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Greens warn thousands of
cyclists will be stranded
METRO Mayor candidate demands
Merseyrail makes provision for cyclists during cross river engineering works
Following the announcement that Merseyrail cross-river services will be stopped
during improvement works, Liverpool Green Party Leader and Metro-Mayor hopeful,
Councillor Tom Crone, has raised concerns that thousands of commuter and leisure
cyclists will be stranded when the works start in January 2016. "I've heard from worried cyclists who use the excellent rail facilities on
a daily basis to cross the river that they don't know what will happen in the
new year. It seems that Merseyrail are to rely on the ferries as a substitute,
but they are expensive and do not run at all times of day as the trains do. They
are subject to cancellations as happened just this week. People are worried they
will end up stranded on the wrong side of the river from where they need to be'
said Cllr Crone. Merseyrail state that cyclists should leave their bikes at
home, unless they are needed to travel to a rail station and have said that the
rail replacement busses cannot carry bikes. That just isn't good enough;
cyclists have got used to the idea of crossing the river for work and leisure
and they should receive proper help in doing that when rail is not an option.
Merseyrail need to be bold and imaginative here, looking at options such as bus
trailers for road based solutions.
Whilst we warmly welcome these improvement works, and applaud Merseyrail for
their continual investment into the rail network, we need to be sure that the
right support is given to all commuters throughout this lengthy period, whether
that is cyclists, or indeed people with accessibility needs who use the train
regularly too." |
