A look at Manchester's Airport Trams and the Metrolink System!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Something a little different for you this week, as today, we'll be taking a look at Manchester's Metrolink tram system!
Date of Travel: February 2023
Class of Travel: N/A
Rolling Stock: Bombardier M5000
Type of Service: N/A
Operator: Transport for Greater Manchester
Train Number: N/A
Origin: Manchester Victoria, United Kingdom (England)
Destination: Manchester Airport, United Kingdom (England)
Cost of ticket: £4.60 ($5.65, €5.20)
Have a question? Please comment and I will try to provide you with an answer.
A massive thanks to my $5+ Patrons and Channel Members:
Roy Humphrey
Grinchy
Steve Ignots
Thomas Alfred Roell
Jean Buckley
Steven Steffen
William Malecki
Christopher Tilley
Robert Vandiver
John Michael Dornoff
Linda Vainomae-Hoffmann
Dave Manning
Simon Ellison
Josh Powell
Mika Hellbach
brian rosson
Amanda Robinson
Steve Brittain
Dr Buckton
Adam Evans
Martin Cox
Albert Alcoceba
Jonathan Brooks
Jeff Wonsetler
Tomasz Traczyk
Kevin Peace
Mark Sharp
Ian Whitcomb
Paul Newton
Charles
Jeff Soule
jeff soule
Simon Pearce
Ewan Ritchie
Stewart Brodie
Stephanie Carlyle
Tony Atkins
Harrison Snazel
duke spencer
BriizzyBoi28
Matt Farr
James Marshall
Fabricio Renovato
adrian wade21
Vicarious Traveller
Link to Patreon: / dylanstravelreports
Join them on Patreon and get AD-FREE early access to all of my content for as little as $1 per month!
Link to channel member's page: / @dylanstravelreports
Want to tip me? www.paypal.me/... (100% of all tips goes towards creating new videos!)
Follow me on Instagram(@dylanstravelreports): / dylanstravelreports
Twitter (@DylanReports): Dy...
Facebook (Dylan's Travel Reports): / dylanstravelreports
#Manchester #trams #travel
---------------------------------------
Credits
[1] www.openstreetmap.org under Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) opendatacommon... opendatacommon... opendatacommon...
Trams are worth including on the channel occasionally as they are a form of railroad. With the zig-zag route I'm not surprised it took an hour. At least the scenery was nice.
It literally takes twice as long to get from the airport to the town centre as the train does - but the day tram ticket (which surely should be called a "Manchester Rambler"?) costs the same as the rail fare.
Ye but the Train is intended as going from A to B, the tram links and serves the area inbetween - very few go the whole way
Occasionally?
Always worth including.
What wythenshawe is classed as nice scenery, are you for real?
Metrolink is a great system for travel to and from the city centre. But if you're trying to get around Greater Manchester, being forced to go into the centre and back out again makes it very slow. An outer ring line would really improve traffic congestion around Greater Manchester. They are talking about doing this, they've been talking about it for a while, and no-doubt will keep talking about it for many more years.
By the way, at Old Trafford the team wear white, because that's the cricket ground. For the team in red, you need to take the Trafford Centre line and get off at Wharfside.
An orbital route connecting the surrounding towns would be ideal and could use existing mothballed trackbed, parliamentary or freight only lines. Just in North-East-South you could use the ELR line to link Bury - Heywood - Rochdale.
Oldham - Ashton would be straightforward as a street running route on the 409 bus route.
Ashton area, Guide bridge, already has a little used rail link to Stockport and could be used to bring places like Denton and South Reddish back into a rail service.
This sort of idea has been under "proposal" for years.I won't hold my breath on this ever happening. Takes years and years for a decision to made let all breaking any ground to build something.
To be fair, Lancashire Lightning wear red!
Orbital bus routes already exist.
@@andrewnelson4057 In Greater Manchester? Where?
@@southofthemersey7351 the 1452 in orbit of Planet Zog....
Having used this route myself, compared to other routes to the airport, it's not the quickest route, given the amount of street running, but it makes up for it by giving rail access for communities close to the airport to go either to the airport or to the city
Yes you anyways got a fast train connection so the trams can just run local.
So you will not mention the red team eh?
Glory glory Man United.
Glory glory Man United.
Glory glory Man United.
And the REDS go marching on.
