New fares to be introduced in Greater Manchester to make train travel simpler

Rail passengers in Greater Manchester are to benefit from simplified fares when purchasing train tickets on the day of travel on journeys wholly within the city-region.

Currently, certain routes in the city-region offer more than a dozen different fare options, restricting passengers to travelling on a particular service or with one train operating company.

From Sunday, 7 December, however, only Anytime and Off-peak fares will be available, with single journeys charged at half the price of return trips when buying tickets for travel that day either online or at stations. Other types of tickets will still be offered when booking in advance.

Overall, the change will mean the average fare in Greater Manchester will fall by 5.6%.

Changes are part of UK wide plans to simplify rail fares, with Greater Manchester among the first areas of the UK to trial the reforms. Simplification will also pave the way for contactless payments and integration with the Bee Network to begin from December 2026.

More than half of train journeys (52%) in Greater Manchester will be cheaper, with customers saving up to £1.50 on some trips, as many single fares will be reduced to ensure they are half the price of a return.

It could also save money for around 4,000 customers a week who are not currently getting the best deal, by using anytime tickets to travel during off-peak periods. On the remaining 48% of journeys, customers will see a slight price increase. But for most of these trips (85%), it will be a rise of 20p or less.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“For too long, confusion around the complicated web of tickets has been a barrier to people choosing the train.

“In December, Greater Manchester will be the one of the first city region’s outside London to get a simple set of on-the-day fares – vital progress in making rail travel easier, fairer and more accessible for everyone.

“We’ve seen that making public transport more affordable and simpler boosts passenger numbers, with more people than ever boarding our yellow buses and integrated tap and go payments with our tram network.

“These simpler fares are a stepping stone to bringing rail into the Bee Network in December 2026, joining up trains with buses, trams and active travel for an integrated public transport system like those enjoyed by other global cities.”

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) said it is working with the government and the rail industry to bring services and stations into the Bee Network to deliver a fully joined-up public transport system for the city region.

In March 2025, tap and go payments were launched across Greater Manchester’s Bee Network, with capped fares across its buses and trams – giving passengers more flexibility. TfGM is now looking to expand daily and weekly fare caps to also include train travel.

When the simplified rail fares are introduced in December, Advance Purchase tickets and season tickets will still be available to those who book before the day they travel.

Station ticket offices will continue to accept cash payments and print paper tickets.

Railcard discounts will still apply and the season tickets currently on offer in Greater Manchester will remain unchanged.