West Yorkshire will see most services operate in the region under the new franchising scheme. The proposed franchising scheme was published in March 2024, with the first franchised buses on the road from March 2027. Introducing franchising means that buses in the region would be under the control of the Combined Authority. That means we would set the routes, frequency, fares and overall standards of buses in our region. Franchised services will initially be the same routes that were operational in March 2024, but with the long-term ambition to have increased frequencies and operational hours.

Our ambition is to see the network operate to the targets developed within our Bus Service Improvement Plan (bus-service-improvement-plan-2024.pdf(External link)), as shown in Table 23 on page 69 of that document, subject to appropriate funding and demand. Across West Yorkshire, we currently define our ‘core’ bus network as having services with an average frequency of every 15 minutes or better, that mostly operate on a commercial basis. Targets set out within our Bus Service Improvement Plan show our ambition for services on the ‘core’ network to run at a frequency of every 10 minutes or better throughout the day.

The service X41 Huddersfield - Lepton - Houses Hill - Grange Moor - Overton - Middlestown was withdrawn on Sunday 1 Sep 2024 due to very low patronage. It was operated by South Pennine Community Transport. We will continue to work with operators, including SPCT, to improve services in the area; in the meantime, there are suitable alternatives for most users along the route with access to services 231/232.

Data on service cancellations are published periodically in Transport Committee papers. The most recent paper can be found at https://westyorkshire.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g1429/Public%20reports%20pack%2022nd-Jan-2025%2014.00%20Transport%20Committee.pdf?T=10 on page 12 (page 10 as noted in the report) and shows that for September 2024, 95.6% operated (so 4.4% of services were cancelled). An updated report will be brought to a future Transport Committee detailing the best and worst performing services.

This will be assessed to see if any solution or support can be put forward. With the new X1/501 Superbus service, passengers can get a bus from the Upper Valley to Halifax town centre then change to the X1/501, which operates every 7-8 minutes to Halifax Royal Infirmary.  

Response provided by Northern Rail:

Arriva have ongoing driver and vehicle issues and even when the West Yorkshire Combined Authority has allowed them to hand back some contracts, and reduce frequency on others, and during January and early February we were still seeing unacceptably high levels of cancellation. Performance has improved but rates of cancellations are higher than we would expect. Unfortunately the Combined Authority can not directly intervene on commercial services but has written to the Traffic Commissioner twice expressing our concerns. A decision was made in March 2024 to bring buses back under local control in the biggest shake-up of our region’s transport network in decades. Franchising, or local control, puts the public at the heart of our bus network, ensuring buses truly serve the needs of our communities. Our Franchising Scheme includes the ability to set fares, routes, and timetables based on passenger needs.

Stops at Outwood in the Leeds - Wakefield - Knottingley services have been added at peak times while Northern's Leeds - Doncaster trains have been reduced to only 3 cars, which has led to significant crowding issues.  We are expecting those Doncaster trains to revert to 4 cars from May 2025.  Retaining stops at Outwood in the Knottingley trains would bring only modest connectivity benefits, because in both directions they would stop only a few minutes apart from the Doncaster trains.  Stopping the Knottingley trains at Outwood would also have a journey-time disbenefit for through travellers (about 2 minutes longer), and would introduce a performance risk on what is a very busy two-track rail corridor.  

Unfortunately Ross Travel withdrew their commercial service 146. They stated that due to poor patronage the service was no longer viable. Alternative services are available on services 186 and 147 which are operated by Arriva. we appreciate that their evening service provision is poor, and this is something the West Yorkshire Combined Authority will assess in line with future service reviews in the area. The Combined Authority has allocated some funding from our Bus Service Improvment Plan to try and improve services in the Five Towns area, however due to operator capacity we are unable to deliver additional services at the moment.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has stepped in to fund the doubling of frequency on services 548/549. This service now operates a combined 15 minute service between Halifax, Hipperholme, Brighouse and every 30 minutes to Huddersfield. The enhancements were introduced in February 2024 through our Bus Service Improvment Plan, and have already generated significant passenger growth. We have therefore agreed to continue funding these enhancmenets until at least February 2026 when we will once again review.

A decision was made in March 2024 to bring buses back under local control in the biggest shake-up of our region’s transport network in decades. Franchising, or local control, puts the public at the heart of our bus network, ensuring buses truly serve the needs of our communities. Our Franchising Scheme includes the ability to set fares, routes, and timetables based on passenger needs.

Delivery of franchising will initially be on the basis of the network as it stood at the point at which the decision was made in March 2024. The network that will be franchised is set out in our Franchising Scheme that has been published on the Combined Authority website.

Franchising does give the Combined Authority the ability to set routes, fares and frequencies which will allow us, over time, to review the network to ensure it is serving West Yorkshire communities effectively. This aligns to our vision for an enhanced and more cohesive network that is set out in our Bus Service Improvement Plan with our ambition for a network to take people where they need to go, when they need to go.