Transport in Manchester

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The transport infrastructure of the City of Manchester is served by numerous transport modes, and forms an integral part of the structure Greater Manchester and the North West of England. Manchester is served by an international airport and a major motorway and rail network. Greater Manchester has a higher percentage of the motorway network than any other county.^[1] According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it has the most traffic lanes side by side (17), spread across several parallel carriageways - the M61 at Linnyshaw Moss, Greater Manchester,^[2] close to the M60 interchange. The area is served by a network of bus routes and a modern tram system radiates from the city centre.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first passenger railway in the world. Greater Manchester still has an extensive citywide railway network, and two mainline stations. A network of canals also remains from the industrial revolution. It was the first city in the United Kingdom to re-introduce trams to the streets with the 1992 opening of Manchester Metrolink.

[edit] Air

Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport, formerly Manchester Ringway Airport, is the fourth busiest airport in the UK in terms of passengers per year (the busier airports are London's Heathrow, Gatwick and (from 2006) Stansted). It is served by a dedicated railway station. In 2006 the airport handled 22.1 million passengers and provided direct flights to over 200 destinations worldwide by over 90 airlines with 3 terminals. Long haul scheduled destinations served directly include New York ( JFK and Newark), Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, Las Vegas, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Port of Spain, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Cape Town, and Cancún. Asian destinations include Damascus, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Jeddah, Riyadh, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Singapore. There are also firm plans for direct services to Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Many European and domestic destinations are served. Manchester to London is one of the highest density airline routes within the UK and is one of the busiest domestic sectors in Europe, but is now experiencing serious competition from the improved railway link.

The airport has been voted the best airport in the UK by Which? consumer magazine, Travel Weekly Globe, Business Magazines International for the second year running^{[citation needed]} and in the Airport World’s Service Excellence Awards^{[citation needed]} (European runner up, second only to Copenhagen).

[edit] Road

See also: Manchester Congestion Charge

A view of the Mancunian Way elevated motorway which cuts through the city centre.

Greater Manchester and Greater London are the only two UK conurbations with a separately numbered orbital motorway (though it is possible to circumnavigate Birmingham and Leeds via several differently numbered motorways). The Manchester ring road is called the M60. Unlike London's M25, the M60 actually runs within the Greater Manchester conurbation providing good inter-suburban links, rather than around the outside of the conurbation. The M60 has 27 junctions, numbered clockwise from Junction 1 at Stockport in the south-east.

The M60 between junction 16 (Pendlebury/Kearsley) and junction 17 (Prestwich/Whitefield) is the second busiest section of road in the UK, after the M25 at junctions 13 & 14 (Heathrow).

The city also has an inner ring road. Part of this is the A57/A57(M) (known as Mancunian Way), which runs south of the city centre, linking the western M602 (which spurs from the M60) to the eastern M60 and M67.

The other main motorways serving Manchester are the M56 (to the airport, Chester and the M6 southbound to Birmingham), the M61 (to Bolton, Preston and the M6 northbound to Lancaster), the M62 (west to Liverpool and east to Leeds and Kingston upon Hull), the M66 (to Bury) and the M67, which was originally planned as a route to Sheffield but never completed. All of these motorways connect with the M60.

[edit] Rail

Main article: List of railway stations in Greater Manchester

A view from inside Manchester's busiest railway station, Piccadilly.

Manchester holds a pivotal position in railway history as a birthplace of passenger rail travel on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830. In just 50 years the city centre was encircled by stations and termini, including Manchester London Road (now Manchester Piccadilly), Manchester Victoria, Manchester Central, Manchester Mayfield and Manchester Exchange. Cutbacks followed the Beeching Report in the 1960s, with Manchester Central, Manchester Mayfield andManchester Exchange closing to passengers. All rail services were then concentrated on Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly.

In terms of passengers, Manchester Piccadilly is the busiest train station in England, outside London.^[3]

High speed trains to London are run from Manchester Piccadilly by Virgin Trains, journeys typically taking around 2 hr 15 min, with the quickest taking from 2 hr 5 mins.

Manchester Victoria Station, the less busy of the two in Manchester city centre

There are several smaller stations around the city centre, including Oxford Road, Deansgate and Salford Central across the Irwell in the City of Salford.

Although there is no Underground Railway system similar to Glasgow's or London's, the city has had several failed attempts to create one, including the "Picc-Vic tunnel", a heavy rail tunnel to link the main stations. Excavation work under the Manchester Arndale for this project began in the 1970s, but was soon abandoned due to costs and rumours of 'subterranean obstacles'. This may well have referred to the 'Guardian' underground nuclear bunker network, constructed as a means of protecting communications in the city in the event of an atom bomb being deployed and now used by BT. Other abandoned tunnels, hidden for decades have recently been discovered including a 460 metre canal tunnel from the River Irwell to the canal system '[1]' '[2]'.

