Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve has hinted that a transport 'solution' for getting to Anfield stadium and Liverpool John Lennon Airport will be announced soon.
Today Mayor Rotheram announced plans to open three new Merseyrail stations on the network by the end of the decade. The Metro Mayor, who is seeking a third term in office at May's elections, said new stations at Woodchurch in Wirral, Carr Mill in St Helens and Daresbury in Halton would be the first key policy pledge of his campaign.
If the plans come to fruition, it would represent each area of the city region having a brand new station under Mr Rotheram’s tenure. The city region mayor has been under pressure over the performance of the new fleet of Merseyrail trains, with their roll-out marred by frequent cancellations and break-downs.
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In announcing the new stations plan today, Mayor Rotheram has also faced questions about other transport issues in the region and how he intends to address them.
Two issues that are regularly raised by travellers in the region concern Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium and Liverpool John Lennon Airport - both of which are not well served by public transport or Merseyrail stations at present. There are now growing questions about possible transport options for Everton's new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Responding to these questions on Twitter/x, Mayor Rotheram said: "Watch this space for a solution to the airport and football stadiums."
The ECHO understands that any solutions for these destinations is unlikely to involve new Merseyrail stations, but could potentially look at other modes of transport instead.
Last year, Mayor Rotheram suggested that the once-mothballed plans for a tram network in the region could potentially be reintroduced.
Back in 2001, as part of a local transport plan, the framework for a Merseytram project was put forward, something that would have seen the return of a tram system to Liverpool for the first time since 1957. The proposals were given the green light by central government in 2002, with £170m in funds secured to get the project up and running.
But after in-fighting between authorities about how the plan would work, as well as delays and rising costs, the project was eventually mothballed, with a reported £70m having been spent without a single track being laid.
Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside in November, Mayor Rotheram said that he was looking at an "alternative solution" that could potentially reach some of these key locations.
He said: "It is something that at some stage we will be telling the public about, but it can connect to Bramley-Moore, for instance, as we need to do more on that. But also Anfield.
"Anfield has just expanded and when that development is completed there will be another 10,000 people that need to get away from that area, so we’re looking at transport solutions, but we’ll only do it because we have devolution and a metro mayor that heads up a combined authority, in other words people working together.”
The ECHO has previously reported on the idea of light rail or trackless trams being used to transport passengers to some of these locations around the city region.
A trackless tram or "glider" has been brought in successfully in other global cities and involves long articulated buses that are able to run on dedicated areas of road.
As well as the football stadiums and the airport - there has long been an ambition in the region to use a light rail or rapid transit mode of transport to connect up Liverpool's universities and Knowledge Quarter to the wider city centre.
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