A phased expansion of Mersey Ferries services will take place in early June but Merseytravel is still urging people to only travel when necessary and to maintain social distancing. Tony McDonough reports

Mersey Ferries is offering more commuter sailings between Liverpool and Birkenhead from Monday, June 1, as the coronavirus restrictions are slowly eased.

The expansion of the service is in response to growing demand but Merseytravel, via its ReThink Travel campaign, is urging people only to travel when necessary and to maintain their social distancing.

All ferry services were suspended for a time following the coronavirus lockdown on March 23 but morning and evening commuter services were resumed in mid-May as more people began to return to work.

The additional commuter services each morning and evening and will be introduced on a phased basis, in anticipation of a further increase in the number of people needing to travel and get to and from work. By June 15 there will be services running all day and at weekends. The changes are as follows:

• Week beginning June 1 – Weekday commuter service between 7:20am and 11:00 and 3pm to 7pm.
• Week beginning June 8 – Weekday commuter service between 7:20am and 7pm.
• Week beginning June 15 – Weekday commuter service between 7:20am and 7pm and a weekend hourly cross river service 10am to 5pm.

All services will operates between Liverpool’s Pier Head terminal and the Woodside terminal in Birkenhead with journey times of 10 minutes. There is no resumption at this time of the hour-long river cruises.

Cllr Liam Robinson, Portfolio Holder for Transport for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said: “Our iconic Mersey Ferries are back in service to support people travelling and they are a great way to incorporate walking and cycling into your journey.

“The commuter service only takes 10 minutes to cross the river and with social distancing being managed on board and plenty of car park spaces at Seacombe, people should take advantage of this fantastic way to travel.

“There’s going to be more people on the move in the coming weeks and our Re Think travel campaign ask us all to consider if, how and when we will travel so that we can help keep everyone safe.

“This means planning our journeys including avoiding the peak and staggering journey times as well as paying by contactless as well as considering different ways to travel such as cycling, walking and the Mersey Ferries.”