Transport access to Everton’s new stadium at Bramley Moore was in the headlines last week when Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotherham revealed an uninspiring cattle grid of barriers at Sandhills Station.
The £800,000 ‘development’, which consists of uncovered barriers spread throughout the station’s car park, reingited debate about the transport options facing Everton fans when the new stadium opens its doors.
It was combined with a controversial new ‘no parking’ zone that stretches from the north end of the stadium into the city centre and stretching as far as Goodison Park. The new exclusion zone means fans will not be able to park anywhere near the stadium for match days.
Everton plan to introduce bus routes to Bootle to the north of the stadium and to the city centre to the south of the stadium so that fans can park away from the ground and use buses to reach the stadium. It has described Bootle and the city centre as a ‘transport hubs’ for the new ground, allowing people to leave their cars and travel in by bus or coach.
According to the planning documents submitted by the club there will be ways for fans to drive to the stadium when it opens. The key will be timing. Fans are able to be dropped off outside the stadium’s gates on Regent Road at any time up to two hours before kick off. After that time the road will be closed and there will be no access for fans.
Great Howard Street, the main route into the city centre to the south, will also be closed after match days for a period of time. Surrounding roads throughout Vauxhall will be closed off to match going fans in cars in order to create pedestrian routes towards Liverpool.
Everton are banking on fans using public transport to get to the match. Fans are able to park in Liverpool city centre, with a selection of car parks available near Moorfields Station and in Vauxhall around the Leeds Street area. To help fans reach the stadium there will then be new bus services in place.
Two shuttle bus routes will operate to carry supporters to and from Bramley-Moore Dock in the
pre- and post-match periods. The first service will run between the stadium and Liverpool city
centre. The other service will run between the stadium and Bootle town centre.
The city centre shuttle would run on a frequent basis from St John’s Lane at Lime Street, to
Derby Road northbound, south of Blackstone Street in the pre-match period. The service would
then run from Derby Road southbound, south of the junction with Boundary Street to St John’s
Lane in the post-match period. In this way the service will pass close to Moorfields, James
Street and Lime Street stations.
Shuttle buses from Bootle would drop off and pick up from Boundary Street northbound
adjacent to Atlantic Park. In Bootle, the main stops could include Bootle bus station as the
terminus, and additional stops on Stanley Road near the Merton Inn and close to car parks
could be considered.
Commercial service buses are expected to operate to their existing timetables along corridors in
the area, namely Vauxhall Road, Stanley Road, Scotland Road and Great Homer Street.
The existing services provide links between the city centre to a range of destinations primarily
north including Bootle, Netherton, Walton, Aintree, Maghull and Kirkby.
Coach parking will be provided across several locations, namely Regent Road, Bankfield Street,
Bankhall Lane and Sandhills Lane. The coach bays will be temporary and operate on match day
only, controlled by traffic management stewards.
There will also be three taxi ranks located around the stadium. Three taxi ranks will be provided for black cabs for supporters to use, particularly in the postmatch period where taxis can rank up and carry supporters away from the area. The following
ranks will be provided:
● Northern Rank – Sandhills Lane
● Central Rank – Boundary Street
● Southern Rank – Dublin Street
Alongside bus, train and parking provisions the new stadium will provide space of 152 cycles across the site, with room identified for expansion by 60 cycles to 212 in future should demand materialise.