Home / Manchester /Manchester Airport / Metrolink tram vs Train to Liverpool

MAN → Manchester · head to head

Metrolink tramorTrain to Liverpool?

The short answer

These do not go to the same place, so price is not the comparison. The Metrolink tram reaches Piccadilly — Piccadilly station for the train, Piccadilly Gardens for the 43, St Peter's Square for the tram; the Train to Liverpool does not. Liverpool is a separate city, not part of central Manchester.

The Metrolink tram is quicker: 52 min against 1 h 21. The Train to Liverpool varies between 80 and 86 minutes.

Metrolink tram: 05:45–23:15. Train to Liverpool: 05:32–23:07.

Priced against each other

Whole-party totals · adult fares
What each costs for the whole party, in GBP. The cheaper of the two is marked on every row.
TravelersMetrolink tramTrain to LiverpoolDifference
1£4.60£19.50£14.90
2£9.20£39£29.80
3£13.80£58.50£44.70
4£18.40£78£59.60
5£23£97.50£74.50
6£27.60£117£89.40
7£32.20£136.50£104.30
8£36.80£156£119.20

Side by side

Where each one leaves you
Metrolink · Transport for Greater Manchester (Bee Network)Metrolink tram
From
The Metrolink platform inside The Station, between Terminals 2 and 3; tap in at the reader on the platform before boarding
To
Deansgate-Castlefield in 49 minutes, St Peter's Square in 52, Market Street in 55 and Victoria in 60, via Wythenshawe, Sale Water Park, Chorlton, Trafford Bar and Cornbrook
Runs
05:45–23:15
Journey
49–60 min

It costs £4.60 because the airport is in zone 4 and the center is zone 1, so the ride crosses every zone and pays the network maximum. One zone is £1.40. There is no airport supplement; there is simply no way to reach town through fewer zones.

Tap out. A journey tapped in and never tapped out is charged the full £4.60 and counts towards no cap. Use the same card or phone every time, one card per adult; tap-and-go charges adult fares, so buy family tickets at the platform machines for children.

Going back the same day by tap costs £4.90 in total, not £9.20: the all-zone off-peak day cap is thirty pence more than one single. It is £7.10 if the first tap is between 07:00 and 09:30 on a weekday.

It is 2.3 times the price of the 43 for the same 50 minutes, and slower than the train by half an hour. What it buys is a seat and stops the bus and the train do not make: Wythenshawe, Chorlton, Deansgate-Castlefield, St Peter's Square, Victoria.

Buy or tap before boarding; nothing is sold on the tram. Untapped at an inspection is £60 on the spot or a £120 penalty fare.

The last through tram is 23:15 (00:15 on Fridays and Saturdays) and the first 05:45 (06:45 on Sundays). Outside those hours the 43 is the public transport, and on Tuesday to Saturday mornings the £6.20 train runs until 02:28.

Metrolink tram: price for every party size

Check Metrolink fares with TfGM

This compares two of 6 options. See all of them ranked for your party size

The other comparisons at Manchester Airport