News release
2019-01-28

Mersey Gateway team reveals record-breaking traffic levels on new bridge

Latest Mersey Gateway figures reveal record-breaking months for journeys over the new toll/charge bridge that links Runcorn and Widnes.
The newly-released figures show that between October and December 2018:

  • Six million journeys were made across the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
  • More than 96% of journeys were paid before the payment deadline of midnight the day after crossing.
  • October was a record month with the most journeys ever (2,120,000) over the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
  • Average daily traffic levels in October and November were the highest ever recorded.
  • The number of journeys resulting in a Penalty Charge Notice, and the percentage of revenue generated through PCNs, has fallen.

October and November saw the highest ever recorded average daily traffic to date of 67,000 vehicles per day, with the December figures showing an expected drop-off in traffic during the holiday period.

Neil Conway, the newly appointed Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “It’s important for us to provide our customers with an opportunity to review how the bridge is performing and show just how much traffic benefits from using the crossing.

“We are nearly at a 97% rate of customers paying their toll/charge on time, which when you compare to other schemes around the world is an excellent payment rate, but we’re still working closely with the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board to look at new ways to minimise the number of PCNs we issue.

Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “This is the most successful quarter we’ve had in terms of traffic levels, and we want figures to keep improving in 2019, as it means people are benefitting from quicker, easier, more reliable journeys.

He added: “We know from the feedback we are getting from businesses and residents that the Mersey Gateway Bridge is making getting around Halton a lot easier and saving people valuable time every day.”

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, types of vehicles using the bridge, number of PCNs issued, traffic by registration type and revenue figures.

It can be viewed at https://www.merseyflow.co.uk/stats

Loading animation