State Of The Map 2007/Getting there

Contents 1 Travel 1.1 Car 1.2 Parking 1.3 Take a lift 1.3.1 Offering a lift to Manchester from: 1.3.1.1 London 1.3.1.2 Birmingham 1.3.1.3 Bedford 1.3.1.4 Edinburgh 1.3.1.5 Liverpool 1.3.2 Needing a lift to Manchester from: 1.3.2.1 London 1.3.2.2 Birmingham 1.3.2.3 Edinburgh 1.4 Bus 1.5 Bike 1.6 Train 1.7 Fly 1.7.1 Flying Connections 2 Buddy System

Travel

Car

• Manchester is off the M6 if driving from the south, come off at Junction 19 onto the A556 following signs for Manchester Airport (M56). Stay on M56 till A5103. Follow signs for the Universities.

Parking

Parking at the university is available. We paid £3 for the day on the site visit. University car park locations at:

• Multi Storey Car Park B: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30732060
• Multi Storey Car Park D: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30732036
• Car Park E: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30732030
• Car Park F: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30732028
• Car Park G: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30733591

• There is also a car park by the Days Hotel / Ibis Hotel in Charles Street: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30736252

Take a lift

• Probably the most environmentally friendly. 5 people in a car means moving only 200Kg/person of vehicle via a direct route. Please consider offering driver proportion of vehicle running costs (fuel, maintenance). Total running cost probably 25p/mile for most cars. If split between 5 people=6.25p/mile.

Offering a lift to Manchester from:

London

• User:Steve will be driving from Reigate (south of london, near gatwick airport) on thursday or friday. Will pass Heathrow also - just need to confirm when I'm driving up.

User:ivansanchez will be travelling in SteveC's car

• User:NickH will consider driving if another driver shares the load and we can fill my car.
• User:Firefishy will be driving from Sudbury Hill (North West London), Friday morning. Return Sunday Night.

Birmingham

• Blackadder will be travelling up by car on Friday evening. Room for 3 others.

Bedford

• Ojw will probably hire a car. - maybe not, if parking is non-free

Edinburgh

Liverpool

• User:Mcknut Only down the road but if you're flying into Liverpool airport I should be able to offer a lift. Will depend on numbers obviously and I'd prefer not to make multiple trips where possible. If not the train should cost around ten pounds for a return and take about an hour.

Needing a lift to Manchester from:

London

Birmingham

Edinburgh

Bus

• National Express run frequent services to Manchester from main airports, and medium/big cities in the UK. They arrive and depart from Chorlton Street Central Bus Station.
• Megabus is a cheaper but slightly slower alternative.

• Bus stop within 200m of venue outside the Student Union building: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30733444

Bike

There are bike racks within 50m of the conference venue.

Train

The main train station for arrival into Manchester is Manchester Picaddilly and is not far from the University (15-20min walk say).

• Manchester Piccadilly railway Station is at: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/673971

• Train tickets can be bought cheaply in advance on http://thetrainline.com and collected at one of several stations. Make sure which station you're collecting them at, or find someone in the UK to post them to you.
• Virgin trains run 2 trains per hour each way to/from London Euston.
• Virgin trains run 1 train per hour to/from the south coast.
• Virgin trains run 2 trains per hour to/from Birmingham New Street (including 1 to the south coast).
• Virgin trains run 1 train per hour to/from the Scotland via the west coast.
• There are frequent trains to/from Manchester Airport.

Note that the "University Shuttle" bus does not run from Manchester Picaddilly at the weekends. Bus stop within 200m of venue outside the Student Union building: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/30733444

Fly

• Manchester Airport at http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.4/node/26608440 is approximately 10 miles from the University and gets flights from British Airways, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Jet2 and others from various bits of europe and the rest of the world. Use skyscanner.net to find flights to Manchester or flightmapping.com if SkyScanner doesn't help you.

The taxi fare from the airport is approximatley £20. For the bus, use numbers 43 or 44.

• London Gatwick is easily reachable from most parts of Europe.
• London Stansted
• London Luton

Flying Connections

• Manchester Airport: frequent trains to the centre of Manchester
• Liverpool Airport (many budget airlines from cities around Europe): travelling to Manchester should take < 1 hour by train. User:Mcknut may be able to offer a lift depending on numbers/times (see above).
• Luton Airport: about 3.5 hours by train, with a change at Milton Keynes or Nottingham; National Express runs buses (~5 hour journey) with a change at Birmingham or Milton Keynes.
• Stansted Airport: about 4 hours by train, via London. National Express runs buses (6-7 hour journey), change at Birmingham or Milton Keynes.
• London Gatwick Airport: by train via Reading or London (travel from Victoria to Euston on the Underground).
• London Heathrow: get to London via Underground (40 mins, cheap) or Heathrow express (30 mins, expensive), then take Manchester train from Euston station.

Remember to book train tickets in advance! (see Train)

Buddy System

Please volunteer to be a buddy to help people travelling from overseas on the best way to get to SOTM with your local knowledge of trains and flights.

• Richard is happy to advise on train travel to Manchester.