We love the Manchester trams. When we visit Manchester we stay near Piccadilly Station so we do usually arrive by train - including train from the airport. However, we take advantage of the weekend special ticket you can get for the Metrolink service. This is available after 6pm on Friday evenings, and gives you unlimited travel until late Sunday night. Our favourite trip is out to Ashton under Lyne. Mind you, the last time we got a train going to Manchester airport it was a Saturday morning and was rammed full of hen parties from Leeds going to Jersey or somewhere, who had opened their second bottle of Prosecco before they got to Huddersfield.
I'm sure the tram is more bearable after a couple of bottles of Prosecco. They should provide complimentary bottles on board.
Great accessibility features of these M5000 trams - you can ‘advanced call’ the door opening buttons when on the tram before you get to the stop. This then leaves you free to be prepared for arrival at the tram stop (i.e. crutches, sticks, shopping, wheelchair etc) without having to press the button at the moment of arrival.
Very unusual to see a tram review; not many UK towns and cities have tram networks! Trams would probably be better than buses (at least if they had enough seating for the busier parts of the journeys), though I can see why a train to the airport would be the preferred option as it would be quicker, not stopping everywhere in the city center!
These LRVs are quite new, these units (M5000) were built between 2007(ish) to 2021. They replaced the older T68 LRVs between 2012 and 2014. They were replaced because of corrosion in the undercarriage as they were built in Italy and weren't too keen on the Manc weather, and fun fact the first few M5000s were tested in Vienna!
They were originally going to fix the rust but when the M5000s arrived they realised how much reliable they were than the T68s ever where so they decision was made to scrap the T68s rather than repair the rotting chassis. I am guessing the cost of a full refurb of the T68s would have eaten a lot into the cost of a new M5000 too. It also makes a lot more sense having an identical fleet from a maintenance point of view. The M5000 production line is now closed though, and the Flexity Swift wasn't actually brand new when they were introduced in to Metrolink in 2009 so hopefully in the future will see a different design added to the network, possibly a high floor Flexity Swift 2.
Blue trams, yellow trams!
@@ianrobertson2634Yes, they were also thinking of keeping the T68a's in service instead of the T68 but they found out they were heavier than the M5000s, so they were also taken out of service
I rode the M5000 during a day trip to Manchester in 2017 & I felt as much NVH on it as the low-floor Cobra trams in Zurich as they went round corners, even though the former is high-floor & its bogies should have enjoyed more un-encumbered movement
They did consider a rebuild (keeping the chassis and bogies and replacing all the electricals and motors) before they decided it wasnt worth it with corrosion vs new which were quite cheap. Two factors that influenced that were the Italian tram electricians were just as good as their car electricians and couldn't follow a wiring plan so no two vehicles were wired exactly the same way often mixing wire colours (see also T-69). Secondly Italian steel in the 70-90's predominantly came from the scrapping of Soviet cargo ships and so had a high salt content from its maritime life. I think its quite similar today in Bangladesh for example where between 80 and 90% of steel comes from ship breaking.
To some extent, the Metrolink is somehow hybrid between railway and trams as many parts of it included the recovery of former railways including the Oldam-Rochdale and the Bury-Manchester one.
I travelled a few times on the Metrolink and tbh I love it as a system.
so it operates as a tram-train in some lines is what you're saying
@@truedarklander yes. In some sections it does
I live on the Metrolink system and it’s perfect for swiftly getting into the city centre for some shopping! These services are very frequent and that makes them great!
I'm visiting Manchester in 3 months time, so can't wait to try them out. which is helpful as I'm going to a concert there, so I will be using that .
Thank you for the nice video.I think it is a very good idea to show us a tram system and I do hope you'll make similar videos about tram systems in the UK or anywhere else in the world.Excellent as usual....
I once did the airport to Piccadilly in 9 minutes on a TPE Clas185. . I think I'll stick to the train.
Great video as always, it was good to see you using the trams, it would be nice to see more like this
Ah my home city. The Metrolink has made travelling round the suburbs a lot quicker than using the bus. This line is really meant for people working at the airport who live nearby, travelling between suburbs or taking the tram into the city centre but it’s very well used. There may eventually be a loop that links to the Airport around Whythenshaw Hospital which has been on the drawing board for decades but fell foul of funding issues but could still be built. The longest trip is from Rochdale to East Didsbury where you will be onboard for around 2 hours!!
