First look at 'trackless tram' set to connect city to Liverpool Airport, Anfield and Bramley-Moore Dock

The next stage of a major overhaul to transport across the Liverpool City Region was unveiled as we got the first look at a proposed rapid transit ‘Glider’ this week. As part of his manifesto to win a third term, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram pledged to introduce a rapid transit bus system to serve key routes across the area.

The scheme could cost around £100m in total. Earlier this year, Mr Rotheram said he envisaged the rapid transit network running between Liverpool city centre and Liverpool Airport as well as Anfield Stadium and Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock ground.

For the first time, we have now seen the vehicle - on loan from Belfast and decked out in Merseytravel yellow - as tests begin to see how it could work across hotspots throughout the city region.

The ten-wheeled vehicle, first dubbed a trackless tram, will undergo tests throughout Liverpool to begin with, to establish key changes that may need to be made to the city’s infrastructure with a view to a full roll out by 2028. The system will be similar to Belfast’s Glider, which launched in the Northern Irish capital in 2018 and runs on two separate lines using dedicated and mixed traffic lanes.

Why the Glider is not a bus

If it’s got wheels, goes on the road and needs a driver, you would usually think a massive vehicle that carries passengers was a bus. Not so, in the case of the proposed ‘Glider’ transport that could be coming to the Liverpool City Region. Many online have questioned the scheme when it was announced by Mr Rotheram earlier this year. A number have said the vehicle resembles something more like a bus and called for the adoption of new routes and additional lanes.

The Metro Mayor was quick to reject that comparison however. He said: “It doesn’t look like a bus, it doesn’t feel like a bus.

“If you go on a tram, and I was on a tram in Edinburgh when I was there last week, and the one in Manchester, it looks very much like a tram from outside. In fact, if you didn’t know, it’s only the front wheels you can see because the skirts are on the other ones, if you look beyond that front wheel it looks exactly like a tram.”

Solution to the transport problems

On a brisk, windy morning outside the Liverpool FC club shop, we got our first glimpse of the new 18-metre vehicle, mocked up in the classic Merseytravel livery. The Metro Mayor explained what people could expect in four years’ time.

He said: “It’s not like a double decker bus, it takes a third more than a double decker bus in passenger numbers, it’s fully accessible and it’s got a configuration where it’s got accessibility for people with disabilities, space for wheelchairs, so the whole thing is exactly what we’re looking for as a part solution to the transport problems we have, at certain times, at certain events, we have to get people away very quickly and these with 105 people on it could be part of that mix that we need.”

The Glider would be the latest stage in changes to the public transport network across the city region following the investment in electric and hydrogen buses, as well as the £500m new fleet of Merseyrail trains. It is hoped it would help increase capacity to provide public transport links to John Lennon Airport where current offers can’t reach.

Mr Rotheram said: “It will be tap and go, you can alight in three different parts, there’s loads of space. One of the areas we’re looking at potentially running to is the airport so there’s room for baggage and luggage.

“The whole thing is so that we can get more people on more quickly, that saves time on the overall journey, so if you’re saving a minute or two on every single stop, you can see how much more quickly that will make the journey time. Also, there won’t be the driver having to wait for passengers to find £2 or whatever it will be.

“We’re looking at an express service so it won’t stop at every bus stop so you’ll get from the airport much more quickly and getting away from Bramley-Moore. The idea is that we’ll have some dedicated road space and some advantages on traffic signalling and that’s what this is about.”

While over from Northern Ireland, the Glider will undergo tests on the road around the stadiums, the airport and on the Wirral to identify how it could become a fixture by the time EURO 2028 rolls around in which Liverpool will play a significant part. The Metro Mayor stressed how this would require stringent due diligence before any passengers can expect to hop on board.

He said: “We’re testing this now to see what configurations would need to be changed on our roads to get it from A to B much more quickly. That might mean taking some roundabouts out, some changes to right angled turns, we’ll find a route by which we can do things much more quickly than we currently can.

“We’ll do some serious sit down analysis of what the costs of changes to roads, signalling and infrastructure would be. These are not the problem, we’ve already identified some money where we can purchase some of these but we’re not going to buy something unless we know it can do what we want it to do.”