To help people travel safely between Liverpool and the Wirral, the N1 night bus is being reinstated from midnight on Friday, 8 December as a temporary city-wide trial.
The service – which is something students, the Guild, the Liverpool City Region Music Board and the University – have been campaigning to bring back since 2021, will run every hour from midnight to 5am, on:
- Thursday night/Friday morning
- Friday night/Saturday morning
- Saturday night/Sunday morning
The route:
- Allerton, Allerton Library
- Smithdown Road
- Myrtle Street
- Liverpool ONE Bus Station
- Scotland Road
- Birkenhead
Stagecoach operate the bus service and tickets cost £2. You can see the N1 timetable (valid from 7 December) via the Merseytravel site.
The Liverpool City Region Music Board, the University, students and the Guild have been campaigning for a return of the night bus for the past 18 months.
As part of this work, the Liverpool City Region Music Board, the University and Liverpool Nightlife CIC conducted a survey on late night buses over the summer. They used the results to build a business case to take to the Combined Authority and bus companies.
The research was conducted cross-Faculty with the University’s Department of Music the Civic Data Co-operative and the Centre for Educational Development and Support.
Your Guild Officers commented, saying: “Thank you to every student that has shared their feedback on the night bus, as a team we are thrilled to see the invaluable service return offering a safe and affordable way of getting home. We hope the trial service will continue as a regular timetable feature and be adopted by other providers and routes in the city.”
Senior Lecturer in our Department of Music and Liverpool City Region Music Board Member, Dr Mathew Flynn, said: “It’s great news for the our City Region that a night bus service has returned at weekends.
“Our discussions with venues, staff, visitors, gig-goers, the Guild of Students, and local residents made it clear that they would benefit from a reliable public transport service out of the city centre at night. It’s great that their voices have been heard and we have connections between venues at night in time for Christmas!”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “We’re about to enter the busiest time of the year for our visitor economy and, while we want everyone to have a great time celebrating in our region, we also want them to get home safely.
“We’ve worked closely with local campaigners, students, late night workers and our hospitality industry to bring back late bus services between Liverpool and the Wirral to make it safer, cheaper and easier for people to travel home – without having to cut the party short.
“This a massive result for local people, many who have been campaigning for this moment for three years. Following our decision to take back control of the region’s buses and move towards a franchised system, this is another positive step on the journey to putting the public back at the heart of public transport.”