One of the most fun experiences in Manchester is riding the tram. I enjoy the city and suburban…read moreviews, the other passengers are always friendly and the most exciting part is when they have a raid on the tram to ensure all patrons have paid the correct fair. The police and revenue protection officers block all doors and its funny to watch people trying to get off and when they recognise regular travellers without tickets.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Metrolink in Manchester, there are so many things which…read moreare good, yet so many things which are terrible about the service. Metrolink is arguably one of the best ways to get around Manchester, in terms of speed, you skip the traffic of the roads, hopping on the tram which is always handy, especially with multiple stops having Park and Ride facilities, meaning you can park your car and go about your journey. Obviously, there are some exceptions, for example, if you're heading to Manchester Airport from the city centre, you would want to take the train which takes around 20 minutes, compared to getting the tram, from Manchester Piccadilly it would be a 57-minute journey, across two trams, changing at Cornbrook. Metrolink are also doing very well during difficult circumstances, they're maintaining the best route frequency to allow people to travel when needed, and space out too, the trams are often around every 10-12 minutes on most routes, meaning there's never too long to wait before getting a tram. They are also cleaning trams every two hours to make sure they are COVID-safe and secure, I think this is a reasonable time-frame given the circumstances. The trams are mainly comfortable and pretty spacious, the floor does get very slippy in the rainy weather, which we get more than our fair share of in Manchester so watch-out! There are 8 lines and 99 stations, all of the lines seem to call through Cornbrook, with 7/8 lines calling at Deansgate-Castlefield and Pomona, so you can pretty much get to any stop from anywhere if you're willing to change services along the way, but it would depend on how realistic it is, for example, it wouldn't be worth going from Sale to Sale Water Park, despite being only a couple of miles away it would be a long tram journey due to the construction of the lines meaning you'd have to change at Trafford Bar. All stations are step-free too, so that supports access for disabled people/trams without the need for ramps, sometimes the access is awkward and it is a good walk from the platform to the street, especially in stations away from the city centre outside of Zones 1 and 2, so again you might want to plan ahead. I do like the zone system as it simplifies the ticketing process (just touch in with your contactless card and be charged the lowest fair), it also means that if you are just going one-stop, you won't be charged for going into two zones, as when the zone changes, the preceding station is the following zone. Example) Sale - Zone 3 Brooklands - Zones 3/4 Timperley - Zone 4 The huge cons I have with Metrolink have to be, their customer service can often be pretty poor, I've tried to phone them many times, even using the customer service help point at the stations only to be greeted with the message "This person's phone is turned off", I get staff are having to work from home during the pandemic, but it's called "work from home" not "turn your phone off and ignore passengers from home" Other issues are, I hate how the trams don't have card scanners, Metrolink is one of the few trams I've used in Europe to not have either a conductor or anywhere you can scan your pass on board, this means if you're rushing for a tram, you could potentially miss your service through having to stop at the platform to touch-in, which is pretty ridiculous. I do think conductors on the trams would be great, especially to avoid this problem and stop anti-social behaviour, which can be a problem especially in certain areas/routes, it would also help tackle fair dodging and provide money to actually improve services, I openly heard a person bragging about the trams being free... due to a lack of inspections. It's great to see Metrolink working on expanding their routes too, in March 2020, they had a quiet launch of the Trafford Centre line, which finally added Metrolink services to the Trafford Centre, calling at Wharfside for Old Trafford Stadium, Imperial War Museum for Media City, and then Trafford Centre, I do think it's pretty strange how the construction of the new line came early, but the new trams for that line came late, this meant the services have to terminate at Cornbrook right now, which is annoying as it means changing trams. 4* - Still one of the better ways to get around town in most cases, the grey and yellow trams are becoming a symbol of Manchester, like the orange buses used to be, it does have its' flaws including the fact that on a match-day at The Etihad Stadium, they never seem to run enough services which often means waiting for ages and then being packed on the tram like sardines.