Yeah, tbf the Manchester Airport tram line was the best place to end the branch, as for South MAnchester residents its easy and cheap. Though if i were heading to/from Rochdale or Bury, I would definitely shy away. Very handy for local trips, like Chorlton to Wythenshawe or Old Trafford to Sale as the bus is still extortionate!
It's the airport line not the navy line as the locals never refer the lines by colours. The other lines are alty bury eccles Ashton didsbury rochdale and trafford. You comitted a metrolink faux pas.
The tram ride to the airport is a bit long but the trains have recently been incredibly unreliable being frequently cancelled. Now that both TransPennine and Northern Railways are back in public ownership maybe it will get better.
9 mile journey taking a 50 mph tram takes 50 minutes, must be a lot of stops and dwell time.
The Tram rarly hits that top speed, I have been on that line several times and its very bendy with lots of tight turns. There is only one section which it can really get up to speed and that's towards the city centre.
Yes, there’s 24 stops on that route.
South Manchester section to the airport is slow as hell. There are lots of stops plus the track is often sharing space with roads so frequent stops.
Compare using the tram to the cost of airport parking (which in the USA is astronomical even for economy lots far away) a hours tram ride is worth it, especially avoiding a taxi
Dylan: The seats are rock hard
Also Dylan: the class 800's are Comfortable
Sorry pal, cannot take your seat reviews as gospel 😂😂
I love travelling the metrolink. Good coverage of suberbs and city centre but trams can get extremely busy and being disabled this can be an issue. I would love to see more trams in the UK on the channel. Nottingham has a good coverage of trams as has Sheffield but wouldn't recommend my local West Mids.
I had the pleasure of travelling on the Metrolink tram system in 2017 from Manchester Piccadilly to Prestwich as I had travelled up for a cycling event which was at Goshen Sports Centre in Bury. I stayed overnight at the Premier inn at Prestwich which was about a 10 minute walk from Prestwich tram station
I hope you enjoyed the travel around the system! A circle line has been talked about for years, because popular journeys like Oldham to Bury are only possible by going to Victoria and back the same way to Bury, with a journey time of 50 mins. Hopefully this gets incorporated in the near future.
You should take a look at the Newcastle metro system when they introduce the new rolling stock. :)
I loved this trip. I'm quite a fan of trams, but recognise that the train is better for this route. The Metrolink has expanded quite a lot since I worked in Manchester.
You should review the Nottingham trams as they're quite interesting
Some trivia about the Metro link:
The are the only Trams that can run multiple units in the UK.
It is the only system to use MPH instead KPH.
They are the only Trams that are of railway height, all the rest are low level boarding.
The metro link is good but I think the Tyne and Wear metro in Newcastle would be a good video to complete. Love the videos 👍
7:09 I know. I don't like them either. They just can't handle the truth over that interview with their Prodigy-slash-Penalty merchant-slash-Crybaby.
Was that tram trip very long?
Metrolink has been a great success. Usually very reliable although I still miss the old T68 trams. The huge expansions now see the city centre area very slow to get through. Similar capacity problems to the national rail with the Castlefield corridor ironically. Metrolink and national rail share a small section of track between Navigation Road and Altrincham. Bury and Oldham should of been kept on national rail not trams in my opinion.
I'd say the concept of trams being on rail lines is a bit daft in the first place. Trams and trains are very different modes of transport so the Bury line and the Oldham loop should have stayed as National Rail. Then it means for you can get a faster, probably more comfortable train into Victoria and then have a seamless transfer to the tram to go elsewhere in GM that is inaccessible to the rail network. The tram should act as an express, high capacity bus basically rather than a train.
@@alfiestewart6312 it works in some places, such as Karlsruhe in Germany (probably the best international example)
And yet usage of the trams on the Oldham & Rochdale line has far outstripped the former train service, despite the smaller vehicles and lower top speed. I still wonder whether it was necessary to do a full conversion, especially as it bars cyclists, but the patronage figures are impressive and that's without accounting for the (sadly significant) ticketless travel.
@David Peek They might want to think about a solution to the city centre congestion. Do what some European city did and built a tram tunnel under the city centre giving a greater capacity. So then the likes of the Rochdale - Didsbury and Bury - Altrincham trams can alleviate pressure on the ground. Basically turning the longer, more train style routes from trams to being a bit like the Tyne & Wear Metro (minus the bit around Oldham Centre)
@@alfiestewart6312 something along these lines is, at least in theory, proposed - but only in a "big picture" sense, and that was based on Metrolink's pre-pandemic income
We need more places to have trams in the uk. Manchester’s lucky.
