News release
18 January 2024
Busiest month ever recorded as traffic volumes across the River Mersey in Halton continue to grow
Residents, commuters, and visitors made over 2.2 million crossings over the River Mersey in Halton in October 2023, making it the busiest month ever for the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges.
More people than ever are choosing to travel across the remodeled Silver Jubilee Bridge, with over 1.01 million journeys made in October – December 2023 – the highest quarterly figures recorded since it re-opened in February 2021.
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 October - December 2023, and show that:
- October 2023 was the busiest month ever for journeys – with over 2.2 million crossings made in this month.
- Silver Jubilee Bridge hits 1 million journey milestone – with over 1.01 million journeys made between October-December 2023.
- 2023 marks the busiest fourth quarter since the Mersey Gateway opened – over 6.39 million journeys were made over the River Mersey in Halton in this quarter.
- More people are choosing to cross using the Silver Jubilee Bridge – which accounts for over 15% of journeys made across the River Mersey in Halton.
- Over 92% of customers still choosing digital payment methods – almost 140,000 payments were made using the merseyflow Quick-Pay App in October 2023, the highest monthly figure recorded since the app launched.
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “As traffic levels continue to grow it’s great to see more people choosing to use the Silver Jubilee Bridge for their crossings and taking advantage of the time savings this offers.
“We’ve come a long way since the Mersey Gateway project began and the fact that we are continuing to see traffic volumes grow year on year shows that drivers are valuing the quicker and more reliable crossings both bridges provide.”
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “Recording over 140,000 payments on our Quick-Pay app is a huge milestone and it’s fantastic to see so many of our customers using the digital channels that we’re continuing to develop and invest in.
“We’re also seeing steady numbers in other digital or automated payment services, like our Pre-Pay auto top-up option, which aims to make paying for your journey as easy as possible.”
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.
Photo credit: Steve Samosa Photography