Essential Sefton

Travel advice and information is now available for Liverpool Football Club’s big weekend – the Champions League final (Saturday June 1) and the potential homecoming parade (Sunday June 2).

The information is being made available now to ensure LFC fans, and those travelling for other reasons – such as those attending the Bordeaux Wine Festival and the River Festival in Liverpool City Centre – can plan their journeys in advance.

The Champions League final will kick off at 8pm. Fans choosing to watch the game in pubs, bars and at specially organised events are being advised to plan how they will get home, especially if the game goes to extra time and penalties, with most last public transport services scheduled around 11pm.

Should a parade go ahead, thousands of people are expected to come into Liverpool and the gathering of crowds along the route will cause disruption to the transport network, both in the period up to the start of the parade, during it and afterwards as services work to get back to normal.

In addition, Sunday service provision, with some engineering works on the rail network, will mean that the transport network is extremely busy.

Detailed information on bus, rail, Mersey Ferries and the Mersey Tunnels is available at www.merseytravel.gov.uk/lfcparade, but key pointers include:

• We want you to have a brilliant weekend. Please plan your travel in advance to ensure you can get where you’re going to go and home again.
• Use public transport wherever possible, but consider that trains and buses will be running to a Saturday/Sunday timetable with some rail services affected by engineering works, and bus services will be disrupted as a result of parade road closures. Check before you travel.
• If you live along or close to the parade route, stay local and walk or cycle. This may give you the best vantage point and means you can avoid a busy transport network.
• The open top bus won’t be stopping so take advantage of the full length of the route.
• Decide which part of the route you want to wait at and arrive in plenty of time.
• The transport network will be very busy. Prepare to queue and factor this in. Don’t aim for the last service home.
• Be patient – it is impossible to predict how long it will take the team bus to travel along the route. This will also impact on when road closures will be lifted and when affected bus routes can get back to normal.
• On the Sunday, Merseyrail will have an amended timetable in place. James St and Lime Street (low-level) stations will be closed all day, as will Green Lane, Bromborough Rake and Capenhurst on the Wirral line. These closures will remain in place whether or not a parade takes place.
• Should the parade take place, for passengers travelling in Liverpool city centre, Northern line trains will call at Moorfields only and Wirral line trains will call at Liverpool Central only.
• On the Sunday, should the parade go ahead, Mersey Ferries will be running a shuttle service from 1500, with the last service back to Seacombe at 1930.

Wayne Menzies Head of Rail for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Chair of the Major Events Transport Board, said: “Both events on the Saturday and the Sunday will put significant pressures on limited weekend transport services. The sheer volume of people and road closures will also bring disruption, particularly to bus services.

“We want people to have a weekend to remember for the right reasons, so it’s essential that you plan your travel in advance so you know you can get where you are going and home again. We also encourage people to keep an eye on the latest travel information.

“We have been working closely with Liverpool FC, transport operators, Liverpool City Council, Merseyside Police and other partners to ensure that we are doing all we can to help people get to the events and home again safely.”

‘Live’ travel updates before, during and after the parade will be available on Twitter @Merseytravel, #LFCparade