True. Bristol could really do with trams. And South Wales (Cardiff / Swansea).
Fun fact is that these trams are of the same type as in Cologne, in Germany. And one notice: If you're taking off from Manchester Airport, you should check the "Which Terminal?" label and find the airline from it, unless this departs from more than one terminal.
You are wrong about the Old Trafford stadium you can see. This is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire Cricket Club. The Old Trafford of Manchester United is a ten minute walk away.
Oml I need to ride this Thank you so much for making this Video Dylan and must of been Hard work editing thanks so much for making it
Great video! Manchester is lucky to have such a system - it would never have been expanded without critical EU funding. The EU also funded the regeneration after the 1996 IRA bomb, which the people of the city are very aware of and is one reason it had the strongest remain vote in the region in 2016.
My one bugbear about it is that they won't allow bikes on board, which I understand for space/practicality reasons but makes it difficult for me to use. I work at the university so I need to get from the city centre to my office, which would take about 20-25 minutes on foot - I therefore use the train, which although very quick (just 10 minutes from Ashton) is really unreliable and doesn't run regularly. I hope Manchester either eventually allows bikes onto the trams, or (perhaps more likely) brings our suburban rail services under public oversight as Andy Burnham wants.
Being a Mancunian maybe views on the other side of the tram (eg central library, Midland hotel amd GMex or even Bridgewater Hall than Oxford Road might have been more picturesque. Plus I agree if in the city centre, the train is a lot quicker although if you live to the south of the city, tram becomes a possible/better solution.
From Trafford Bar what you can see from the tram as it negociates the junction towards South Manchester, is Lancashire County Cricket Ground and not the Old Trafford Football Ground at all, as the latter is situated away and only can be seen from the Altrincham line at nearby Old Trafford station and even from there just part of the main facade metal structure. The only line that provides full sight of the Old Trafford Football Ground is the CLC Manchester to Liverpool via Warrington Central that less than a decade ago used to be served by the football ground halt, dedicated to match days only. As long as i know, security concerns led to its closure around 2017.
I don't envy you making that journey, way too many stops. I don't know anyone who refers to the tram lines by their colours, it's usually the Bury, Eccles, Airport lines etc.
would just say, I WOULD ALWAYS TAKE THE TRAM unless there was a good reason not to, just more fun!!!!
Hey Dylan perhaps you could take a look at Sheffield's supertram services because they are turning 30 years old this year there's also something called a tram train it's exactly what it sounds like it's a British rail class 399 built by staedtler and vussloh between 2013 and 2017
Old Trafford stop isn't on the Airport line, it's on the Altrincham line. Plus it serves Old Trafford cricket ground rather than the football stadium. The football ground is about half a mile away and better served by other stops on the Eccles and Trafford Centre lines.
Can get the bus to the airport from Piccadilly gardens for £2.
Probably a better option than a packed tram.
Best option is of course the train if they are running.
1 hour V 15/20 minutes from the city centre. Makes sense to take the tram if it's running.
Pity you do not live 'Downunder' and film the Melbourne tram network -- 250kms of track, 500 trams, 1700+ stops and 2M+ passengers a year (pre Covid)
Is that team called Manchester united 20 times champions off England
I think the reason why platforms are risen, has its origins in cut rebuild costs, as no other tram network even using reopened railway sections or using old railway stations, kept the original platform hight. In shared light rail and heavy rail stretches of lines, high platforms are a very effective way to disencourage railway trespassingwithout using other methods, such as barriers on the 6th foot as installed at Rotherham Central railway station in South Yorkshire, due to the flat tram platforms on the western end of the station main platform.
That’s the strangest thing. I was in Manchester on Wednesday and having never been on the tram I wondered what it would be like and even how long it would take to get to the airport. And here we are, two days later and your video pops up! You even went past the offices I was in at 5:58 by the Emmeline Pankhurst statue.
