One of the great things about Manchester is that a car is totally unnecessary. Due to good public transport and the compact nature of the city, a car is way more trouble than it’s worth. Less cars mean less roads, less pollution, less road accidents, and more space for everyone else!

Walking’s great! It’s free and fun! I walk everywhere!

CYCLING
Far and away the best way to travel around Manchester. It’s cheap, quick and you won’t kill anything with it.
Bike Shops: for new and second hand bikes, spares, repairs and friendly advice.
Bicycle Doctor, 64 Dickenson Road
Withington Cycles, 26 Burton Road
Avoid the guy in the student market - dodgy bikes!
Fixing your bike yourself is even better. For some tips on bike maintenance check out “How to Rock and Roll - A City Riders Repair Manual” by Sam Tracy - available at AK Press over the net. Or if you’re female, free classes at Pankhurst Centre (see women’s page).
Get a good lock, some lights and ride!

BIKES ON TRAINS
You can take a bike on most trains without booking, though booking is advisable. It costs nothing, but opens the door to some great days cycling in the country, and cycling holidays anywhere of your choice. I recently got a train with a mate to the Lake District for a few days, took a sleeping bag, a tent and rode off into the distance - it was beautiful and cheap.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Buses are the second best way to get around Manchester. They are relatively cheap (unless you go for Stagecoach) and run all night down the Oxford/Wilmslow Road corridor. Trams also run to limited parts of the city.
Unfortunately privatisation is pushing up the cost of ‘public’ transport.
Here are a few ways to make things a bit cheaper. Skipping fairs is one option - get on the train and when the inspector comes down the aisle, just mind your own business. If they ask you directly, either buy a ticket from the last station, or say you have no money and feed them a story, or give a false name but real address. Or when you see them coming, hide! A young persons rail card makes things cheaper, special offers or booking in advance keeps prices to a minimum. If you do buy a ticket, try not to get it stamped, then you can use it again or get a refund.

HITCHING
Hitching is liberating, educational, and most importantly FREE. Once you’re into it you think nothing of going a couple of hundred miles. And when your four walls start closing in, you can go see someone cool no matter where they live. Most people don’t hitch because they’re scared of who will pick them up, but as a person who’s hitched around Europe my advice is don’t get too paranoid. But do be careful- never accept a hitch you feel unsure of the driver. Manchester has some great hitching spots, most convenient being the Princess Park Way going through Hulme which will get you started to just about anywhere. So get a sign, stick your thumb out and you’ll probably get a lift within about 10 minutes.

BIODIESEL
If you have a car and won’t take it to the scrap yard, then make sure it runs on biodiesel. All you need is a £5 filter in your normal diesel engine and you can run your car on recycled chip fat - 4real! What this means is, since you are burning oil produced by plants instead of sucked out of the earth, there is no net emission of CO2, and whats more, it’s oil that would otherwise be poured away. All you need is a supplier, and this is where the Manchester Biodiesil Co-op comes in - a collective of like-minded people that buy filtered, recycled vegetable oil in bulk and drive away to a happy, environmental future. MERCi - 0161 273 1736, email lucyw@bridge-5.org.