Liverpool City Region Bus Franchising

[sth77]

RE: Liverpool City Region Bus Franchising

(29/08/2026 07:11)MTL0201 Wrote:  Here's a ludicrous issue when the X3 starts under franchising next weekend

Merseytravel
@Merseytravel
Hello, Yes, that’s correct. A standard Merseytravel Metro ticket would not be valid for the entire X3 journey from St Helens to LJLA because the route crosses into Halton. The ticket would cover the Merseyside section, but an additional fare would be required for the section within Halton, including around Pex Hill/Cronton College. - Thanks K

https://x.com/Merseytravel/status/2092215252045750381

I thought the idea of franchising was to get rid of these anomalies & & allow travel throughout the route.

I’ve said this on another group but the whole ticketing thing is a joke and hasn’t been thought through properly. They are expecting people to pay more, Merseytravel Solo tickets are slightly more expensive then current operator only tickets for the same period length for example a solo weekly is £23.60 whereas a stagecoach weekly is £22.50 something like that anyway.

I also think that there should be a bus & train ticket instead of a solo, Merseyrail only or a trio. The easiest way to do this would be to have an Oyster card system where you can ‘top up’ your metro card by a certain amount that can be used on all and set reasonable fares like in London and then when you reach a ‘daily’ limit it becomes free.