Liverpool City Region: Consultation launched over bus service cuts

Proposals will be looked at by the Combined Authority at a meeting on 4 March

Bus services in Merseyside are set to be cut under plans to cope with reduced passenger numbers and rising inflation.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has launched a two-week consultation into the plans which proposes changes from 4 September.

Services in Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral will be affected if the proposals are approved.

The authority said the changes were needed to allow bus services to "remain sustainable".

This includes reductions to services into Liverpool city centre on weekends and two services axed in St Helens.

However, the 10A service between Liverpool and St Helens will increase to a seven-to-eight minute frequency from Monday to Saturday and every 10 minutes on Sundays.

'Increasingly isolated'

A spokesman for the authority said: "While some services have seen a good rate of recovery in passenger numbers since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions, others have not.

"This means that they may require changes to their route or timetable to allow them to remain sustainable."

The authority added that funding from central government, which supported bus services, was due to end in the autumn.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Liz Makinson said "those who can afford it will simply give up on public transport all together".

"In many parts of Liverpool the elderly, disabled, and people on low incomes are going to find themselves increasingly isolated with only an hourly bus service," she said.

A new timetable will be published on 1 August ahead of the changes in September.

The proposals have been unveiled after it was announced earlier this month that single bus journey fares would be cut to £2, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.