Photo: Liverpool Combined Authority
Liverpool to bring buses back under public control
10 October 2023
by Christopher Carey
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will take back control of its bus network following a “historic” vote last week.
Council leaders voted in favour of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s plan to introduce a system of bus franchising, which will mean decisions about routes, timetables, service frequencies and fares will be taken out of the hands of the private bus operators and put under the control of the Combined Authority.
Liverpool will become the second city region in England to retake control of buses after almost 40 years of deregulation, following Greater Manchester’s Bee Network launch last month.
“This marks the start of a new era for public transport in the Liverpool city region,” said Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram.
“While it will take a few years to re-regulate the whole network and the change will be transformational, it is not one that will happen overnight. There are several stages that we still need to go through before we can expect to see franchised buses on our roads.”
The plans could pave the way for more integrated public transport, including contactless ticketing and capped fares across the city region’s buses and trains.
Public support
An estimated 82 percent of all public transport journeys taken in the Liverpool region are made by bus.
In the last few weeks more than 6,000 people have taken part in public consultation, with almost 70 percent in favour of the franchising plan.
“This is a landmark decision and the culmination of many years of hard work and careful consideration,” said Councillor Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council and Portfolio Holder for Transport.
“The shared vision of Mayor Rotheram, myself and other leaders in the city region is of a bus service that works for everyone – and we believe that means taking greater local public control of the network so we can do things like set fares, routes and timetables.
“This important step forward means we can now start planning for how we improve bus services in the future, whether that’s by simplifying ticketing to ensure passengers always pay the lowest fares for their journeys or making sure services are better connected with rail, active travel routes and our Mersey Ferries.”
The UK government introduced laws in 1986 which saw powers to regulate bus services outside of London taken away from local authorities.
Legislation was then passed in 2017, giving powers back to mayors to introduce franchising.
There will now be a three-year transition period to allow network improvement measures such as the reintroduction of bus lanes in Liverpool, and the reforms could cost an estimated £340 million (US$415 million) to implement.
Image: Liverpool Combined Authority
