A new report produced by the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Popular Music has found that Merseyside’s N1 night bus is generating an estimated £4.93 in social and community value for every £1 invested, while helping passengers save money, feel safer and get to and from late-night work.
Liverpool City Region Music Board, which helped lead the campaign to bring night buses back after the Covid-19 pandemic, is now calling for greater awareness of the N1 night bus, trials of more frequent services and consideration of new routes serving more communities across the city region.
The report Bringing Back Liverpool’s Night Bus assesses the impact of the campaign and the N1 service since its launch in December 2023, while setting out recommendations for the future of late-night public transport across the Liverpool City Region.
Since launching, the N1 has supported more than 57,500 passenger journeys, connecting Liverpool city centre with South Liverpool and Birkenhead during the early hours of Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Independent analysis by Liverpool-based social value consultancy RealWorth estimates that the service creates around £542,000 in annual social value, compared with an estimated annual gross operating cost of £110,000. This represents a Social Return on Investment of 4.93:1.
Passenger research also found that:
- 85% said the N1 improved their feelings of safety;
- 84% reported significant financial savings;
- 52% used the service to travel to or from work;
- 79% used it to get home from a night out;
- 44% said they would not have made their journey without it;
- 32% used the service at least once a week.
Jon Collins, Chair of Liverpool City Region Music Board and Chief Executive of LIVE, said:
“The return of the night bus showed what can be achieved when the music sector gathers evidence, works with partners and makes a clear case for change.
“The findings now show the difference the service is making. It is helping people feel safer, save money, get to work and take part in the city region’s cultural life.
“But it is also clear that the service has much more potential. We need to make sure more people know about it, look seriously at increasing its frequency and consider how late-night routes could serve more communities across the Liverpool City Region.”
From frontline concerns to a city-region campaign
The campaign began after music venues, promoters and night-time workers told the Music Board that the loss of late-night transport following Covid was affecting staff, audiences and businesses.
At a Music Board consultation in March 2022, venues raised concerns about people struggling to get home after shifts, audiences cutting nights short and transport barriers limiting their ability to stage later events.
Future Yard in Birkenhead was among the venues most directly affected. With cross-river public transport ending before many events and shifts had finished, some workers were left with no affordable way home.
Craig Pennington, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Future Yard CIC, said:
“The lack of late-night transport was having a very real impact on our staff and audiences. People working late could find that much of what they had earned disappeared on a taxi home, while some audiences were forced to leave events early or decide not to come at all.
“We heard stories of people being unable to get home and having to sleep in dressing rooms. The return of the N1 has helped remove some of those barriers and given people a safer, more affordable option.
“We now need to make sure the service is properly promoted and developed so that it can support more venues, workers and communities across the city region.”
Following the consultation, the Music Board worked with the University of Liverpool, Future Yard, Liverpool Nightlife CIC, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseytravel, Liverpool BID Company and other partners to develop the evidence and public support needed to make the case for a night bus.
Research supporting the campaign found that 196 music venues in Liverpool city centre were licensed to operate beyond midnight at weekends, with a potential combined capacity of around 60,500 people and more than 500 staff working across those venues on a busy weekend night.
A public survey attracted 2,600 responses, with 98% supporting the return of night buses. While 91% said they would use one to get home from a night out, 53% said they would use it to travel to or from work.
In November 2023, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram announced the return of the service, with the N1 beginning its initial trial the following month.
Supporting workers as well as nights out
The latest findings show that the N1 is not simply a service for people enjoying Liverpool’s nightlife.
More than half of surveyed passengers had used it to get to or from work. Respondents included hospitality and venue staff who said taxis could cost the equivalent of several hours’ wages, as well as people who said the service had enabled them to accept late shifts or new jobs.
Passengers also described the reassurance of having an affordable and reliable alternative to walking long distances or travelling alone in a private-hire vehicle.
The research found that 85% of passengers felt the N1 improved their feelings of safety, while only seven survey respondents — 0.8% — reported feeling unsafe while using it.
“Liverpool’s best-kept secret”
Despite the positive impact, the findings show that passenger numbers remain below commercial break-even levels on some nights.
A University of Liverpool Guild of Students survey found that only 59% of students questioned knew the N1 existed, while just 18% had used it. Almost half of those who knew about the service had heard about it through word of mouth.
The service is described in the report as “Liverpool’s best-kept secret”, with poor awareness, hourly departures and limited routes identified as the main barriers to greater use.
The report recommends:
- significant and sustained promotion of the N1;
- testing a more frequent, potentially half-hourly, service;
- expanding routes into North Liverpool, wider parts of Wirral and other Liverpool City Region districts;
- including night buses within an integrated regional transport plan;
- improving and promoting safety measures, including lighting, CCTV, staffing and real-time travel information.
It also argues that the Liverpool City Region’s move towards bus franchising provides an opportunity to treat night buses as socially necessary public transport, rather than judging their value solely against the profitability of individual routes.
Jon Collins added:
“Liverpool is rightly proud of its music, culture and night-time economy, but those sectors depend on people being able to travel safely and affordably.
“The campaign helped bring the night bus back. This evidence now gives us the opportunity to build on that success and make late-night transport work for more people.”
The full Bringing Back Liverpool’s Night Bus report is available to read and download here: https://lcrmusicboard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IPM_Night_Bus_Report_Final.pdf