Bramley-Moore Dock will welcome 25,000 fans on Sunday for the first time
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said lessons have been learned as tens of thousands of fans prepare to attend the second test event at Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock home. Around 25,000 Blues fans are expected to attend the new stadium as it hosts the next in a series of three fixtures to prepare for its grand opening this summer.
Last month, 10,000 Toffees became the first people to sample what life will be like for the club when they make the move from Goodison Park to the banks of the Mersey this summer after 133 years in L4.
While the stadium proved to be a roaring success with match goers, questions were raised about the viability of transport infrastructure around the new 52,888 seater stadium, particularly focused on Sandhills station and the rail network.
Criticism was flung at Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram around the development of the new fan management zone at the station which is expected to be completed in time for August’s first league fixture. Ahead of Sunday’s match Mr Rotheram said progress had been made in terms of the transport offer for matchgoers and urged people to plan ahead.
Following a meeting with fans groups and representatives from Everton FC, transport chiefs have announced additional services are to be laid on across the region’s rail, bus and ferry networks this weekend. The club has also confirmed it has launched an online travel hub to provide relevant and official travel information.
Rail bosses have asked for patience when using Sandhills in particular and asked for passengers to be kind to staff. To deal with the increased number of users passing through, Merseyrail has confirmed it will amend its Sunday timetable accordingly.
Services will run every 15 minutes on the Southport, Ormskirk and Headbolt Lane lines, with eight car trains where possible. All other lines will remain as 30-minute services.
At Sandhills and Liverpool city centre stations, a crowd flow management system, similar to ones used for other major events in the city region, will be in place to help make journeys smoother and safer.
Transport bosses are also planning to expand the station itself and create new exits to help manage the number of supporters coming through the area on busy match days.
Speaking ahead of the 2pm kick off this weekend, Mr Rotheram said: “We’ve learnt lessons from the first test event, so for instance we’re saying if people can plan their journeys ahead, that will be helpful because we’ve got 15 minute services with Merseyrail with longer trains so we can get more people to and from the train station at Sandhills.
“We’re getting more buses on the network so they can service people.” The Metro Mayor added: “This is all about one thing, getting people to and from this magnificent stadium, in safety.”
A number of bus services will operate near to Everton Stadium on the day of the game on a Sunday timetable, including 54/ 54A, 56, 58/ 58A. There will be three commercially operated shuttle bus services on matchdays, running from two hours before kick-off and then from the end of the test event, but not during the match.
