Transport in Liverpool
Liverpool is a major city in North West England with significant road, rail, and ferry networks, in addition to an international airport and a well-known dock system.
The west to east M62 motorway connects Liverpool (since completion of junction 4 in 1976) with Hull, and also provides a link with areas including Manchester, Leeds, and Huddersfield.
Not far along the M62 from Liverpool is the interchange with the north to south M6 that provides links to more distant areas including Birmingham, Staffordshire, the Lake District and the border with Scotland.
[3] Merseytravel acts as the responsible authority for the planning and commissioning of local bus services in Liverpool and throughout the wider Merseyside area.
As part of this ambition, a new integrated smart ticketing system with fare capping will be introduced,[9] and under the provisions of the Bus Services Act 2017, a new public franchising model will be launched across the Liverpool City Region from 2026 onwards, under which operators can bid for Merseytravel contracts to run buses under the Metro brand.
The first ever elevated train line and what could be conceived as a metro today, the Liverpool Overhead Railway first started ferrying dockers in 1893, ending its life with decreased ridership in 1957.
The local urban rail network, which is underground in the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead, is managed and run by Merseyrail and serves the whole of Merseyside, also providing links beyond.
The Wirral line, which runs through the Mersey Railway Tunnel and has branches to New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester, and Ellesmere Port.
[16] The primary operator for mainline services out of Liverpool is Northern, who provide local links to other towns and cities in the North West including Blackpool, Manchester, Preston, Warrington, and Wigan.
[17][18][19] Many of these services also call at other stations within the city including Broad Green, Edge Hill, Hunts Cross, Huyton, South Parkway, and Wavertree Technology Park.
[21][22][23] From March 2019, Transport for Wales started to operate an hourly service to Chester via the recently upgraded Halton Curve.
After central government insisted on additional guarantees prior to the release of previously committed funds, it was cancelled in November 2005 and the project finally killed off in 2013.
The airport's logo consists of a sketch that John Lennon had drawn of himself, and the words "Above us only sky", lyrics from his song "Imagine".
The sensitivity surrounding the airport's name change meant that the logo had to be designed in secret before it could be unveiled by John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.
There is a scheduled rail service from Liverpool Lime Street station to Manchester Airport for flights to North America and Asia.
Liverpool's position on the River Mersey, close to the mouth into the Irish Sea, has contributed to its rise as a major port within the United Kingdom.
[24] The Port and Canal form the "green" gateway to an economy of more than 120,000 industrial and commercial enterprises and a population equal to that of greater London.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in August 2019 that they were planning on using £172m of funding on several major transport projects.
