Shake up expected for Liverpool City Region’s buses

Bold plans to deliver radical improvements in bus services across the Liverpool City Region are being finalised by the region’s Combined Authority.

The Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP) will be a blueprint for delivering improvements designed to encourage more people to travel by bus. The plan is being produced with input from bus operators and local authorities in response to the government’s National Bus Strategy, with the region bidding for a share of £3 billion of national funding.

Key areas for investment include frequency improvements, fare reductions, zero emission vehicles and bus lanes.

Alongside work already taking place to reform bus services across the region, with franchising identified as the Combined Authority’s ‘emerging lead option’, the BSIP will help deliver big improvements to bus journeys in all parts of the region.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Good public transport is vital for connecting people with each other and with opportunity, with people in our region overwhelmingly relying on the bus to get about. Thanks to the failed deregulation of the 1980s, too many bus services don’t work for the people who use them.

“I’m determined to fix that. Getting around our region should be quick, cheap and reliable – like it is in London. If it’s good enough for the capital, then it’s more than good enough for people in our region.”