A clean interchange offering a good selection of services across buses, trams and railway, hence…read morewarranting an upgraded rating. While I feel the signage around the station could be improved for destinations, how to get to certain platforms and which lifts are out of order, it still is a pretty decent Interchange which makes arriving into Altrincham a little bit more pleasant. There are two railway platforms, two for Metrolink and of course the bus interchange all in one, currently, the Metrolink only runs from Piccadilly-Altrincham meaning if you're going past Piccadilly or aiming to go towards Bury, you will have to change along the way. It is in an old building too for the railway part, but it is pleasant and sheltered, I do think it's a great shame regarding a slight lack of signage especially for the lifts where you wouldn't know the lifts going to certain platforms were out of order until you get there, luckily this didn't effect me as the Metrolink into the city centre is just as quick as the train. 4*

Firstly, this should not be confused with its big sister the Chorlton Street Bus Station. The…read moreChorlton Street Bus Station is in the centre of Manchester, has an indoor waiting area with a coffee shop and hosts National Express and Eurolines buses. Chorlton Bus Station is a mere series of bus stops in Chorlton. The other day my bus stopped at Chorlton Bus Station. A middle-aged man with reams of toilet paper sticking out of his nose and all over his face got onto my bus. In an attempt to avoid eye contact I stared out of the window. There was another middle-aged man with a white bear glove puppet carrying a flowing roll of toilet paper. Apart from as a point for such (for want of a better word) unique Chorltonites to congregate, I've never really understood the point of Chorlton Bus Station. It's just a series of bus stops from which you can catch the 85 and 86 into the city centre, the 23 to Didsbury and the Trafford Centre, and numerous other buses, most of which you can also catch further down the road in the centre of Chorlton. On a positive note, if you have a long time to wait for your bus, the bus station is opposite some excellent little bars such as Escape, or if you have even longer to wait, Japanese restaurant Yakisoba is also just opposite.

Fairly straight forward!…read more You arrive at the station, you go to the machine and ... After several taps later you are finally able to complete your order on the "touch" screen to buy your ticket. These machines are not touch sensitive and need a firm couple of presses! Bring your foam hands! The tram stop finally has an LED screen to tell you when the next tram is due - an absolute miracle when you're in a rush and need to decide if you have time to hit up the cash machine or if you need to grab that taxi instead. The facilities have improved over the years but the touch screens definitely need looking at again!

There was alot of homeless people sleeping (I do not have a picture as that would be rude to take a…read morepicture of them) my train got delayed for 2 hours I don't recommend this.

From the outside, Wigan Bus Station looks nice with a relatively new sign, from the entrance from…read moreThe Galleries area but on the inside, it is just your typical bus station and in a way resembles Bury station, with a few platforms split off in a few mini-stations. They is a lot of buses which go from here, including to Manchester, Southport, Bolton and The Trafford Center, but I can't help but feel most of the buses are unneeded and go too far, for example Manchester is only around half an hour on the train, but getting the bus here is 85 minutes and when Southport is also around 1/2 an hour on the train, but still the bus takes nearly 2 hours which is ridiculous, considering services available from Wigan Wallgate. I think it is misleading for people who may not know the area for buses to take so long, when the train takes only a fraction of this, and going on one of these journeys is in a way a punishment, and I'm sure it wouldn't be much cheaper (if anything) than getting the train. I feel to get the best of public transport, the station should work with Wallgate and North Western to encourage people to use the train for longer journeys, and then this station can become a local hub, with more buses going to local destinations which will help benefit Wigan and local towns, and give people a better deal. As a station this is merely average and is your typical bus station, with a newsagents etc, it isn't terrible as it is good to have in central Wigan but sadly I don't feel it deserves over 2 stars.

I've never used the Manchester shuttle, but then again I quite enjoy walking. However, Stockport…read morehas hills, so this bus is a nice idea. This handy little free shuttle bus can be picked up from the 300 bus stop in Stockport Bus Station every 12 minutes between 8am and 6.30pm Mondays to Saturdays and between 10.30am and 5.30pm on Sundays. Unless you're disabled, have a lot of shopping or are just damn lazy, you shouldn't need the shuttle to get from the bus station to the train station (5 minute walk) or to the main shopping area (another 5 minute walk). However, it could be useful if you want to get up the hill towards the Town Hall or Stockport College or in the other direction out to the Peel Centre (which just isn't the same after the death of Border's Books) or to the giant Tesco on the other side of the M60.

Jim provides local bus services in the Leigh / Lowton area, it is a pleasure to travel on any of…read morethe buses in this fleet, always clean, no rubbish friendly staff. All buses have personalised number plates like T1 KET and BUS 1T. The big boy's need to take a look into jim's book.