Piccadilly and Victoria are now linked by the city's Metrolink tram system.

The urban and suburban areas are covered by a sizeable network of railway lines, including to Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Oldham, Stockport and Wilmslow. Full timetables are from National Rail Enquiries

[edit] Metrolink

Main article: Manchester Metrolink

A Metrolink tram travelling at street level through Piccadilly Gardens.

Manchester has a tram system called Metrolink. Operated by Stagecoach, Metrolink links the city centre to Altrincham, Eccles and Bury. It is a high-frequency service, with trams running every 6–12 minutes. It carries nearly 20 million passengers each year.

Proposals for a light rail system in the city grew from a 1970s proposal by SELNEC to build three rapid transit lines.

Plans to extend Manchester Metrolink were reinstated after an election-time u-turn by the Labour Government which had rejected the plans months earlier, despite years of support. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE), responsible for public transport in the area, led the fight to ensure that the extensions be built, with significant support from local councils and communities and Manchester City Council.^[4] In July 2006 the government announced a major extension to the Metrolink system, which is intended to form the first phase of the so-called 'big bang' expansion. If the eventual desired system is completed, passenger numbers are predicted to more than double to an estimated 50 million per year.

A widely held view of many in Manchester of one of the major failings of the Metrolink is that it has never been extended to reach the Trafford Centre (approx. 5 miles away in Trafford Park). The line to Eccles is judged by many to be a failure as it takes longer than the bus journey following a similar route, and achieves this without the Metrolink's advantage of using a dedicated route.^{[citation needed]}

Since the initial euphoria at the huge success, from the public, local and national government, and environmental groups, Metrolink it has become something of a victim of its own popularity. Many routes are extremely busy, especially at peak times, and prices have risen at far above the rate of inflation.

[edit] Buses

Modern GMPTE Bus stop flag.

Greater Manchester and other surrounding areas have an extensive bus network managed by GMPTE.^[5]

Buses are operated by companies including First, Stagecoach (incorporating the lower-cost Magicbus), Finglands, Arriva and R. Bullock. Until 22 December 2006, when their services were suspended by the North-west Traffic Commissioner^[6], UK North (also trading as GM Buses) also operated buses in Manchester. The major routes, with high passenger volumes, include Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road, one of the busiest bus routes in Europe, bringing large numbers of students & commuters from Fallowfield, Withington and Didsbury to the university buildings in the city centre, and office buildings, including the BBC. Other routes that are not as commercially attractive, with smaller passenger volumes, are less well provided for, and the cost of a single journey can be similar to that of a Week Pass for the "South Manchester" journey.

First Manchester operates free Metroshuttle services that link important points such as Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations with Chinatown, Deansgate, Salford Central, and Albert Square. These services are very successful and therefore often busy. There are three routes, numbered 1, 2 and 3, coloured orange, green and purple respectively. They run every 5-10 minutes and complement the Metrolink and National Rail services.

Those arriving at Manchester Piccadilly Bus Station and needing to take a train from Manchester Piccadilly, less than half a mile (500 meters) away, can choose either Metrolink or the free Metroshuttle, or walk.

High frequency bendy bus routes include the Bury-Manchester 135 service and the Bolton-Manchester 8 service, which operate every six to ten minutes.

Manchester's principal bus station used mainly for services on the south side of the city is at Piccadilly Gardens, which is also served by Metrolink. Shudehill Bus/Metrolink Interchange caters for routes mainly on the north side of the city and is within walking distance of Victoria station. Long-distance coaches, operated mainly by National Express, serve the Manchester Central Coach Station at Chorlton Street, opened in March 2002 replacing the old one on the same site.

Greater Manchester bus stops are being replaced over a five year period. The older bus stop flags were based on a nationally adopted design featuring a single decker bus and were used over the entire country with the exception of London. Following Bus deregulation there was no compulsion to use the national symbol and several PTE's like West Yorkshires Metro and Merseyside adopted a new bus stop flag design featuring their capital M logo. GMPTE inherited their own M shaped logo and also began to use it on the glass back of bus shelters from the late 1990s. They have subsequently introduced this to a new design for bus stop flags - firstly introduced in 2002 on high priority routes - and now being erected across the entire GMPTE area.

A barge moored near Castlefield on a Manchester canal.

[edit] Water

One legacy of the industrial revolution is an extensive network of canals: the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, Rochdale Canal, Manchester Ship Canal, which provides access to the sea, Bridgewater Canal, Ashton Canal, and the Leigh Branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Most of these canals are used for recreation, although freight is once again being carried on the Ship Canal.

[edit] Footnotes