If you thought the M5000's seats were hard, wait until you try their K5000 siblings in Cologne. Solid plastic, no padding whatsoever 😳
The airport line is my local line, mostly used for people from Wythenshawe to get to Manchester City Centre or in my case I needed to get to Stretford or Trafford Park, it was not intended to get to the airport from point A to B, more to get people along the line connected, Absolute nightmare getting from Wythenshawe to City Centre on a bus that takes 1hr to 1hr and 20mins! Absolute nightmare to get from Barlow Moor to City Centre, a bus to Southern Cemetery bus station (10mins walk) to connect with a bus down Princess Road & Moss Side. I've seen people get on for the airport and they've not been been impressed because they were expecting a direct link, the train is the best way, as you have stated...
Interesting how you mention the network lines by their colours, what is not a usual way to class them here in Manchester, even when refered from Metrolink Services as they rather clas them by their destinations out of town instead. Whereas in my country town, metro system network lines are classed by their colours instead of their original names based on their local history that seems being an abandoned model dating from the late 90s 3rd generation architecture and new corporative image not just the satations but the whole company identity.
As someone from Blackpool I just think of trams as normal (and I go to Manchester frequently).
As a long time follower of you, I think tram lines are not really worth the cover. I prefer trains where you show around cool train stations, interior of trains and of course plenty of food and drinks either in lounges or on board. To cover ferries would be interesting too, the best with overnight in cabins. I enjoy Japanese train vloggers BUT your English style of covering something from Japan would be cool, although there is one or two vids from Japan from you already. Hope you are planning more in depth reports from Japan high speed and narrow gauge trains.
Surprised to not see any complaints about the lack of toilets. People have been banging on about the lack of toilets on the new Merseyrail trains, and I'm pretty certain all journeys are shorter than this one.
Makes me wonder why the old trains (or these trams) don't have human waste sloshing about on them if it's such a problem.
Nice informative video, and useful to know there's an alternative way of getting to Manchester Airport. At 04:15 you equate seat softness with comfort. What do you make of cities such as Zurich that have hard wood polished seats even on their most modern trams? I doubt if cost is the issue; the Zurich seats are hand crafted and probably cost far more than a factory produced bus/tram seat.
Maybe trams don't experience as much bumps as buses as they ride on rails whose surfaces are already smoothened from grinding during regular maintenance
I live in Manchester so use the trams all the time. I aim to take the tram to the airport soon. I wouldn't take the train as where I live the tram to the airport stops there. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't take them again to the airport, cost & timing?.
3:35 This tram really hates you, it closed the door on you then closed the opposite when you went in just incase you were about to walk through 🤣
Re toilets, I think it's good that you normally comment on them. I suppose that, with a tram every 12 minutes, toilets are not needed on board - but it would be good if tram stops showed where the nearest toilets are ...
The thing about Metrolink is that most people in Manchester don't remember a time before it unless they are bordering on retirement.
Prior to it being built Manchester was a complete car clogged shithole with some of the worst pollution you can imagine.
It still is, but now you can get on the Met in a sane town and get into Manchester, do whatever you went to do and then get out without getting stuck on flyovers towards Deansgate eternally
Tram systems? Hm. But how about the Hamburg commuter ferry system?
Mate I enjoy your videos but you seriously need to wash those jogging bottoms, made me feel unwell.
I totally agree with you Dylan, both the M25 and M60 are dreadful, I cannot estimate how much of my life has been lost to both of the routes due to traffic though we in the south refer to the M25 as Europe's biggest car park however it's FREE!
It's the Lancashire Cricket ground not the Man U stadium, but easy mistake to make due to the same of the stop
The M25 does not “orbit” London. The Dartford crossing is an A road.
apparently was a great reason to use the train... still, the tram does look really cool, and, is not as slow as some trams are...
Dublin once had a brilliant tramway. Then the idiots tore it up
Hi. The picture at 1:24 appears to be Lower Briggate, in Leeds.
ive always wanted to ride a metrolink tram let alone a tram
You forgot Nottingham’s tram network
Paaaattroooonnnss
Hit me up with some wonga yeah boys
Your tram fares are expensive. Here in Melbourne (which of course never got rid of its trams) the fares are cheaper. Zone 1 and 2 2 hour fare is $AU4.60, daily is $AU9.20 (5 British pounds), which is the daily cap. So you can travel extensively and when you reach the daily fare total, the fare is capped. Our ticket system (Myki) is multi-modal so you can use any form of public transport. Note that for concession holders the fare is halved.
it makes no difference to me train or tram same price zero even wearing that red shirt we are not able to mention
Unless I missed it I don’t think you told us how long it took.
Oh the diversity. We have to embrace it don't we?