I chosen Magic Bus to take me from Piccadily Gardens to the central Manchester hospitals, both ways…read moreand compared to may previous experiances with Stagecoach, I had a rather pleasant experiance. I got the 142 service towards East Disbury on the way there, the driver told me that they went near the hospitals, this journey didn't stand out, like the return journey. My return journey saw a Supervisor who was monitoring the driver and she was very nice and friendly, we shared stories about Manchester City and my pleasant experiance with Magic Bus compared to First buses, where the drivers have sworn at me on numerous occasions and constantly late. Magic Bus services really do stand out colourwise as they are bright dark blue, similar to Bluebird, whose buses were a lighter blue before being bought out by Stagecoach and converted into Stagecoach style white buses, with a small patten, also similar to first buses. I don't know if this is all Magic Bus services but they come really regular, they don't appear to be really late, the staff are okay and some of them really do stand out. I feel Magic Bus deserves 4 stars ; the only way they could improve is adding wifi onto their buses, like their parent company Stagecoach have on there hybrid buses. I would say bases on experiances with most of the major bus companies in Greater Manchester (Stagecoach, and first) (as well as JPT and Bluebird before being bought out), Magic Bus is definitely the best. UPDATE: Due to declining quality of service and the fact the buses lack the modern feel and just feel average, I honestly feel I was being far too generous with my original rating and because of this and declining service from the drivers as well as routes and the buses themselves being average, I feel Magic Bus deserve a two star rating instead.

No it's not The Who's song, it's a bus service. Either side of a pound by no more than 50p will…read moretake you where you want to go. Generally on Oxford Road if it's pointing in the direction you want to head it'll take you there. Being the busiest bus route in Europe means you will stand at a bus stop for no longer then 2 minutes before one of these double deckers shows up. The routes do the whole of Oxford road, Fallowfield, Didsbury and city centre. Let yee be warned though, after midnight it's going to cost a whole £2 to get around! Also if it's raining and about 6pm on a weekday evening expect to be stood up on whilst on the bus, with somebody's elbow in your eye.

Salford Quays Metrolink is a tram stop on the Eccles Line of the Manchester Metrolink, from here…read moreyou can get a tram towards Ashton Under-Lyne (via the Etihad Stadium and city centre) or Eccles (via Media City). It opened as part of the 1999 extension to the network, and while the station isn't too exciting and modern it is reasonably well-lit at night and has ample shelter and seating. It's around 10 minutes on the tram into Cornbrook, where you can pretty much change onto any other line on the network, allowing you to continue your journey further. The location is good for Salford Quays, the Eccles bound platform is along the river, and the Manchester bound platform is right outside The Matchstick Man Pub and a Starbucks. There is parking outside however this appears to be for customers of the pub and Starbucks only, but if you're seeking a taxi or a friend picking you up or dropping you off, then you should be fine. Pretty much a bog standard tram stop, but the views of the water are pretty, the bus stop-style seats and shelter are ample given the fact you won't be spending too long here as trams usually arrive every 10-15 minutes or so. 4*

So I've ventured onto new taxi horizons and first impressions are mixed. When I rang for the taxi…read moreto take us out into the heart of Manc town they were spot on. They knew where we were, the often over-quizzed location, (there is no "flat name") was noted down with no problem, five minutes. Great one. However his route of choice was questionable. Is a shortcut a longer route around because of an inability to stop in traffic lights? It's not a shortcut, it's impatience. Traffic and traffic lights go hand in hand with town. Don't hit the empty back streets and open ring roads and give the impression that it's a shortcut. hmm. Forgiven for now. What I don't understand about many of Manchester's taxis is that they don't know where a lot of my destinations are. When I'm a little sketchy I expect the taxi driver, the authority behind the wheel to fill in the gaps. Often it's a case of guessing games, more so this time than ever. I don't know, is it to too much to expect? We paid £9 driving around Manchester city centre which was a usual £5 fare. And we never made it to the Star and Garter. Was it that difficult? So change of night and venue due to this taxi driver, hardly impressive. Northern Quarter again we find ourselves, not really questioning the failure of the taxi driver or the fare. On the way back there was less hassle thank god. Considering other reviewers have given a five star service, Manchester Cars remains in the phone device for now..

Slightly over-caffeinated but efficient. We had a minivan-worthy group with 3 adults and a baby in…read morea car seat; once we'd successfully piled into the van double-parked outside our restaurant, the driver relaxed a little and things got simpler. Our driver gave a fairly smooth ride, impressive given the traffic, and talked rapidly but personably. Phone dispatch went pretty smoothly and the rates were reasonable; overall, a pretty good experience.