The transport infrastructure of Greater Manchester is built up of numerous transport modes and forms an integral part of the structure of Greater Manchester and North West England – the most populated region outside of South East England which had approximately 301 million annual passenger journeys using either buses, planes, trains or trams in 2014.

Greater Manchester still has an extensive citywide rail network compared with other British cities with over 200 tram and train stations - much of which dates from the Industrial Revolution.

It was the first city in the United Kingdom to re-introduce trams to the streets with the 1992 opening of Manchester Metrolink, which is currently undergoing significant extension and is now the largest network in the UK, having surpassed the Tyne & Wear Metro.

System One travelcards provide a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly pass and have varying options, offering combined multi-mode travel passes for bus, tram and train, As of 2015, there is an ongoing move towards smartcard ticketing, similar to the Oyster card in London.

North American scheduled destinations served directly include New York City (JFK and Newark), Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver and Barbados.

Middle Eastern and Asian destinations include Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Singapore.

Manchester to London is one of the highest density airline routes within the UK and is one of the busiest domestic sectors in Europe, but is now experiencing serious competition from the improved railway link.

[9] In May 2017, Transport for Greater Manchester said that it was considering bringing in a revenue neutral £7.50 daily charge for drivers of polluting vehicles as part of plans for Clean Air Zones.

The council leaders have a statutory responsibility to present plans reducing the amount of harmful nitrogen oxide in the air to legal limits to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by 31 December 2018 and must implement a Clean Air Zone unless a suitable alternative compliance strategy can be identified.

The other main motorways serving Manchester are the M56 (to the airport, Chester and the M6 southbound to Birmingham), the M61 (to Bolton, Preston and the M6 northbound to Lancaster), the M62 (west to Liverpool and east to Leeds and Kingston upon Hull), the M66 (to Bury) and the M67, which was originally planned as a route to Sheffield but was never completed.

As part of their Bee Network initiative, Transport for Greater Manchester have designated several traffic-free routes within the M60 motorway as "cycleways".

[17] Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales all operate trains through Manchester.

The urban and suburban areas are covered by a sizeable network of railway lines, including to Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Stockport and Wigan.

From 1998 to 2008, the West Coast Main Line linking Manchester to Glasgow, Birmingham and London was upgraded reducing journey times but fell short of the targeted 155 mph top speed.

Full funding for the project, now called the Northern Hub was confirmed in July 2012, as part of the Government's High Level Output Specification (HLOS) for the rail industry for 2014–2019.

This idea was superseded by the Picc-Vic project but light-rail was resurrected again in the 1980s; it was these proposals which led to the creation of the Metrolink, the first routes of which were opened in 1992.

[27] In July 2006, the government announced a major extension to the Metrolink system, which is intended to form the first phase of the so-called 'big bang' expansion.

If the eventual desired system is completed, passenger numbers are predicted to more than double to an estimated 50 million per year.

Since the initial approval of the system from the public, local and national government, and environmental groups, Metrolink has become something of a victim of its own popularity.

The first of Manchester City Centre's two main bus stations is in Piccadilly Gardens; a major transport interchange between Metrolink and local buses to the south.

The major routes with high passenger volumes include Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road, often claimed to be one of the busiest bus corridors in Europe.

They have subsequently introduced this to a new design for bus stop flags – firstly used in 2002 on high-priority routes – and now being erected across the entire GMPTE area.

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, several hundred bus drivers in Manchester working for Go North West went on strike for two months.

The deteriorating state of the Irwell Mersey Navigation and the excessive dues charged by the Port of Liverpool fuelled influential Mancunian businessmen such as Daniel Adamson to find a solution, and consequently the idea of a ship canal was formed.

[39] A trip from MediaCityUK at Salford Quays to Spinningfields in Manchester city centre it is hoped would take 15 to 20 minutes.

The proposal was shelved due to cost and was deemed impractical with Manchester's network of tunnels and building basements from the Victorian era creating construction difficulties.

The Guardian exchange which doubles up as a nuclear bunker also has a series of interconnected tunnels running under Manchester which total over six miles in length and 60 metres (180 feet) in depth in certain areas.

[43] Excavation work under the Manchester Arndale for this project began in the 1970s, but was soon abandoned due to costs and rumours of 'subterranean obstacles'.

Other abandoned tunnels hidden for decades have recently been discovered including a 460-metre canal tunnel from the River Irwell to the canal system[44][45][46] The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Manchester, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 89 min.