Travel & Tourism

Travel advice for how to get to Parklife festival in Heaton Park – and home again

Travel passes, trams, buses, and more information.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 9th June 2023

Parklife is one of the UK’s biggest music events and it all takes place right here in Greater Manchester this weekend – so it’s time to start planning your travel there and back.

70,000 music fans are expected to stream in to Heaton Park on each day of the two-day festival, ready to see headline performances from Aitch, The 1975, Fred Again and The Prodigy.

And with no overnight camping, all 70,000 will need to make their way home again afterwards…

Mercifully, the planned Metrolink strike this weekend has now been called off, so there are now a few different ways to get to Parklife. 

If you’re heading up to Heaton Park for Parklife 2023, here’s all the information you need about trams, travel passes, shuttle buses and even walking.

Essential Parklife information

The Parklife Travel Pass

The Parklife travel pass is a festival essential, giving you a few options of transport to the festival site with one ticket.

The pass costs £5 per day and will give you access to both the Parklife Shuttle Bus – which drops you directly inside the festival site – and the Metrolink tram services to Heaton Park.

Tickets are sold through the Parklife website and are electronic, so you just need to show it on your phone when you board the bus.

The Metrolink trams are one of the easiest ways to travel to Parklife
The Metrolink trams are one of the easiest ways to travel to Parklife

Trams will be running to Parklife on a six-minute frequency from town – Heaton Park is your closest tram stop, which will drop you near the West Gate entrance.

After the festival, you’ll need to use Bowker Vale, as Heaton Park tram stop will be closed.

Metrolink services will keep running until the site is cleared, but be prepared to queue to board one.

In the city centre, several stops will be closed so that crowds can be managed safely – these are listed below and on the TfGM website.

Saturday 10 June

  • Market Street and Shudehill – Closed all Saturday
  • Heaton Park – from 9pm until the end of service
  • Piccadilly Gardens – between 3pm and approximately 5pm
  • Exchange Square – between 12pm and approximately 5pm

Sunday 11 June

  • Heaton Park – From 9pm until end of service
  • Exchange Square – between 12pm and approximately 5pm
  • Piccadilly Gardens – between 3pm and approximately 5pm
  • Market Street – between 3pm and approximately 6pm
  • Shudehill – between 3pm and approximately 6pm.

Parklife shuttle buses

This is one of the easiest ways to get to and from Parklife, with dedicated shuttle buses whizzing people between the city centre and the festival site.

The Parklife shuttle bus will depart from the corner of Aytoun Street (M1 2DD) and Minshull Street, near Piccadilly train station, with drop-off right inside the festival site.

Buses will depart at least once every ten minutes.

The first bus on Saturday will depart at 9.30am, while the last one will leave at 4.30pm. On Sunday, first buses are at 10.30am and the last is at 4.30pm.

On both days, the return bus service from Heaton Park to Manchester city centre starts at 6.30pm and will continue to operate until the venue is cleared. Drop off will be on Church Street.

Taxis 

Parklife. Credit: Jordan Curtis Hughes

There’ll be a couple of taxi ranks near the Parklife festival site – a Manchester Hackney Carriage Taxi Rank in Blackley New Road and a Bury Hackney Carriage Taxi Rank outside the Woodthorpe pub on Bury Old Road.

If you want to pre-book your own private hire vehicle, they need to pick you up from the pick-up point at Sainsbury’s near Heaton Park.

As always, watch out for unlicensed taxis, which are unregulated.

Pick-up and drop-off

There’ll be a few road closures in place for Parklife and congestion is to be expected when people are leaving the festival.

There’s a designated pick-up point at Sainsburys on Heaton Park Road for anyone who’s getting a lift there or back.

Junction 19 of the M60 will be closed from 7pm on both nights. Access to the pick-up point will be via Victoria Avenue and Middleton Road.

You can find details of all the road closures here.

Walking back to the city centre 

Walking all the way to town from Heaton Park might not be top of your agenda, but it’s actually one of the most straight-forward ways to get back home.

