More than £32m set to be pledged for St Helens bus station

The funds will be directed from almost £110m that is being pumped into the city region's bus network.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced the plans to "radically improve services".

If agreed at next week’s Combined Authority meeting, more than £32m of the funding will be used to create the new bus interchange in St Helens town centre, off Corporation Street.

Funding will also aim to improve journey times and reliability, upgrade and purchase depot facilities.

Dozens of new zero-emission electric buses will be purchased in addition to the 58 electric double-deckers already secured by the region in April this year, via the ZEBRA (Zero Emission Bus Regional Area) fund.

Back under public control

News of the funding boost comes as work to bring the region’s bus network back into public control continues to move forward at pace.

Mayor Rotheram took the landmark decision to franchise bus services in the Liverpool City Region.

Franchised services are set to begin in St Helens in 2026 and introduced across the region by the end of 2027.

The new system will aim to allow greater local control of fares, timetables and routes.

Earlier this year, the Star reported how bus services locally had by 60 per cent in the past 15 years.

An artist's image of how St Helens' new bus station could look (Image: St Helens Council/ECF)

'Change will be transformational'

Steve Rotheram,mayor of the city region, said: “Hundreds of thousands of people in our area rely on buses to get about every day – more than 80% of all public transport journeys in the region are taken by bus. But we need to put the public back at the heart of public transport.

“Last year, I took control of our buses in the biggest shake-up to the region’s transport in decades and the change will be transformational.

"For the first time in almost 40 years, we will have control over fares, tickets and routes and will be able to ensure that services are run in the best interests of passengers – not shareholders.

“We need to make our buses a greener, dependable and more affordable option. This investment is laying the groundwork for those improvements as franchised services begin to hit the roads in 2026”

The project in St Helens is part of a wider programme of works to regenerate the town centre and is being jointly delivered by the council and development partners.

Busiest routes

Funding will also be targeted at some of the region’s busiest bus routes – including the 10A from Liverpool to St Helens, 53 from Liverpool to Crosby and 86 Liverpool to John Lennon Airport – with the aim of improving punctuality, reliability and journey times.

According to the combined authority, if approved, a total £108.1m will be drawn from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), a £710 million pot dedicated to supporting the delivery of transformational transport projects across the Liverpool City Region.

As previously reported, a temporary bus station will be created at Chalon Way, St Helens while works on the new transport interchange take place.