Transport in the Isle of Man


There are a number of transport services around the Isle of Man, mostly consisting of paved roads, public transport, rail services, sea ports and an airport.

Roads

The island has a total of of public roads, all of which are paved. Roads are numbered using a numbering scheme similar to the numbering schemes of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; each road is assigned a letter, which represents the road's category, followed by a 1 or 2 digit number. A roads are the main roads of the island whilst roads labelled B, C, D or U decrease in size and/or quality. There is no national speed limit - some roads may be driven at any speed which is safe and appropriate. Careless and dangerous driving laws still apply, so one may not drive at absolutely any speed, and there are local speed limits on many roads. Many unrestricted roads have frequent bends which even the most experienced driver cannot see round. Drivers are limited to in the first full year after passing their driving test.
Set against this is a strong culture of motor sport enthusiasm and many residents familiar with the roads are well used to traversing country roads at speeds illegal on similar roads elsewhere. This leads to a very diverse spread of both driving competence and speed. In an official survey in 2006 the introduction of blanket speed limits was refused by the population, suggesting that a large number appreciate the freedom.
There is a comprehensive bus network, operated by Bus Vannin, a department of the Isle of Man Government, with most routes originating or terminating in Douglas.

Railways

The island has a total of of railway. There are seven separate public rail or tram systems on the island:
RailwayLocationApprox.
length
TrackMain
propulsion
method
Gauge
Operation
Operated by
Isle of Man RailwayDouglas - Port Erin25SingleSteam367Department of Infrastructure
Manx Electric RailwayDouglas - Ramsey27DoubleElectric367Department of Infrastructure
Snaefell Mountain RailwayLaxey - Snaefell Summit8DoubleElectric427Department of Infrastructure
Douglas Horse TramDouglas Promenade3aDoubleaEquine367Douglas Borough Council
Groudle Glen RailwayGroudle Glen,
Lonan and Onchan
1SingleSteam241 or 2Groudle Glen Railway Limited
Great Laxey Mine RailwayLaxey0.4SingleSteam191Laxey & Lonan Heritage Trust
The Orchid LineCurraghs Wildlife Park,
Ballaugh
0.6SingleSteam7.251Manx Steam & Model Engineering Club

aReduced in 2019 due to works on the promenade. These works have overrun badly, and as at October 2019 the situation with the horse trams in the 2020 season is uncertain.
All of these routes are seasonal.

Airports

The only commercial airport on the island is the Isle of Man Airport at Ronaldsway. Scheduled services operate to and from various cities in the United Kingdom and Ireland, operated by several different airlines.
The island's other paved runways are at Jurby and Andreas. Jurby remains in Isle of Man Government ownership and is used for motorsport events and, previously, airshows, while Andreas is privately owned and used by a local glider club. The old Hall Caine Airport, a grass field near Ramsey, is no longer used.

Aircraft Register

The Isle of Man Aircraft Register became operational on 1 May 2007. The register is open to all non-commercial aircraft and is intended to be of particular interest to professionally flown corporate operators.
As of November 2012 a total of 537 corporate and private aircraft had been registered.

Ports and harbours

There are ports at Castletown, Douglas, Peel, Port St Mary and Ramsey. Douglas is served by frequent ferries to/from England and occasional ferries to/from Ireland; the sole operator is the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, with exclusive use of the Isle of Man Sea Terminal and the Douglas port linkspans under the conditions of the user agreement with the Isle of Man Government.

Merchant marine

The Isle of Man register comprised 404 merchant ships of 1,000 GT or over at the end of 2017.