There’s usually a crowd of festival-goers trudging back down Bury Old Road, a walk which takes about an hour.

Obviously only attempt the walk if you’re in a group you feel safe with and look out for each other.

What travel bosses say

Sean Dyball, TfGM’s Head of Customer Experience, said: “Parklife is one of the biggest events in Greater Manchester’s calendar, and we hope everyone who attends has a safe and enjoyable weekend.

“With around 70,000 people each day, and thousands more expected to be in the city centre over the weekend for other big events, including Soccer Aid, it will be very busy on public transport and on the roads.

“Extra staff will be on hand and we’ll have as many services as possible running to help people get around, but where possible, people should consider making short journeys by walking or cycling.

“We’ll keep our website and social media channels updated throughout the weekend and I’d encourage people to check before and during their journeys to make sure they have the latest information and advice to hand.”

For full Parklife travel advice and updates, head to tfgm.com/getting-to-parklife.

Featured image: Parklife

Travel & Tourism

Shocking new study reveals that almost 100 people a day are caught drink-driving

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Nearly 100 drivers a day in Britain have had ‘drink-drive endorsements’ added to their licences in the past three years, a shocking new study has revealed.

Alarmingly, it’s people between the ages of 25 and 39 that are the most frequently penalised for drink-driving – with around 48,000 drivers in this age bracket being handed endorsements, followed closely by 40,000 drivers aged 40 to 65.

In contrast, only 15,000 drivers aged 17 to 24 were penalised, and a mere 3,000 over-65s received points on their licence between 2022 and 2024.

It’s all according to a study by road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, using data obtained from the DVLA via a Freedom of Information request.

A shocking new study has revealed that almost 100 people a day are caught drink-driving / Credit: Pexels

Drivers caught over the alcohol limit face automatic licence revocation, potential imprisonment, and unlimited fines, while the endorsement remains on a driving licence for 11 years.

Another shocking revelation from the study is that fatalities linked to drink-driving have climbed over the past decade, peaking in 2022 at the highest level in 13 years – with the RAC saying this trend ‘raises alarms’ about the effectiveness of current road safety measures.

RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis called it ‘completely unacceptable’.

“These disturbing figures show the twin evils of driving under the influence of drink and drugs are behind a frightening number of lives lost on the UK’s roads every year,” he commented.

A third of Brits want police to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside / Credit – Vladimir Proskurovskiy (via Unsplash)

“A new approach to tackling these repugnant crimes is desperately needed. We hope this will be a key part of the Government’s forthcoming road safety strategy, [as] we’ve consistently been calling for a change in approach when it comes to reducing alcohol-related road deaths, as it’s clear the status quo isn’t working.”

The RAC has been campaigning for courts being given the powers to mandate the fitting of alcohol interlocks (‘alcolocks’) to offenders’ vehicles to prevent them driving drunk again.

It is also ‘supportive’ of the police being given the powers to immediately disqualify any driver who fails a drink or drugs test at the roadside.

Read more:

“This has the potential to reduce drink-drive casualties, especially among habitual offenders,” Rod concluded. 

Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons

Travel & Tourism

The incredible plans to build floating walkways over Manchester’s waterways

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The Cyanlines plans could see new floating walkways built over Manchester's walkways

A major project that will deliver a 100-mile-plus network connecting Manchester’s parks, squares and waterways has been unveiled – and it includes impressive floating walkways.

The first steps for the CyanLines mega project have been unveiled today, including the first four routes which will link the likes of Mayfield Park, New Islington Marina, Castlefield Viaduct and Kampus.

The ambitious plans will also link lesser-known pocket parks, canal tow paths, and pedestrianised walkways, and will incorporate new planned outdoor spaces such as the Science Museum courtyard and the former Central Retail Park.

One particularly eye-catching proposal will be a new floating walkway across the middle of the River Irwell, complete with a canoe dock and storage area.

The plans will adapt to Manchester’s ever-expanding cityscape and will link up new and existing developments, providing green walking and cycling routes around town.

