Cash will be spent on new bus fleet and new rapid transit ‘Glider’ system to serve football stadiums and airport
The Glider Future Rapid Transit Bus on display at Anfield(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a huge £1.6bn fund for public transport projects in the Liverpool City Region.
Ms Reeves rose in the House of Commons this lunchtime to deliver her announcementon how the government will spend more than £600bn across the next few years. It was perhaps the most-anticipated moment from the new government since its election victory last July.
And there was plenty of good news for the Liverpool City Region – particularly when it comes to public transport, with the Chancellor confirming an earlier announcement that £1.6bn will be pumped into transport projects in this region over the next five years.
Ms Reeves says this government will more than double investment in local transport in England’s regions, promising to deliver the biggest ever cash boost in this area of £15.6bn.
The Treasury says this will represent a more than double real-term increase in capital spending on local transport in city regions by 2029/30 compared with 2024/25.
Liverpool City Region’s five-year-settlement allocation, from 2027/28 to 2031/32, will represent a total of £1.6bn. This will include £100m for three new bus rapid transit routes.
Announced as a major pledge in Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s election manifesto last May, the rapid transit system – similar to the Glider system in Belfast – will provide dedicated routes to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, to Anfield Stadium, and to Everton’s new ground, Hill Dickinson Stadium.
As well as the rapid transit investment, the Liverpool City Region cash will also be spent on a brand-new fleet of buses that will form part of the region’s soon-to-be franchised bus network.
As part of this process, the newly purchased fleet will begin running in St Helens and the Wirral in 2026, followed by Sefton, Knowsley, and North and South Liverpool in 2027.
And the money will also go towards the creation of three new Merseyrail stations, at Woodchurch in Wirral, Carr Mill in St Helens and Daresbury in Halton.
Speaking today, the Chancellor said: “Last week I announced £15 billion of investments to connect our cities and our towns, the biggest ever investment of its kind.
“Investments in buses in Rochdale, train stations in Merseyside and Middlesbrough, mass transit in West Yorkshire and in metro extensions in Tyne and Weir and Stockport.”
She confirmed a four-fold increase in local transport grants by the end of the parliament, which she said will “improve the journeys that people make every day.”