Liverpool City Region Combined Authority releases essential info on festive public transport and tunnels, including free Christmas Day buses and free Mersey Tunnels

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has published a guide to travelling on buses, trains or through the Mersey Tunnels over the festive period.

Passengers are being urged to plan their journeys before travelling. Mersey Tunnels will once again be free between 10pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on Boxing Day.

Supported bus services will cover most hospital routes between around 12 noon and 6pm on Christmas Day. Merseyrail’s special Boxing Day services will make a welcome return stopping at selected stations on both the Northern and Wirral lines.

Click here for a full round-up of transport information.

Below is a round-up of some of the bus, train and ferry services across Liverpool city region over the Christmas and New Year period.

Christmas Day – Wednesday, December 25

• A special network of free bus services, funded by the Combined Authority, will run between approximately 12 noon and 6pm, covering most hospital routes.
• No other bus services will operate.
• No trains will operate.
• Mersey Ferries will not operate
• Kingsway (Wallasey) Mersey Tunnel and the Queensway (Birkenhead) Mersey Tunnel will be open throughout the holiday period. Both tunnels will be toll free from 10pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on Boxing Day.

New Year’s Eve – Tuesday, December 31 

Services across rail and bus finish much earlier than usual on New Year’s Eve – if you are heading out to enjoy the festivities, please make sure you plan ahead and look at alternative arrangements to get home.

Bus services

Bus services may vary over the festive period. Very limited bus services will be operating on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Visit the Travel Updates page for latest planned changes to services and make sure you check with the operators including Arriva and Stagecoach.

Football Fixtures

On Thursday December 26, Liverpool will play Leicester City at Anfield, kick-off is 8pm. The following buses will be running to their normal timetables:

• 917 Liverpool FC (Stagecoach)
• Taxi One (A & J Taxis)
• Soccerbus (Stagecoach)

On Sunday, December 29, Everton will play Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park, kick-off is 3pm. The following buses will be running to their normal timetables:

• Soccerbus (Stagecoach)
• 919 Everton FC (Stagecoach)

Rail

During the festive period there will be changes to the timetables of all rail operators, with some services finishing earlier than usual (particularly on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) and some services not running.

Merseyrail will be running some services on Boxing Day. This includes some services for the Liverpool v Leicester City match and the races at Aintree.

There will also be changes to other services during the Christmas period. You can find full details on their website at www.merseyrail.org.

No other operators will be running services on Boxing Day.

There will be some changes to services run by Northern Trains particularly on Sundays including some cancellations and rail replacement bus services. Details can be found on their website. Check Before you Travel: Information About Disruption | Northern

If you’re heading out of the region by rail during this time, check your journey plans by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk

Mersey Tunnels

Kingsway and Queensway Tunnels will remain open throughout the festive period. Both tunnels will be free between 10pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on Boxing Day.

Mersey Ferries

• Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 December – River Explorer Cruise service operating as normal.
• Monday 23 December – Commuter and River Explorer services operating as normal.
• Mersey Ferries will not operate on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Friday 27 Dec and New Year’s Day.
• River Explorer Cruises will operate between Saturday 28 and Tuesday 31 December from the Pier Head at 11am, then hourly until the last service which will depart from the Pier Head at 3pm, arriving at Seacombe 3.20pm. There will be no commuter service during this period.
• Normal service will resume on Thursday, January 2, with the first commuter service at 7.20am from Seacombe and the first River Explorer Cruise departing from the Pier Head at 10am. Visit www.merseyferries.co.uk for more information.

Please note all the information may be subject to change – make sure you check directly with operators before your journeys.