Manchester and Salford City Councils have already worked together and secured funding from the National Trust, Natural England, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Nature Towns and Cities programme.

There are four CyanLines pilot routes – the first being a 5km ‘Irk Valley Explorer’ that will link Chethams Library and the Glade of Light memorial, Angel Meadows, the under-development City River Park, and the Barney’s Steps made famous by LS Lowry, ending with a view of the city skyline.

Then there’s the Mayfield, New Islington and Ancoats Loop, which will connect together Mayfield Park, the Ashton Canal, the Central Retail Park which is being transformed into a campus for the UK Government, New Islington Marina, Ancoats Green, and all the way down to leafy Kampus.

How the River Irwell could look with the CyanLines routes in place
How the River Irwell could look with the CyanLines routes in place
How the River Irwell looks currently
How the River Irwell looks currently

CL3, otherwise known as the ‘Walking the knowledge corridor’, incorporates significant landmarks like the Emmeline Pankhurst statue, our historic canal network, the Palace Theatre, Symphony Gardens, the universities, Manchester Museum, and Whitworth Art Gallery.

And the final of the four pilot routes is the CL4, focused around the almighty Castlefield Viaduct but also joining the Bridgewater Canal into Salford and the Irwell River Park, as well as the gardens around Chapel Street, Greengate Park, and the River Irwell itself.

Councillor Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Manchester is on a mission to make our city greener, investing in new parks and green spaces including the likes of Mayfield, Ancoats Green and the Castlefield Viaduct, in addition to our work to celebrate and open up our rivers and canals. We are a city with exciting, and transformational plans for the future. .

“But there’s more that we can do together. CyanLines is a bold new initiative over the next decade to imagine and create over 100 miles of connected parks, green spaces and waterfronts.

“This is just the start of CyanLines and I urge residents, business owners, community groups and leaders to join us on this very exciting journey to truly transform our city.”

Tom Bloxham MBE CBE, CyanLines project co-founder and chair, Urban Splash and founding Chair Manchester International Festival (MIF) and Factory International said that the same ambition that grew MIF will be applied to CyanLines.

How the River Irwell could look with the CyanLines routes in place
More before-and-after images of the CyanLines pilot plans

He said: “We want to bring the whole city along with us, to help us plan, fund and deliver CyanLines. No idea is too big, too ambitious, too audacious or too small or too straightforward.

“Everyone wants more green space. Everyone wants to be able to walk to the end of Castlefield Viaduct. Everyone wants to be healthier and happier.

“Imagine more species and drifts of plants and wildflowers and allotments in the city centre and being able to walk one or 100 miles of continuous paths linking all our amazing spaces. Together we can make it happen!”

Pete Swift, CyanLines project co-founder and CEO of Planit said: “The first four CyanLines provide so much more than walkable and wheelable connections linking the existing and planned excellent green and blue spaces across the city, to bring us all closer to nature and nature closer to us.

“The routes will be the starting point, or spring board, for a whole plethora of CyanLines projects which will bring new opportunities for nature to thrive and to be enjoyed.

“The ambition for CyanLines does not stop at Manchester and Salford city centres. It will ultimately link up all Greater Manchester’s boroughs to bring our citizens and communities closer to nature and help drive a greener, healthier, and inclusive future. From Dunham Massey in the south, to Northern Roots in Oldham; from Leigh via RHS Bridgewater, Media City on to the foot of the Pennines.”

Mike Innerdale, regional director North of England, National Trust said: “National Trust are firm supporters of CyanLines, not least because its core aim mirrors our own of ensuring more people have access to nature particularly in our towns and cities, and to bring nature to people’s doorsteps wherever they live.

“We recently announced we have secured the majority of the £3 million of funding for the Castlefield Viaduct which will allow us to bring Phase 2 of this iconic sky park project to life, enabling us to create a through route at the heart of the city. We look forward to working with the CyanLines team and other partners as both our projects advance, connecting Castlefield viaduct with the other wonderful spaces in Manchester and Salford city centres.”

To find out more about CyanLines, head HERE.

Read more

Featured image: VirtualPlanit

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