FAQs

Bradford Council, in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the Combined Authority), is bringing forward a flagship programme of forward-thinking transport schemes. Alongside major public space enhancements, these will help us shape and drive forward Bradford’s future regeneration in the city centre and beyond. Our vision is to create a greener, more sustainable, accessible, and vibrant district that has immediate benefits for people living, working, visiting and studying in Bradford today, that also paves the way for future investment across the district.   

The proposals being brought forward by Bradford Council will: 

These changes will support Bradford’s ambition of becoming the UK’s leading ‘clean growth’ district and act as an enabler to being the UK City of Culture 2025. 

Bradford’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) schemes form an important part of a wider programme of forward-thinking transport and regeneration schemes being brought forward across the district that are helping us shape and drive forward Bradford’s regeneration in the city centre and beyond.  

Through TCF, new public spaces and planting will be created in the city centre, to improve the look and feel of the area and make the city centre an increasingly attractive place to spend time. It will also support more cycling and walking in the city centre to better connect different areas while reducing the impact of major roads that currently dominate parts of key areas in the city centre. Achieving this is crucial to attracting more people to live, work and socialise in the city centre – increasing vibrancy, and attracting new employers to the district, bringing jobs and investment. 

Bradford’s TCF programme is also essential to reducing the current reliance on car travel and subsequent congestion across the wider district, ensuring our air is cleaner air to protect people’s health. This will be crucial in fulfilling our ambition of becoming the UK’s leading ‘clean growth’ district and the wider region’s ambitions of becoming a net zero carbon economy by 2038. 

Investing to improve sustainable transport options in Bradford is in everyone’s interests, making it easier for more people to get about, allowing us to grow the economy and create jobs, increase the vibrancy of our city centre, and support us as we become the UK City of Culture 2025. 

In 2017, as part of the Industrial Strategy, the Government announced the creation of the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) in the Autumn Budget, with the aim of driving productivity and widespread prosperity through investment in public and sustainable transport in some of the largest English city regions. The Fund is focused on intra-city connectivity, making it quicker and easier for people to get around – principally focused on helping connect people to job opportunities.  

The Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) programme, which is being delivered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in partnership with local authorities, will be funded through £317 million from the Department for Transport (DfT) plus local match funding up to £140 million.  

Through the Transforming Cities Fund, and complementing existing programmes, Bradford Council has been indicatively allocated around £80 million to deliver further transport infrastructure and regeneration schemes to transform our city. 

By providing people with viable alternatives to using the car and encouraging more people to use public transport, walk or cycle for local journeys, the scheme would reduce congestion and both noise and air pollution along the Manchester Road corridor.  

New and extended bus lanes would help bus services move more easily through pinch points, where they are currently being held up. Moving some bus stops to more convenient locations will help buses pull in and move off more quickly and improve passenger safety. Overall, these changes would make bus services quicker and more reliable, and therefore more attractive.  

By making other adjustments along the route such as formalising parking in the area and enforcing illegal parking automatically, we can further improve the speed, reliability and attractiveness of bus services. 

Additional planting and landscaping along the route would make the area more visually appealing and more pleasant to spend time outside in. 

The scheme would tie into a series of other travel and environmental improvements such as the City Centre improvements, the West Bradford – Cycle Superhighway Extension and the A650 Connect: Wakefield Road and Tong Street Scheme. 

The scheme also aims to support residents living in the south of Bradford to live healthier lives by providing people with the opportunity to be more active, while helping to reduce air and noise pollution in the area. Poor air quality leads to around 40,000 premature deaths per year in the UK. 

With an average of 37,329 vehicles driving down Manchester Road every day, it is in the top five busiest roads in Bradford which often leads to congestion and high levels of pollution in the communities along the route.  

With buses at present being delayed at congestion pinch points along Manchester Road, many people who access the city centre rely on using a car. By improving the links between the city centre and key areas in South Bradford, the scheme will increase the number of realistic options for people to use to get about Bradford without a car. Approximately 40% of residents along the Manchester Road corridor do not have access to a car or van. 

The route would link into the recent city centre transformation and the West Bradford – Cycle Superhighway Extension, offering commuters a network of routes and greater connectivity into other modes of transport. 

The improvements also have potential to be of significant benefit for Bradford’s visitor economy in the future, with the Park & Ride facility, if it goes ahead, offering greater flexibility for people attending events, concerts, or activities at the range of venues in the city centre. 

As a whole, these improvements will help to create a transport network fit for the 21st century as well as addressing key challenges around capacity, connectivity, sustainability and air quality. 

The projects set to be delivered in the Bradford TCF scheme have been identified by Bradford Council working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the Combined Authority), based on funding criteria set by central government for the Transforming Cities Fund, which prioritises connecting people to key employment areas using more sustainable forms of travel.  

Bradford is the UK’s youngest city and making Bradford more sustainable is crucial to our future success, however, we currently lack the necessary infrastructure to enable people to make sustainable travel choices.  

