New Metrolink service taking people from Man City's Etihad Stadium and Co-op Live to Manchester city centre

A new Metrolink service has been launched to help ferry football and music fans to and from the city centre. Trams which usually run from Altrincham to Piccadilly will now continue on to the Etihad stop on some evenings, and all day on Sundays. The changes to the network’s map are shown by a dotted purple line.

The alterations have been made in order to move Manchester City and Co-op Live fans to the city centre, or onwards to the Trafford town. The new Altrincham-Etihad trams will replace the MediaCityUK-Etihad trams which only run at peak times.

The new service will run after 8pm from Monday to Friday, and after 6:30pm on Saturdays. It will be in operation all day on Sundays.

In effect, it means there will be a tram every six minutes ‘between Etihad Campus and the city centre from 7am until the end of service’, according to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The modified timetable came into effect on January 2, 2024, which also included an ‘uplift’ in the number of trams operating on the Altrincham and Bury lines as they ‘have seen encouraging signs of passenger growth’, TfGM added, with passenger numbers across the network back at pre-pandemic levels in the run-up to Christmas.

“With demand for services on the Altrincham and Bury lines increasing, this new timetable will provide the frequency and capacity needed to meet, sustain and continue to grow patronage on these routes,” Danny Vaughan, TfGM’s Head of Metrolink, said. “This shows that TfGM and the Metrolink operator are committed to enhancing the service for the benefit of our customers.”

The other major change in the 2024 timetable is the continued late-night running, which means services will go on until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights. This will include several double-units operating between Altrincham-Etihad, Bury-Piccadilly, and to East Didsbury.