Passengers back new publicly owned buses

Passengers have welcomed the return of publicly owned bus services to Merseyside for the first time since the 1980s.

The first services launched in St Helens on Sunday 6 September and will expand to the Wirral later this year. Full roll-out across the city region is expected by 2027.

Liverpool City Region secured £86.3m in government funding to help roll out the scheme. The Department for Transport said it would give local leaders greater control over routes, branding and fares, while helping improve services for passengers.

A new service to Liverpool John Lennon Airport has launched, as well as an early morning express journey to Southport.

Liverpool student Catherine Howarth, 23, is from St Helens and was full of praise for the new investment, saying the new buses feel better.

"I use the bus to go to university every day, so it is important that it is on time. After a certain time of the day they become harder to get, so it would be great if they were more frequent," she said.

She said: "It certainly looks like time and attention has been put into public transport."

Howarth added that she hoped the town would have a night bus, like Liverpool.

Dot, who has relied on buses since the death of her husband, said the new services were an improvement.

She said: "It is 100% better. They are stylish and I love the colour scheme."

One bus user was less convinced saying it was a "waste of public money".

Councillor George Woodward, leader of Reform-controlled St Helens Council, said he was cautiously optimistic.

He added: "We are happy we have power over the routes so we can steer them towards more strategic employment sites."

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