Co-op Live has partnered with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to offer free tram and bus travel to and from the new area for all event ticket holders.
Travel on the Metrolink and new city centre shuttle buses via the Bee Network will be included in all arena event tickets during the brand-new venue’s opening season from 20 April to 30 June 2024 as part of the just-announced initiative.
Under the new venue-funded initiative, fans will be able to use the Metrolink from four hours before, and up to four hours after (depending on the timing of each show) shows with a valid arena event ticket.
Co-op Live and @beenetwork are very pleased to announce a ground-breaking, first of its kind initiative which will see travel on trams and new city centre shuttle buses included in all arena event tickets from 20 April to 30 June 2024 🎟️🚊
This will apply all four zones of the Metrolink, which should therefore allow people to travel at a time that’s most convenient to them – especially following the recent introduction of trams every six minutes all-day from Monday to Saturday, and later trams on a Friday and Saturday, too.
The number of shuttle buses available will vary by event profile, according to Co-op Live, with a maximum of 10 buses per show deparing from Joe Mercer Way at the Etihad Campus and arriving at Piccadilly Gardens.
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Co-op Live and TfGM has partnered to offer free tram and bus travel to and from the new arena / Credit: Co-op Live
Bosses at the Bee Network and the state-of-the-art new venue – which is set to not only be the biggest in the UK, but in Europe – say including tram and shuttle bus travel with all event tickets will help to ensure fans can make a “quick and easy getaway at the end of the night”, no matter whether they’re heading back home or into Manchester city centre to enjoy further attractions.
“We are dedicated to ensuring easy and accessible transport links to and from Co-op Live,” commented Gary Roden, who is the Executive Director and General Manager of Co-op Live, as the new transport offer was announced.
The groundbreaking initiative will be available to all event ticket holders during Co-op Live’s opening season / Credit: TfGM
“We are delighted to be working with TfGM to offer this inclusive service for our fans for opening season.
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“Coupled with the planning application submitted for a new ‘CityLink’ walking route from the city centre to the Etihad Campus, we are further demonstrating our commitment to the environment by encouraging more sustainable transport choices, and providing additional neighbour-friendly options to support increased footfall across East Manchester.”
To claim travel across the network, all fans must be in possession of a valid event ticket – which they will need to show on request.
Find out more via the dedicated page on TfGM’s website here.
Featured Image – TfGM
News
Two men jailed after series of Porsche thefts across Greater Manchester totalling £1m
Emily Sergeant
Two men have been handed prison sentences following a series of Porsche thefts across Greater Manchester.
An investigation into the actions of Eidmantas Sadauskas and Vytautas Ceponis, both of no fixed abode, by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) began back in January of this year.
Described as being ‘sophisticated’ operation, the pair used equipment and tools to disable the vehicle security alarms and gain access to them, before they would then clone the vehicles, using different registration plates to allow them to slip under the radar.
In total, 25 Porsches – estimated, in total, as being approximately £1 million – were linked to the theft series and identified as having been taken by Sadauskas and Ceponis.
The thefts occurred across Greater Manchester – including in Salford, Bury, Trafford, Manchester, and Stockport – and it’s believed they were being stolen to be sold on for illegal gain.
The thefts occurred between January and October 2025, according to police, before the investigation began.
A comprehensive investigation Stockport’s Neighbourhood Crime Team (NCT) found that Sadauskas and Ceponis were mapped out as being in the areas of the crimes as they occurred, and the vehicles involved in the thefts were additionally identified as being linked to them.
The pair subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal motor vehicles at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in late November, before their sentencing last Friday.
Ceponis was jailed for four years for conspiring to steal motor vehicles, while Sadauskas was jailed for four-and-a-half years for conspiring to steal motor vehicles.
Several of the Porsches have since been recovered, and police say work remains ongoing to locate the outstanding vehicles and reunite them with their owners.
“No one should have their property taken from them,” commented PC Chris Hopkins, from GMP’s Stockport NCT. “As officers in the Neighourhood Crime Team, we work proactively to tackle these sorts of offences and punish those responsible.
“We have recovered several of the stolen vehicles and will continue to do so while Sadauskas and Ceponis are behind bars.”
Featured Image – GMP
News
Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Emily Sergeant -
14th March 2024 
