# Metro (Liverpool City Region)

Metro is a planned network of franchised bus services within the boundaries of the Liverpool City Region combined authority area, created under the bus franchising provisions of the Bus Services Act 2017. First announced in October 2023 by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LRCRA) Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, the network is set to commence operations in 2026, starting in St Helens.

## History
### Deregulation

Prior to the creation of the metropolitan county of Merseyside on 1 April 1974, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive was formed on 1 November 1970 to run the bus and rail services of the new county. Bus services provided by municipally-owned operators in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Wallasey, St Helens and Southport were brought under the Merseyside Transport name, with some bus services also operated in co-operation with state-owned National Bus Company subsidiaries Crosville and Ribble.
The Transport Act 1985 ordered the deregulation of bus services across Great Britain, as well as the break-up of the six passenger transport executives and the National Bus Company, all of which began taking effect from 26 October 1986. Merseyside PTE's bus operations were spun off into an 'arm's length' company named Merseybus, which was eventually sold into privatisation by the PTE's successor Merseytravel to Merseybus employees and management in a £5.9 million (equivalent to £15,422,000 in 2023) Employee Share Ownership Plan in December 1992, forming MTL Trust Holdings Limited.
As an immediate consequence of deregulation, however, Merseyside's bus passengers faced reduced services and fare increases ranging from between 55% and 150%. 'Bus wars' in and around Merseyside were not uncommon in the years immediately after deregulation, with particularly heavy competition seen between Merseybus and fellow former municipal GM Buses on Liverpool to Manchester bus services. As of September 2024, the two largest bus operators within the boundaries of the Liverpool City Region are Arriva Merseyside, who purchased MTL Trust Holdings in 2000, and Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire, who purchased Gillmoss-based Glenvale Transport in 2005. A small number of independently-owned bus operators, such as Aintree Coachline and Peoplesbus, also operate some Merseytravel contract services within the region.

### Public consultations

The Bus Services Act 2017 granted combined authorities such as the Liverpool City Region the ability to partially re-regulate their local bus services, permitting them to franchising services to commercial bus operators in a similar system to those operated by Transport for London. In November 2021, LCRA Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram announced that a £667 million ten-point Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which included securing 'flexible funding to support set up costs for the region's preferred option of franchising or enhanced partnership', had been submitted to the central government.
In March 2022, it was announced that members of the LCRCA had voted in favour of introducing bus franchising across the Liverpool City Region. A public consultation, titled 'Moving Buses Forward', was then launched by the LCRCA in July 2023 to determine whether local bus users preferred franchising or an enhanced partnership network. Following this consultation, as well as an audit into the scheme's viability, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram announced that the Liverpool City Region's buses would be franchised starting in 2026.

## Franchising process

The aim of Metro bus network is for it to operate alongside the Merseyrail commuter rail network to create a London-style transport system similar to that of the Bee Network in Greater Manchester. The franchising system is set to be rolled out across Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire between 2026 and 2027 in five 'rounds', similar to the three 'tranches' utilised during the Bee Network bus franchising process:
* Round 1: St Helens
* Round 2: Wirral
* Round 3: Sefton
* Round 4: North Liverpool & North Knowsley
* Round 5: South Liverpool, South Knowsley & Halton
Public consultations with residents in the listed areas are ongoing, with the first consultations in St Helens taking place between February and March 2024.
In February 2025, as well as pledging that bus franchising will commence a year earlier than first planned during 2026, Steve Rotherham announced the introduction of an express Metro bus service between St Helens and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. A £119 million investment plan for the Metro network, including new buses, depot and infrastructure upgrades, is to be considered during meetings of the LCRCA in March 2025. Prior to this announcement, the Kelsian Group's Tower Transit operation, previously a Transport for London contractor, purchased the 30-vehicle operations of independent Huyton Travel to position itself in the Liverpool City Region ahead of the Metro franchising rollout.

### MetroCard

The LCRCA announced in December 2023 that a 'tap and go' MetroCard contactless ticket system, similar to Transport for London's Oyster card, would start to replace paper tickets and smartcards on Merseyrail services from autumn 2024 in a two-stage rollout. The system, which currently makes use of a physical MetroCard to buy and use tickets, is planned to be extended to both the franchised bus network and the Mersey Ferry in the future; 'tap and go' MetroCard payments are planned to be payable through bank cards or a mobile app on smartphones and smartwatches.

### Vehicles

Metro buses are to be painted in a livery of yellow, grey and black with prominent 'Metro' fleetnames. £26.1 million of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding was announced to have been set aside for the purchase of up to 100 battery electric double decker buses for use on Metro services in September 2024. This was followed with the first of 56 Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs, branded in Metro livery, entering service with Arriva Merseyside ahead of the first round of franchising in December 2024. In February 2025, the LCRCA announced that an order had been placed for 58 Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV battery electric double-deckers, ordered separately from the Sustainable Transport Settlement fund.
Prior to the franchising announcement, the LCRCA took delivery of 20 Metro-specification and 'publicly-owned' Alexander Dennis Enviro400FCEV fuel cell buses in November 2022, which were to be operated on contract from the LCRCA by both Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire and Arriva Merseyside on service 10A between Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens. The first of these buses began entering service with Arriva in May 2023, however before a stable supply of green hydrogen was found and a battery refit was performed by manufacturers Alexander Dennis, the bus fleet remained mostly out of service with both operators until mid-2024.