With public transport services that are subject to congestion and delays, and poor walking, wheeling and cycling connections, many people who access the city centre rely on using a car. By providing bus priority along the Manchester Road corridor which would make bus services more attractive, faster and more frequent, the scheme will increase the number of realistic options for people to use to get about Bradford without driving into the city.  

This will help to reduce congestion in and around the city centre helping public transport to become more reliable and allowing the city to reduce its carbon emissions, improve its air quality and grow the economy to create jobs. 

Currently, public transport services which use Manchester Road are often caught in traffic due to how busy it is. Around 37,000 vehicles use Manchester Road every day, meaning it is in the top five busiest roads in the district, this can lead to congestion and therefore more pollution.  

With unreliable public transport services and poor walking, wheeling and cycling facilities in place at present, many people who access the city centre rely on using a car. By improving links between the city centre and key areas in South Bradford, including local communities along the Manchester Road corridor, the scheme will increase the number of realistic options for people to use to get about Bradford without a car.  

In addition to this, the recent city centre transformation has seen some motor vehicle traffic removed from the civic heart of Bradford, and the NCP car park on Hall Ings has been demolished, reducing the number of car parking spaces in the city centre, so it is important that people can use public transport or walk and cycle where possible. 

If we can improve infrastructure for buses, we encourage more people to travel by bus rather than car which helps reduce congestion and improve air quality. This is part of the Department for Transport’s Bus Back Better which is a national bus strategy for England. 

Overall, we want to make the bus a better option for people, more reliable and quicker to its destination, particularly when it comes to getting people to work at rush hour. 

In addition, cyclists would be able to use the new and extended bus lanes along Manchester Road to keep them away from general traffic. 

Due to feedback received during the previous consultations and inflationary pressures, we are now aiming to deliver the series of improvements which would make up the South Bradford Park & Ride Scheme in several stages.  

The first stage of the delivery of this scheme is the Manchester Road Bus Improvements Scheme. The Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) is funding the development and delivery of the Manchester Road Bus Improvements Scheme.  

The parking area and the walking, wheeling and cycle route have been dropped from this scheme for the time being, until future funding can become available to progress these elements of the scheme through the next business case stage. 

As part of the scheme, we are proposing parking changes at three different locations along the Manchester Road corridor.  

We are proposing changes: 

You can see these proposed changes on our maps and consultation boards available on this Your Voice page. 

We are proposing red lines in the bus lanes along Manchester Road which would enable us to use cameras to automatically enforce the bus lane restrictions. 

As is typical for any bus lane, restrictions would be in place during the times during which the bus lane would operate, including no stopping, waiting or loading. These are important to ensure the benefits to bus services are realised.  

To do this, we would introduce a ’red route’, which comprises double red lines along the bus lanes.  

The red lines do not change the restrictions proposed for the bus lane and parking spaces, but they do give us the legal power to enforce them by camera automatically. 

Enforcement is needed to prevent parking in bus lane during operation that causes delays to bus services and holds up other traffic as buses are forced back into the main lane of traffic to avoid a parked car.  

If camera enforced parking restrictions go ahead, we would provide a loading bay and disabled parking space to ensure that businesses along Manchester Road are able to load while the bus lane is in operation, and drivers with a Blue Badge are able to park close to the businesses. 

As part of this scheme, we are proposing one new bus lane and one extension to an existing bus lane. These are: 

The restrictions remain the same as any bus lane in the Bradford District with no private vehicles permitted to stop, wait or load at any time while the bus lanes are operational. Taxis and cycles would be permitted in the bus lanes while they are operational. 

As part of this consultation, we are also asking people to give us feedback on automatically camera enforcing the parking restrictions in the bus lanes via a red route.  

The red route would not change the bus lane restrictions, but would give us the power to camera enforce any parking violations in the bus lane. The red lines act as a warning to drivers that camera enforcement of parking restrictions is in operation. 

Automatic enforcement of the bus lane parking restrictions would mean that buses wouldn’t be held up by cars parked in the bus lane, which cancel out any benefits to bus services of using bus lanes. 

An average of 37,000 vehicles currently drive along Manchester Road every day which leads to congestion and therefore increased pollution. By proposing bus improvements that will create a faster, more comfortable and convenient way to get into the city centre, this provides a viable alternative to the car for some drivers, so the numbers of cars travelling into the city centre along this route should reduce.  

All of the proposed changes have been through modelling and this shows no overall negative impact for the road network, so if you do choose to drive to your destination, you wouldn’t be delayed as a result of this scheme.  

Yes, outside the row of shops on the northbound carriageway of Manchester Road, just after the junction with Mayo Avenue, a Blue Badge parking space for people with mobility issues and loading bay would be provided for business-use while the new bus lane is in operation. 

You would still be able to park on side roads including Broadway Avenue and Marsh Street between 6-10am if you need to access the shops during that time. 

After this public consultation, all feedback received will be considered and the plans for the Manchester Road Bus Improvements Scheme will be further developed. A Full Business Case will be produced which will go to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority for consideration in summer 2025. 

If the Combined Authority approves the scheme, it would be constructed from late 2025 over a period of 22 months.