City Centre Transport Strategy

City Centre Transport Strategy to 2040

The City Centre Transport Strategy, developed by Transport for Greater Manchester, Manchester City Council and Salford City Council will guide how city centre transport is improved across the next two decades. It has been informed by a series of public consultation and engagement exercises, held over the last three to four years.

The strategy is a sub-strategy to the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040. This City Centre Transport Strategy will enable the city-region to realise the Our Network vision.

The vision, set out in the City Centre Transport Strategy, is for “a well-connected, zero-carbon city centre at the heart of the North, offering our residents, employees and visitors a great place to work, live and visit”.  The central aim is for 90 per cent of all trips to the city centre in the morning peak to be made on foot (including people using wheelchairs, mobility scooters or guide dogs), by cycle, or on public transport before 2040.  

The strategy sets out proposals to further improve the city centre’s public transport and active travel networks and reduce car-based trips over the longer term, leading to the cleaner, greener, healthier, inclusive and integrated transport network that supports the growth of the city centre.  

Walking will be prioritised as the main way for people to get around a cleaner, less congested city centre, which will also see more people encouraged to cycle to key destinations and improved public transport connections. The city centre will be age friendly and accessible, with all proposed changes taking accessibility, inclusion and the needs of different groups of city centre users into account.

The latest consultation for the strategy, held from September – November 2020, received more than 2,400 responses.  Responding to calls made in the consultation for more pedestrian-friendly space in the city centre, work is to be carried out to explore where such spaces can be developed, while considering the importance of prioritising accessibility.

Subject to the approval of Manchester and Salford City Councils and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the final strategy is due to be published by the end of March 2021.

You can read through the City Centre Transport Strategy Summary and the full strategy document.

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