Boa tarde Dylans vrt lindo metrolink
As a regular tram user, idm the seats although they could be better
Go there when I go home mate. Great system but trams are just a bit too small for me
They should run dedicated trams on the line to the airport. These aren't comfortable or convenient or big enough looking for luggage et al.
???? It is a dedicated tram line.
I agree with you for old Trafford
nice video
You could probably run to the airport
Wouldn't mind seeing more tram videos being honest, really enjoy seeing Simonsway 🤣 but a great video
The only sport I'll watch is Premier League Football, my team is known for wearing red and playing at Old Trafford. You can say their name, LOL⚽
I travelled the entire network when I lived there. That was 1994 though. I guess I must pay a visit sometime.
Just a few points to expand on your excellent film. The Manchester city centre shopping area is much the worse for the closure of Debenhams. You see the huge store now looking almost derelict as you passed the Market St stop. Branching off to the left over the junction at Trafford Bar the rail line used to be the Midland main line from Manchester Central (now the exhibition centre next to Deansgate Castlefield tram stop) to London St Pancras. The track bed was relaid for the trams. Finally, like you, I would never use the tram to get to the airport simply because it goes through not so nice areas like Wythenshawe.
Thanks for uploading and many congratulations on your marriage.
The Manchester Metrolink M5000 trams are so efficient and quiet. There are plans to extend the Metrolink to Port Salford and to Stockport.
So, when are you doing the local railways/tramways/buses of the Swiss canton of Ticino? There is a reason why your subscribers would like to see it.......😉
you earnt urself a sub
I have probably made this comment on other channels before, but I think the Metrolink is a mixed bag.
For somewhere like Oldham, removing their train stations is a bit of an identity loss (Oldham used to not be Manchester), and will effect through ticketing to other places (e.g. if you are travelling on an advance train ticket from MCR you can't use a disrupted Metrolink as an excuse).
SPACE PORT SPACE PORT
Great trip. I think next time you should try the tram again, especially in Mainland Europe. After watching this, looks like Old Trafford location in somewhere between Manchester Victoria Station and Manchester Airport, or I must say the middle point of the route/line.
I love the Metrolink system. So reliable when I'm up in Manny for a Kosher grocery shop near Prestwich (I get off at Bowker Vale). Since I'm a uni student in the west midlands, there's not a lot of kosher shops here so have to make an expensive trip to Manchester which I love going to 😁
Bouncy, is what they're like. They originally ran on old train track out of the city centre when they first came which was very bouncy (I'm a daily Bury line traveller).. Then they upgraded bits with new track and it was smooth for a bit. But weirdly, the bounciness and clattering eventually came back on the new track. And in general - they're good when they're working, but when there's a breakdown and nothing can run past the broken team or points, you get what is known as Metrolink Rage! I enjoyed watching this though.
You were at the bottom of my road on this trip!!! I could have brought you coffee for your long journey!!!! I think even the bus is quicker into the city from places like Wythenshawe, Baguley and Chorlton!
Hi Dylan
Thanks for tram history.
Will you try Edinburgh trams when the new full route opens to Newhaven from Airport?
been on the new Merseyrail 777's yet?
I use the tram frequently but the point of the airport service is not to get people from the city centre to the airport, but to get people from the suburbs either into the city centre or the airport. I agree with about the seats, they are fine for a quick journey into the city centre but for longer journeys they are not ideal. Considering some of the lines are very long e.g Rochdale to East Didsbury I think the seats should be more comfortable.
What I will say is I think overall the Metrolink is brilliant, it is far easier to use and in many cases actually cheaper than the bus. For example a bus would cost me £4 return to the city centre, where as a all day ticket tram ticket to the city centre will cost me just £3.50.
Would love to see more tram videos.
Love Metrolink but agree the route through to the airport is really slow. Still it provides needed links and I would do what you did if engineering works meant a rail replacement bus. Curious why the tram didn't pull up to the buffers? Seems to make an unnecessary long walk on the platform for passengers.
As far as end to end (Mcr city centre to Airport) journeys are concerned, you can't beat the train for speed and economy. The tram service was more for connecting the south Manchester suburbs to the employment areas in the city centre, airport and Wythenshawe areas. I don't think the end to end journey was in the minds of those who planned the line.
Been on tram in Manchester to Salford quays near old Trafford from the centre once which was nice although very quick lol
❤