Travel advice ahead of a big weekend of events in Manchester

Parklife returns to Heaton Park this weekend, while cricket fans will be gathering in Old Trafford for the fifth and final test of the series against India, beginning on Friday 10 September.

As well as Parklife and the cricket finals, New Order will be performing at Heaton Park on Friday 10 September at 4pm and Manchester United host Newcastle at Old Trafford on Saturday 11 September with a 3pm kick off.

These events will mean roads and public transport services are likely to be busier than usual, and people are being encouraged to plan their journey in advance and allow extra time when travelling.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have created customer information pages for all the major events and will be working with operators to boost services as much as possible to help keep people moving.

People making shorter trips are encouraged to think about walking and cycling where possible.

If you're attending Parklife, people are encouraged to use contactless for payments when travelling on the tram, it is a fast and efficient way to pay whilst keeping queues moving.

Festival goers can also purchase the Parklife Travel Pass which offers the greatest flexibility and the quickest route to the festival. The Parklife Travel Pass allows you to travel on either the direct Parklife Shuttle bus or Metrolink services from Manchester City Centre.

Metrolink services – especially the Bury line – will be busy throughout the weekend with festival goers. Heaton Park and Bowker Vale stops will be most affected during the times of the Parklife. Tram lines towards Heaton Park are expected to be busiest during 11am to 4pm and again from 10pm to 1am.

Heaton Park tram stop will be closed for the remainder of the evening at 8pm on both nights of the festival, and customers should use Bowker Vale tram stop after the festival for services towards Bury and Manchester.

Motorists are being advised that Middleton Road and the M60 junction 19 will see an increase in the volume of traffic causing heavy congestion on both the highway and motorway network.

Roads will be busiest from 10:30am to 4:30pm and again from 10:30pm to 12:30am on both days.

The following roads are expected to be most affected:

A576 Middleton Road & M60 Junction 19, Blackley

A56 Bury New Road & A665 Bury Old Road, Prestwich

If you have to drive, consider re-routing your journey to avoid the affected area around the venue.

TfGM’s Head of Customer Experience, Sean Dyball, said: “With 80,000 people attending Parklife each day and even more people attending various sporting events, it’s great to see events returning to full capacity and we know it is going to be a busy weekend for Greater Manchester.

“We’re working closely with organisers and operators to help keep people moving, but whether going to an event or not, the main thing people can do to ensure their journey is as smooth as possible, is to check and plan in advance.

“We’ll have lots of customer information available on our website and across our social media channels to help people make informed journey choices, but with crowds of this size we know roads and public transport services will be busier than they have been for a very long time.”

For live travel updates please follow @OfficialTfGM or visit tfgm.com.