com/
Translink Planner
Plan bus, coach, and rail journeys across Northern Ireland and border regions. Get real-time travel updates, view departure boards, and purchase tickets for specific rail services. Features include interactive planning, ticket storage, and personalized alerts.
- Interactive journey planning
- Purchase NI Railways tickets
- In-app ticket wallet
- Real-time departure boards
- Personalized travel updates
- Accessible planning options
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Plan Northern Ireland and cross border bus, coach and rail journeys with the Translink Journey Planner. Plan from any stop, station or address, see your next departures and get the latest travel updates from Metro, Glider, Ulsterbus, Goldline, NI Railways and Enterprise services. You can also buy single, day return and 3 day select tickets for NI Railways journeys. Features include: - Fully interactive journey planning - Buy single, day return and 3 day Select tickets for NI Railways services - Store purchased tickets within the app wallet - ‘Next Service’ departure board - Plan with Park and ride and bike journeys - Personalised travel updates - Accessible planning - Interactive map planning with real-time Metro and Glider location and a tracking feature - Quick planning using your current location, favourite stops and recent searches - CO2 journey saving calculation
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Great Western Railway at free against Translink Planner's free with in-app purchases. Great Western Railway also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months) and rating (4.6 vs 4.4). On price, review sentiment, 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.
Great Western Railway holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Great Western Railway has 2.6K ratings behind it against 269, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 16% of Great Western Railway's written reviews are positive against 19% of Translink Planner's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Great Western Railway ships an update monthly, Translink Planner every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Great Western Railway | Translink Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better | 4.4 (269 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.5% of reviews | 18.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.6K — better | 269 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 138 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | First Great Western | Ulsterbus Ltd |
Customer experience
Great Western Railway
Translink Planner
Bugs and requests
Great Western Railway
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Translink Planner
Reported bugs
17 issues- App crashes on iPhone during ticket purchase
- Password reset emails not received
- Unable to renew or change passwords
- Journey planner adds unnecessary stops and complications
- Bus stops disappear when zooming in on map
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- Location loading blocks text input
- App doesn't refresh automatically without returning to start page
- Tickets purchased not visible in app
- Cannot book tickets for multiple passengers
- Concession tickets unavailable on mobile
- Inconsistent journey suggestions vs actual timetables
- Bus times don't match timetable posters at stops
- Cancelled buses don't show as cancelled, just disappear
- App shows buses arriving but they never show up
- Incorrect fare calculations and pricing display
- Unable to access certain routes (e.g., Kilkeel from bus centre)
- Timetable PDFs show 'page not found' error
Requested features
18 requests- Unified app for journey planning AND ticket purchasing
- Live bus tracking with real-time location updates
- Ability to view actual departure times instead of countdown minutes
- Show actual time alongside minutes remaining
- Complaint/feedback option for late or cancelled services
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- Simple timetable view without complex journey planning
- Live delay and cancellation notifications
- Apple Watch compatibility
- Exclude walking time option in journey results
- Direct access to timetables from home page
- Show platform/stop information for transfers
- One-click bus tracking from schedule view
- Ability to book tickets for groups over 10 people
- Support for concession tickets on mobile devices
- Better accessibility for tourists and non-locals
- Contactless card payment on vehicles
- Extended booking window beyond 3 weeks
- Proper ticket visibility after purchase
In-app purchases
Great Western Railway
No in-app purchases
Translink Planner
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Great Western Railway free?
Is Translink Planner free?
Which has better reviews, Great Western Railway or Translink Planner?
Do Great Western Railway or Translink Planner have ads?
Which is updated more often, Great Western Railway or Translink Planner?
Other comparisons
