News release
14 July 2022
Mersey Gateway Bridge hits 100million crossings landmark as traffic volumes continue to rise
Over 100 million crossings have now been made across the Mersey Gateway Bridge since it opened just under five years ago. The landmark journey was made on 13th July.
With the Silver Jubilee Bridge now re-opened and traffic volumes heading back above two million journeys a month towards pre-pandemic numbers, it shows how many people are benefitting from quicker, easier, and more reliable journey times over the river in Halton.
The newly released quarterly figures from merseyflow include trips made across both the Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge, both of which are covered by the same merseyflow toll/charging system. They cover April - June 2022, and show:
- Quarterly journeys hit six million for the first time since 2019 – weekday traffic in particular has seen the biggest rise with average Mon-Fri journeys at their highest since February 2020
- Both bridges see traffic volumes increase – the Mersey Gateway Bridge saw the biggest increase, but both were at their busiest since the Silver Jubilee Bridge re-opened in February 2021
- Over 97.6% of journeys were paid for on time – the vast majority of people are paying for their journeys by midnight the day after they cross
- Over 93% of payments were made through digital or automated channels – a new record as the merseyflow website, the merseyflow quick pay app and auto top-up options were increasingly popular with customers
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “To reach 100 million journeys in less than five years is a landmark which shows just how many people are using the Mersey Gateway Bridge on a daily basis. We’re also seeing consistently high payment on time rates which is important because we want people to use the bridges, take advantage of the easy ways to pay and be able to get on with their busy lives. We’ll keep working with merseyflow to improve that figure even further.”
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “We’ve now got over 93% of customers using digital or automated channels to pay for their crossings, which is great because it is the easiest and quickest way for people to pay. For us, it’s also important to provide other payment options as well, and even though it’s less than 1% of customers who use our walk-in centre or the Payzone facilities to pay, we’re committed to maintaining these as they provide an option for people who aren’t comfortable with digital channels.”
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.
To view full dashboard statistics click here