Transport for Greater Manchester have issued a plan in advance warning ahead of the Manchester Half Marathon taking place on Sunday 4th October. With over 30,000 people expected to take part – and thousands more expected to line the route and cheer them on – transport around the city is expected to be busy with Metrolink trams set to be the best way to get around.
The Half Marathon route will take a record 32,000 entrants through Trafford and south Manchester, with both the start and end of the race set to be by Old Trafford. There will be significant road closures in place, affecting roads along and around the course, including parts of Stretford, Sale, and Chorlton. This will see bus diversions in place, starting on Saturday 3rd and continuing into Sunday 4th October.
Metrolink is expected to be busy – the Greater Manchester Marathon earlier this year saw a record-breaking number of passengers carried on a single-day on the trams – and extra trams will be operating where possible to provide as much capacity as they can.
The standard Sunday 15-minute frequency will be in operation with an additional service running between Timperley and Piccadilly, giving that section a tram every 7.5 minutes. Extra doubles will be out on other lines too. Dane Road tramstop will also be exit only through Sunday 4th October.
Steve Gilholme, Head of Events at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “The Manchester Half Marathon is another one of those special occasions where the people of Greater Manchester and beyond come together, with thousands of people taking on the challenge and raising money for good causes, while many more will line the route to cheer them on.
“This does mean the city centre and especially trams will be incredibly busy so please plan ahead and give yourself extra time to make journeys.
“The Bee Network app and website will be the best places to get the latest travel information and tap and go contactless payments are the quickest and easiest way to pay.”