Newly released figures from merseyflow show that over 6.51 million residents, commuters and visitors crossed the River Mersey in Halton between January and March 2026.
This made it the busiest first quarter of the year for traffic on the bridges since the Mersey Gateway Bridge opened back in 2017.
Over 2.1 million vehicles are consistently making the journey over the bridges each month, with the vast majority of drivers choosing to pay for their crossings using automated or digital payment methods.
The newly released quarterly figures from merseyflow include trips made across the Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge, both of which are covered by the same merseyflow toll/charging system. They cover January – March 2026, and show:
- BUSIEST JANUARY – MARCH PERIOD EVER – 6.51 million journeys were made over the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridges in January – March 2026, making it the busiest first quarter ever
- SILVER JUBILEE BRIDGE BREAKS NEW QUARTERLY RECORD – with over 1.14 million journeys made between January – March 2026
- MORE CUSTOMERS THAN EVER CHOOSING TO REGISTER WITH MERSEYFLOW AND USE THE AUTO-TOP UP SYSTEM - shown by 94% of customers using digital or automated payment methods.
- PCNs STAY CONSISTENT AS A % OF OVERALL JOURNEYS – 97.8% of journeys were paid for on time
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “We’re now consistently seeing traffic volumes over the two million vehicles mark every month. That shows how important the connectivity that the two bridges provide is to our regional economy.”
“As traffic levels continue to grow year-on-year, it’s interesting to see that the Silver Jubilee Bridge had its busiest three-month period since it reopened.”
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “It’s now six months since we launched our upgraded app, which now mirrors the full functionality of the merseyflow website. Customers can now manage their accounts, access discount schemes, and make payments using either the merseyflow app or website on whichever device they want. Recent app enhancements include face or fingerprint ID for even faster access, and also the ability to add multiple vehicles to a pay as you go account.”
“We’re seeing that the vast majority of crossings over the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges are being paid on time through our auto-pay systems, like the app and website.”
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. The latest dashboard statistics can be found at www.merseyflow.co.uk/stats
Image credit: Kenno's Drone