Social Value Ideas for Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Broad Green accessibility delay

Broad Green station's accessibility scheme was two years late after Northern and its contractors failed to progress the works, prompting intervention up to ministerial level and a transfer of commissi…

“but the blot on the copybook for us was a scheme that northern trains were meant to commission at Broad Green station and it was meant to be delivered…”

108 zero-emission buses ordered

The authority has ordered 108 zero-emission buses from Alexander Dennis and Wrightbus, with delivery expected by the end of 2025 into early 2026. These vehicles are tied to the planned 2026 franchisin…

“In terms of the zero emission vehicles, 108 zero emission busses have been ordered and are being produced by the UK's two major manufacturers Alexande…”

£1.6bn transport funding pipeline

The Combined Authority secured £1.6 billion of transport funding for the 2027 onwards period and has started to profile the planning and spend proposal for that period. This is a major capital pipelin…

“We did get a good national settlement, we got 1 .6 billion pounds of transport funding in the spending review for 2027 onwards and we've already start…”

£1.6bn transport capital funding

The combined authority will receive £1.6 billion of capital funding between 2027 and 2032 through Transport for the City Regions funding. This provides the medium-term funding base for transport deliv…

“The spending review also committed to other funding sources. This is covered in section 4 .9. Many of these still haven't been clarified. They are lik…”

£1.6bn transport settlement

The Mayor confirmed a £1.6 billion transport allocation for the city region, enabling acceleration of bus, rail and station projects. He referenced 128 zero-emission buses from early next year, potent…

“But the chancellor did confirm in a letter the £1,600,000,000 for the Liverpool City region, which is a TCR. It's had so many different names, CRSTS, …”

Merseyrail operating model review

Officers are exploring options for the future Merseyrail operating model, including extending the current contract, retendering when it ends in 2028, or bringing services in-house. External experts ha…

“the commitment to look at a new operating model for Mersey Rail was actually a subject of a paper at the Combined Authority in March and the combined …”

Tranche 1 bus franchise tender

The first tranche of the bus franchise procurement is live, with bids received and evaluation underway. The authority reports strong market interest and a robust competition for the initial franchise …

“The second point I wanted to draw attention to is the procurement process that we're running which is well underway now for Tranch One for the first c…”

No bus conductors planned

The authority confirmed it has no plans to specify an additional onboard person such as a bus conductor in the franchise model. Safety and passenger assistance will instead be addressed through other …

“Yes, I'm pleased to say that question. There are no plans. We've not specified in the bus franchise competitions to put a second person on board the b…”

Bus depot acquisition and CPO

The bus franchising model depends on the combined authority owning bus depots and fleets. Commercial negotiations with current depot owners are underway, while a compulsory purchase order process has …

“First of all, owning our depots and our fleet creates a level playing field for all bidders who are trying to win the franchises, regardless of whethe…”

Procurement split across tranches

The bus franchising programme is being procured in stages: category one and category two contracts are divided into tranche 1 and tranche 2, with staggered go-live dates through September 2027. This s…

“But the different colour coding represents the fact there's two categories of contracts that we're tendering for. Category one large contracts it's ba…”

Merseyrail in-house option advanced

Members agreed to move into detailed analysis and transition planning for a possible in-house Merseyrail model beyond the current concession end in July 2028. The work will assess direct public owners…

“14 is a report which gives an update on all of the work that's being undertaken to shape the future of the Mersey Rail concession. and that is beyond …”

Avanti fleet and refurb spend

Avanti West Coast described major investment in new rolling stock and refurbishment, including a £350m new fleet and £117m spent refurbishing the Pendolino fleet. The company said the Pendolino work w…

“Our investment in customer experience is also quite significant. As well as the procurement and introduction of a £350 million new fleet of Evaro trai…”