City region one of six mayoral authorities receiving central government support to franchise vital bus services.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, and Simon Lightwood, Minister for Buses and Local Transport, were at the launch today of new locally controlled bus services in St Helens. Publicly owned services will be rolled out across the Wirral later this year and to the rest of the city region in 2027.
The government says that people in Liverpool will now enjoy more frequent journeys, better route connections and a state-of-the-art, brand new Metro Fleet. Local leaders will also have more say over routes, branding and fares, which could mean cheaper journeys across the city.
Buses are already franchised in London and Manchester. Leaders in the West Midlands also recently took control of local bus services.
More than 93m bus journeys were taken in the Liverpool City Region last year, and the government says bus travel is the most popular form of transport in England. Over the summer, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a £2 cap on bus fares to begin in January, as well as extensions to free bus passes for disabled people, in a bid to open up opportunities and access to work and education.
Some £86.3m of central government funding is being made available up to 2029 to deliver better services for bus passengers. In addition, a one-off fund of £3m has been established to help mayors take control of their local services.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham says: ‘After four decades of deregulation, Mayor Steve Rotheram is getting back control of the Liverpool City Region’s buses, and we are backing him with the funding and powers needed to make it happen. This is what putting power in the hands of communities looks like and why I have established No.10 North. We are giving local leaders the levers they need to take back control of local services, shape their own future and bring back hope.’
Simon Lightwood, Minister for Buses and Local Transport, adds: ‘We’re giving those who best know Liverpool’s buses even more power to deliver better, more affordable and reliable services. This is a huge testament to Mayor Steve Rotheram’s determination to put buses back at the heart of the community – and to our No.10 North mission to put power back where it belongs: in local hands. From the national £2 bus fare cap to free bus travel for disabled people, we’re backing better buses and reversing decades of decline.’
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, says: ‘For nearly 40 years, bus deregulation has failed communities like ours. Routes have been chopped and changed, fares have risen and local leaders have been left without the power to shape a service that millions of people rely on every year.
‘From this weekend, that change will be impossible to miss. Almost overnight, people will start seeing our new yellow British-built buses appearing on the roads – a very visible sign that our buses are coming back under public control and that a new era for public transport in our region has begun.
‘For me, public transport is a public service. It should be run in the interests of the people who use it, connecting communities with jobs, education and opportunity – not simply dictated by what makes the most commercial sense. That’s why we’re taking back control. It means we can decide where buses go, how often they run and what passengers pay and reinvest in a network that is more reliable, more affordable and better joined up.’
Photo by Mark McNeill / Unsplash
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