Local Transport Plan Citizen Consultation

Public transport in Liverpool City Region will be Net Zero by 2035.

Being ‘Net Zero’ means the amount of greenhouse gases being put out into the atmosphere is the same as the amount being removed from the atmosphere.

Carbon emissions from road traffic are one of the biggest causes of greenhouse gases, so we need to make travelling on foot, by wheels or by public transport better a more attractive option and reduce the number of diesel and petrol vehicles travelling on our roads. 

We will increase the number of electric buses in our region, build more charging points for electric vehicles and get more people walking and cycling.  

Any new schemes that we develop or fund, will need to demonstrate how they support our shift to net zero by 2035.

Based on an estimate that only 63%-75% of cars will be zero emission vehicles by 2035 we must increase the use of public transport and active travel if we are to achieve net zero by 2035.

This means:

Levels of car trips will need to reduce by between 11% and 21%. This is equivalent to taking 216,000 - 395,000 daily car trips off the road, or by 346-372 car trips per per person, including non-car users.

Bus trips will need to increase by 61%-82%, rail trips will need to increase by 69%-72% and cycling and walking trips will need to increase by between 8% and 35%.

To do achieve the changes needed, we will:

We will make improvements to public transport services to give people more choices and help make the big shift that is needed from car usage to clean, zero emission alternatives. This will include more public transport services and new routes, especially in the evenings and weekends.

We will target areas where there are big gaps in the transport network and where lots of trips are currently made by car.

We'll make it easier for people to walk, cycle and wheel the ‘last mile’ of their journey. The last mile is usually the final part of your journey once you have got off the bus, train or ferry and are heading to work, education, home or a leisure activity.  

We will work with the central Government and local partners to improve and reduce overcrowding at Liverpool Central Station and improve essential rail links between Liverpool and our neighbouring city of Manchester for moving both people and freight.

We will work with our partners to provide real and practical alternatives to owning a car, such as car clubs which allow members to hire a car by the mile.  We will also test new forms of travel, like legal e-scooters and e-bikes.

We want to repurpose parking spaces, making them available for e-scooters, car club vehicles or for charging electric vehicles, making better use of the limited spaces we have.

We will incentivise zero emission electric vehicles, through increasing the number of charging points, and we will work with our partners to brings taxis and private hire vehicles to the same quality standards across the city region.

We will review road space and look at ways to improve road conditions, to give priority to walking, cycling, e-bikes, e-scooters and clean public transport, such as electric vehicles.

We will fund and support schemes which re-prioritise highway space to give priority to buses and our most vulnerable road users, such as children, disabled people, cyclists.

We'll typically no longer fund or support transport schemes that create more space only for private care and vans to encourage more public transport use.

This may mean some journey times by car or private vehicle may become slower, less direct or less convenient in the short term.

In the long term it will help to create better conditions for all residents, by having less traffic and less congestion on our roads.

We will work with Liverpool City Council to change how traffic and transport moves around Liverpool City Centre.

It will be a radical transformation which will making it easier and more pleasant to walk, cycle, wheel and travel by public transport.

We will also look at doing this at other major towns in our region.

We will support projects which can efficiently move freight goods by rail, sea, rivers or canals instead of a high polluting road transport, to help reduce the impact on our communities and environment.  

We will also ensure that people working in the transport and logistics industry have access to good quality rest and toilet facilities. 

This policy includes:

1. Working with the Government and partners to improve the rail network and capacity.
2. Supporting the uptake of clean, zero emission fuels for all forms of transport, supported by charging points or new fuel facilities,
3. Reducing the impact of lorries on our communities by moving goods onto smaller numbers of delivery vehicles or clean forms of travel, including bikes. 

“Polluter pays” is a principle that recommends that the most polluting forms of travel should pay more for their journey than the cleanest forms of travel, to incentivise change.

Tunnel tolls and discounting on the Mersey Tunnels will be kept under review. This may mean the pricing will change to incentivise travel which uses clean fuel such as electricity.

We will work with our partners to review and reduce parking availability in the region to encourage more public transport use and make better use of road space and road verges, i.e the side of the road between the pavement and the traffic.

We don’t think that a local road pricing or congestion charging system is right for our city region.  Instead, we will work with Government to look at this at national level, which we consider a much fairer approach.