Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, responds to City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding confirmation

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region  today, received confirmation from the Government of  £710m to improve public transport across the region.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said:

“Good public transport is the backbone of any modern, successful city region. For many people in our communities, it is a lifeline that connects them to each other – and more importantly – to opportunity. 

“The £710m we’ve been able to secure from the government is testament to the inarguable case that we have made for the future of our transport network. I’m working to give the Liverpool City Region what London has had for decades; a network that is quick, cheap, reliable and makes getting around as easy as possible.  

“We’ll be injecting this money straight into our network – building and improving services for the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on public transport every day. That includes our ongoing work to bring our region’s buses back under public control, which has recently taken a major step forward. 

“Alongside the rollout of our new £500m publicly owned trains, efforts to deliver better, smarter ticketing, and work to build new and improved walking and cycling infrastructure, a transport revolution is underway in the Liverpool City Region.  

“We look forward to working with the Government to invest in our public transport services. But this money is only a down payment on our wider aspirations.  If the government is serious about delivering on its talk of a radical transformation of public transport, then it still needs to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to Bus Service Improvement Plan allocations. A true transformation cannot be delivered on the cheap. 

“We expect the government to be as ambitious as we are for the future of public transport in our region. For too long, people in our region have been held back from reaching their potential because of a public transport system that doesn’t work for them.   

“I want to put that right. I want a transport network that is run in the interests of the people who use it – not private profit. If it is good enough for London, it is the very least we deserve.”