Liverpool has a population of around 439,500 and dominates the large metropolitan area of Merseyside (population of 1.4 million). Merseytravel is the Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority and Executive, working in partnership with the five local authorities, including Liverpool City Council. Merseyside has its own suburban rail network and the majority of the bus services operate in a deregulated environment. A new tram service is currently being developed by Merseytravel, with the first of three lines scheduled to open in 2006/7.

Liverpool was the lead city in the CATCH project and the focus for the development and implementation of an innovative approach to transport-related environment policy. A number of demonstration projects were undertaken in Liverpool which focused on:

• technological innovation;
• improved facilities;
• awareness raising; and,
• better information provision regarding transport choices with beneficial environmental impacts.

The findings of these demonstrations were transferred to the project partners in Potenza and Suceava in order to transfer knowledge and experience to Accession Countries and to Southern Europe.

The links on the right hand side of this page lead to summaries of the key outcomes of CATCH in Liverpool.