How to improve Liverpool's match going transport while supercharging the cities cycling infrastructure

Everton's new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock has got people talking... and not necessarily in a good way. While the new stadium has received much praise from the fans who attended the test event recently, the transport links certainly have not. Many fans have criticized the dangerous overcrowding at Sandhills station, and it's set alarm bells ringing on how it will cope with full attendances of up to 52,888 when the test event of 10,000 spectators has been far from successful. 

Planning permission was first submitted in February 2020, and no doubt discussions between Everton and the City Council long proceeded this, and its a sorry indication about the state of our cities leadership that the best they could come up with in over 5 years, are a few metal railings and new year-round parking restrictions which was imposed last minute on 3,000 local businesses to understandable uproar. 

Sandhills 'fan zone' - Photo credit Liverpool Echo

While I don't think it will completely solve these transport issues, I think cycling can be part of the solution, not just for Bramley Moore Dock, but also to help alleviate the transport problems around Anfield on match day.

Let's be honest, cycling rates in Liverpool are low, except for maybe the North Face Ninja demographic, who have largely mastered the art of the wheelie. This is probably due to the fact Liverpool is the most dangerous city in the UK for cyclists and pedestrians with a rate of 41.6 cyclists of pedestrians killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents, making it the highest in the UK. 

Recent improvements in cycling infrastructure built to much fanfare by the Labour metro mayor Steve Rotherham, have hardly improved cycling rates. To me that's not a surprise, 500m of nice safe segregated cycling after 2.5km on unsafe dangerous roads, still means its not safe to cycle. This is the key point, the good segregated cycling infrastructure in the city is too fragmented and needs to be connected so that you can travel from one part of the city to the other without having to share the road with angry drivers one small inconvenience away from a bout of road rage.

Currently the best cycling infrastructure in the city is the loop line (also known as the Ralla) which is uninterrupted from Aintree all the way to Halewood, with a branch off in the Halewood triangle which eventually takes you to Speke and the Halewood/Speke industrial estate, home to the cities big automotive and pharmaceutical employers. In addition to this, the Otterspool promenade will take you from the edge of Garston up to the city center. 

There has been recent investment into cycling infrastructure from Regent road, directly passing Bramley Moore Dock but it doesn't go far, and the is some segregated paths travelling up Boundary Street. The new segregated cycle path created on Regent road could be extended up to Millers Bridge, and then up Derby Road (A565) until it reaches Seaforth where it could be extended down Cambridge Road to Crosby Marina to join up to the coastal path all the way up to Formby. 

If the existing infrastructure on Boundary Street was improved and extended up Kirkdale and Walton Breck Roads up to Anfield, and then a new segregated cycle path built down the Utting Avenue central reservation until it reaches the bridge at Townsend Avenue it could link the loop line and Mersey cycle paths.

Connecting the two main cycle routes would mean Aintree, Fazakerly, Orrel Park, Norris Green, Bootle, Anfield, Everton, City Centre, Vauxhall, Clubmoor, West Derby, Tuebrook, Broadgreen, Dovecot, Childwall, Gatacre, Belle Vale, Woolton, Halewood, Speke, Aigburth, Garston, Cressington, St Michaels and Brunswick areas of the city could all accessible from a couple hundred meters of a uninterrupted cycle network.

So if we did that, loads of people would choose to cycle to the match? Well, no I don't think that alone would be enough. The Bramley Moor Dock stadium says there are cycle parking stands available outside the stadium, but how many are seriously going to use them? Especially since the docklands are beyond the catchment for the 'mind your car/bike mate' cottage security industry which has long served the roads surrounding Everton and Anfield stadiums on match day. 

The solution is to be found in the Netherlands at Utrecht Central Station where they have built at 12,500 capacity state of the art multi-story cycle park, making it the largest cycle park in the world at a cost of over 30m euros.

I'm not suggesting that we should build something so extravagant outside both stadiums, but initially something similar on a smaller scale, say 5,000 - 8,000 could be successful in reducing the problems with transport around the stadiums on match day while also boosting cycling rates in the city. It might seem expensive but the knock on effects financial benefits could be huge.  

Currently the UK spends about £10 per head on cycling each year (compared to £148 per head on roads for cars). The Dutch spend 30 Euros per head, totaling 510m euros a year on cycling, but they've calculated that this saves them 19 billion euros a year just on healthcare costs! You would be hard pressed to find a better return of investment than x37 on public finances.

Picture this, its match day and there's a convoy of hundreds of blues (or reds) cycling down the Ralla/Otterspool prom, with flag poles attached to the bikes, singing songs, stopping off at pubs like the Britannia Inn for a pre-match pint, gradually growing in number as they get closer to the ground. I can't think of a better way to boost cycling in the city of Liverpool.