Liverpool City Region has appointed Global to manage advertising across its new publicly controlled bus fleet, creating a new commercial income stream that the Combined Authority says will be reinvested in the transport network.
The appointment was announced on 20 August, ahead of the first phase of bus franchising in St Helens in September. The advertising agreement will initially apply to the new franchised services before expanding as public control is rolled out across the wider city region.
Advertising revenue will return to the network
According to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Global will manage and maximise advertising across hundreds of new low-emission single- and double-decker buses. The authority says income generated from those placements will be returned directly to the public transport system rather than treated as a separate commercial revenue stream.
The decision sits alongside the wider shift to bus franchising, under which the Combined Authority will take greater control over routes, fares, service standards and the fleet. St Helens is due to become the first part of the city region to move into the new model in September 2026.
Global already has a long history in the local transport advertising market. The Combined Authority said that experience, together with the company’s advertiser relationships and north-west sales presence, was a factor in the appointment.
New rules will shape what appears on buses
The contract will operate under the Combined Authority’s advertising policy, which places restrictions on promotions for vaping, tobacco and foods high in fat, salt and sugar across public assets.
That policy was considered earlier this year as the authority prepared for a larger role in managing commercial advertising on transport infrastructure. Public committee papers show that bus-fleet advertising was expected to transfer progressively to the Combined Authority as franchising was introduced, while other assets such as bus shelters and rail advertising remained under separate arrangements.
The policy therefore matters for more than the value of the contract itself. Public control of the fleet gives regional leaders greater influence over both the commercial use of bus space and the standards applied to the advertising passengers see.
A commercial layer to bus reform
Mayor Steve Rotheram said the aim was to make better use of the new fleet while returning additional income to services. The Combined Authority has presented the wider franchising programme as a way to plan services around passenger needs rather than leaving network design primarily to individual operators.
For local businesses, the contract also creates a more coordinated advertising platform across a fleet that will gradually become part of a single publicly controlled system. Global has said its newer self-service advertising tools are intended to make transport advertising more accessible to businesses of different sizes.
The scale of the opportunity will depend on how quickly the franchised network expands and how attractive the new inventory proves to advertisers. The initial St Helens launch will therefore be an early test of how commercial revenue can sit alongside the public-service objectives of the new bus model.
What happens next
The agreement begins with the first franchised routes in September. Services that have not yet moved into public control will continue under their existing arrangements until they join later phases of the programme.
The appointment does not alter the core purpose of the franchising plan, but it adds another financial mechanism to it: advertising space on publicly controlled buses will now form part of the region’s attempt to generate income for transport improvements while applying a common set of content rules.
Sources: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority; Liverpool City Region Combined Authority public committee papers on advertising policy and transport assets.
