Smartphone apps

Both of the two main bus operators in Cornwall, First and GoCornwall, have smartphone apps available from the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android users. The apps provide a variety of information such as checking departure times and real time passenger information (subject to caveats about the accuracy of the information provided, see real time info) and, secondly, being able to buy mTickets, see Fares.

It is also possible to check what route you may need to take using the journey planners on the apps. You can also view timetables on the apps although the way to access the timetables is not straightforward.

For information on the First website about their app, see First App
Or for GoCornwall, see GoCornwall App

All of the options for tickets, except singles and returns, can be purchased via the apps. These include Cornwall wide tickets and town zone tickets. In the latter case, you need to specify for which town you are purchasing a ticket. Go to the mTickets option in the app and follow the options until you reach the desired ticket. Once purchased, the ticket needs to be activated. Once activated, the ticket will become live and will be usable until it expires. On your phone, in the app, will be a QR code that you put under the reader on the bus ticket machine. There are certain security features built into the QR code to prevent the code being copied and used by someone else.
The expiry dates are as follows:
All Day ticket: by 3 a.m. the next day
All Week ticket: by 3 a.m. in 7 days time
5-day bundles: each day that you are going to use one of the tickets, activate it, and that one will expire at 3 a.m. the following day.
See below an example on the GoCornwall app of the tickets remaining in a 5-day bundle waiting to be activated.
With all of these tickets, do not activate them until the day of travel and you are sure that you will be using it that day.

In addition, as from February 2023, the First Bus app is the way that park and ride passengers can buy multi-day user ticket, but see caveat below.

Please note that users of the apps will have to create an account in order to purchase tickets.

Note however a word of caution about purchasing multi-day tickets from these apps.
They all have expiry dates on them.
5-day all Cornwall tickets:  First app expiry date is 6 months from date of purchase; Go Cornwall app expiry date is 12 months from date of purchase. Therefore, if you only use the buses occasionally and you want to use this multi-day bundle, I would advise purchasing it from Go Cornwall rather than First to avoid finding that the bundle has expired before you have used them all.
Note that whether you have purchased the tickets from First or Go Cornwall, you can use them on any of the operators’s services.
20-day all Cornwall tickets: Only available from First, not from Go Cornwall, expires in 1 year.

Park and ride:
The expiry dates on the park and ride multi-day tickets are much shorter and, unless you are a regular user travelling 2 or 3 days a week, it is probably best to avoid these products. See park and ride tickets.