1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172 
THE COMMON ROOM
Page 126
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By George Wilmot
Lecturer in Transport Studies, University of London
Regional Studies—Merseyside
MERSEYSIDE is at the present moment beset by a number of complex transport problems. Arranged on either side of the River Mersey, with Liverpool, Bootle and Crosby on the Lancashire side and Birkenhead, Wallasey and Bebington on the Cheshire side, Merseyside proper had, as late as 1930, a remarkable concentration of industry based on the waterfront. Liverpool was a port par excellence, all major industry stemmed directly from the port working and was located in the port area. Even the service industries, particularly banking and mercantile insurance had established themselves close to the waterfront.
• Naturally all transport services aimed to reach the hub of the port—the " narrows " between Birkenhead and Liverpool—as their terminal point. Services radiated like numerous spokes of a wheel from this hub stretching beyond Merseyside proper towards Chester, Southport and St. Helens, areas all within the sphere of influence of the port. Municipal transport systems served Liverpool. Birkenhead and Wallasey and their immediate neighbourhoods, while Crosville and Ribble were the main road agencies for those coming from further afield. Rail services followed the same pattern and the river crossing was provided by ferries and the independent Mersey Railway which was poorly linked to main lines.
Depression in the 1920s and the following decade saw the beginning of a process of turning the industrial structure of the area "inside out ". The necessity to diversify the economy resulted in new industries in new locations. Before the war three new trading estates were established in Liverpool some distances from the port, while on the Cheshire side industry was rapidly migrating upstream (54 towards Ellesmere Port. The Mersey Road Tunnel, opened in 1934, was a reflection of the fact that goods and passengers were now travelling a considerable distance from one side of the river to the other. The " narrows " was no longer simply a terminal point but a main corridor of communication.
Since the war industrial developments, culminating in the arrival of the motor vehicle industry, have emphasized this trend of industry away from its traditional waterfront siting towards a distribution over the whole urban area.
Transport services have in the main remained tied to the former economy. Through running from one part of the conurbation to the other is still not possible by public transport (a journey from Bebington o Bootle requires the services of three different operators for example) because of a number of historical factors, not least the restriction on stage services through the Mersey Tunnel to protect the Mersey Railway in 1934. There have been unfortunate skirmishes between local authorities over the question of a second river crossing and the new scheme for a road tunnel from Wallasey to Bootle will not go far in solving the difficulties.
If the new economy of the area is to become really viable, a re-shaping of the public transport systems is vital. Whether the area needs, as has been frequently suggested, an overall traffic authority is open to question. But a study of Merseyside does reveal the necessity to plan transport at the same time as new industrial changes are mooted. All too often transport has to lag behind such developments. This had been due largely to a lack of understanding of the role of transport in the past. The future ?