Merseyrail funding wait continues

The Government is yet to offer funding to support the Liverpool City Region rail service during the Covid-19 crash in income, despite Mayor Steve Rotheram telling a parliamentary committee this week the picture for local transport networks was “stark”.

In May, Manchester received £13m from the Government to support Metrolink, as part of £283m allocated to light rail and bus services across the country.

However, the Liverpool City Region missed out on a settlement as Merseyrail is not classed as light rail.

The metro mayor has now said local transport services are likely to become unsustainable in their current form due to the impact of the coronavirus lockdown, the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region has said.

Appearing virtually before parliament’s transport select committee this week, Steve Rotheram said there was a stark picture facing local transport networks.

Across Merseyside, income from passenger fares has dropped by 90% during lockdown, while local rail and bus capacity is at around 20% of pre-crisis levels, because of social distancing measures.

In-addition, the initial response to coronavirus is likely to have cost the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority £17m to August, plus another £10m losses likely by the end of the year.

The Metro Mayor warned that, as a result, without significant flexible, long-term funding from central government, local transport authorities would be forced to make damaging austerity cuts that risk constraining the economic recovery.

He also said that government bailouts which go direct to bus and rail companies were a “bad deal for taxpayers”, as they do not incentivise companies operating across transport modes to integrate services. Instead he said the money should go directly to mayors and transport authorities, who could ensure that the services were put on that best served the public.

Currently, the region’s rail network remains the only local network yet to receive any kind of support funding from

Rotheram said: “The coronavirus has obviously disrupted our plans, but I am trying to work with Government in a way that will help our region through this crisis and enable us to build the world-class transport network we deserve.

“I have been doing everything within my power to protect people’s safety while keeping the region moving but this crisis has exposed the problems with the way our country does public transport.

“The status quo is unsustainable for local transport. Without significant support from central government, many authorities will be forced to make cuts which will seriously damage our economic recovery.”