Public transport bosses have launched a sweeping review of bus services in Leeds.
Around 20 per cent of the services operated by private firms in the city are wholly or partly financed by West Yorkshire’s publicly-funded passenger transport authority, Metro.
Across the county, Metro spends about £20m each year subsidising services that it says operators would not otherwise run as they are deemed unprofitable.
Now, however, it is aiming to reduce that figure and secure greater value-for-money as it grapples with funding cuts.
Metro is proposing the withdrawal of selected journeys which suffer from low passenger numbers.
Areas affected are due to include Horsforth, Pudsey, Halton Moor, Bramley, Garforth, Alwoodley and Wetherby.
Full details of the planned changes can be viewed at the: www.wymetro.com/busreview web page and feedback can be given online.
Public consultation events will also take place across the city this month. Two events are being held later this week, one from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday (Jan 9) at Morrisons on Town Street in Horsforth and a second from 10am to 6pm on Friday at the White Rose Shopping Centre. The results of the consultation will be used to fine-tune Metro’s proposals before the introduction of a streamlined bus network in July.
Metro chairman Coun James Lewis said: “This government has reduced the funding received by West Yorkshire’s councils by hundreds of millions of pounds, which in turn means Metro has less to spend on bus services.
“We are consulting to ensure that we reduce the impact of these changes as far as we can.”
Most buses in Leeds are run by private firms without any support from Metro and will be unaffected by the review.
Similar network overhauls have already been carried out in Bradford, Keighley, Elland, south Kirklees and the ‘outer’ area of Wakefield.
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