News release
19th April 2021
Almost 6,000 journeys a day in the first month of opening for new-look Silver Jubilee Bridge.
Latest figures provided by merseyflow show that almost 12% of all journeys over the River Mersey in Halton made in March 2021 were across the newly re-opened Silver Jubilee Bridge.
Almost two thirds – 60% of these – were made by registered Halton residents.
As Government restrictions continue to ease, merseyflow is anticipating that the number of total journeys across the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Mersey Gateway Bridge will continue to increase. Halton has already seen a significant increase of 33% in the number of average daily journeys over the river since the beginning of 2021.
The latest quarterly figures, which are presented in the quarterly Mersey Gateway Bridge and Silver Jubilee Bridge dashboard and cover January – March 2021, also show:
- Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) continue to fall as a percentage of journey numbers – journeys made dropped by 28% compared to this time last year, whereas PCNs have dropped by 41%
- 26% of one-off journeys were paid for through the merseyflow quick pay app – app payments rose above a quarter for the first time ever
- Almost 98% of journeys were paid for on time – the vast majority of people are paying for their journeys by midnight the day after they cross
The Silver Jubilee Bridge re-opened as a toll bridge in February 2021 after being closed for almost three and-a-half years for essential repair and remodelling work. It now provides a local alternative to the Mersey Gateway Bridge connecting Runcorn to Widnes.
The number of people using the merseyflow quick pay app is at an all-time high, with over a quarter of all one-off journeys paid for using the mobile technology. Merseyflow customers can now use it to set up a profile and use auto-pay every time they cross the bridge, giving another 24/7 quick and easy payment option alongside the website.
This option is helping reduce the number PCNs issued by offering a convenient way to pay for one-off journeys, contributing to the payment on time rate, which stands at almost 98%. The percentage of people not paying on time remains very small.
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “We’re naturally seeing an increase in traffic levels as restrictions ease and more people are returning to their places of work. We expect traffic volumes to increase over the coming months with the reopening of non-essential retail in April. It will be interesting to monitor these figures as we continue to follow the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
“It’s early days to see how traffic splits out across the two bridges but the indications are that while almost 90% of vehicles are using the Mersey Gateway Bridge, the percentage of journeys being made across the Silver Jubilee Bridge by Halton residents is almost twice as high as the equivalent percentage for the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
“This shows that the Silver Jubilee Bridge is being mainly used as a local bridge for Halton residents travelling between Runcorn and Widnes, while the overwhelming majority of traffic travelling through Halton is using Mersey Gateway, with everyone benefitting from quicker, easier and more reliable journeys over the river.”
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “The merseyflow app is increasing in popularity since its launch over a year ago, which means more people are paying on time and fewer PCNs are issued. This is a really positive step forward and we hope to see the app’s use increase even further as a quick and convenient payment option.”
“Although the merseyflow Walk-in Centre is now open, it is in high demand and we’d like to remind our customers that our contact centre and 24/7 auto phone payments systems are still there for customers as well as our website and app.”
The quarterly merseyflow dashboard provides a range of in-depth statistics and graphs which show information on the number of crossings made, average daily traffic, number of PCNs issued, methods of payment, payments made on time, total revenue and what percentage of this comes from PCNs.