Otley bus passengers "deserve better", says West Yorkshire Mayor

Ms Brabin visited the town at the invitation of the local Labour Party to see for herself the problems residents face with public transport.

She said she was shocked to find out about the inadequacies of the bus station with poor facilities, lack of capacity and dangers from the way buses have to reverse

She said: "I’m a bus user myself, so I know how it feels to be left standing in the rain waiting for a delayed or cancelled service. Passengers in Otley and across West Yorkshire deserve better. They deserve a to have a real say on price, journey and reliability.”

Labour party members described the problems they experience with the X84 in particular, emphasising its unreliability, “ghost buses” which appear on the indicator boards but never turn up and the reduced frequency of the service to and from Leeds. One member Cllr Richard Davies said he had evidence of the bus diverting up Meanwood Road rather than going through Headingley.

Party members also highlighted the problems with the bus link to Menston Station. They described a recent survey carried out by Otley Labour Party which showed people’s frustration with the way three buses turn up at the same time every 20 minutes and none are timed to connect with Bradford trains. They said it takes 90 minutes to travel from Otley to Bradford in the morning.

Tracy Brabin said: “In London, people choose the bus by default because it’s the best, cheapest and quickest way to get around, and I want the same for West Yorkshire. But under the Conservatives, public transport has become too expensive and unreliable, pushing people into private cars paying astronomical prices for petrol.

"Now, instead of the levelling up we were promised, Government and operators are using the pandemic as a smokescreen to reduce services, impacting local areas in Leeds, Wakefield and Kirklees.

"It’s unfathomable that the Conservatives are choosing to cut bus services in the middle of a cost of living and climate crisis. That’s why I’m entering into a partnership with the operators and developing our case for public control – to improve services in the short-term and fix our broken transport system in the long-term.”

Steve Clapcote Labour’s candidate for Otley and Yeadon in the May City Council election will work with Ms Brabin to get more information about what is going wrong.

Mr Clapcote said “if anyone wishes to email me on steveforotleyandyeadon@hotmail.com about bus problems I will make sure that Tracy knows about it directly from me.”

But Liberal Democrat Otley and Yeadon councillor Colin Campbell said: "The Mayor is responsible for bus services in West Yorkshire and since she came to office they are now worse than at anytime in my life. We have seen none of the new buses or improvements she promised and local services are due to get worse at the end of the month.

He added: "She has also not adopted the franchise system the Mayor of London has in place which guarantees a level of service."

Fellow Liberal Democrat ward councillor Sandy Lay said: "Everyone wants a bus service like London so as someone who has called for this since first being elected in 2012 I thought things were going to change with the promises made by Mayor Brabin. Sadly she has chosen to continue to ‘work in partnership’ - something that supposedly already takes place and has patently failed - with the bus companies rather than take back into public ownership the routes, charging and timetables to compel those private bus companies to deliver a better service.

"This is not what the Mayor promised in her election manifesto so she has already backtracked on that promise so coming out to Otley for an election photo-op just won't wash with our community. We shouldn't be surprised though because the local Labour Party have a long history of bringing regionally elected Labour officials to Otley in the run up to elections - much like they used to bring the previous Labour Police and Crime Commissioner - only for them to then disappear never to come again and never to deliver on their promises made in an attempt to get local Labour candidates elected.

"This town needs better transport links and frankly both our Labour run city council and our Labour run Mayor make promises they don’t keep and continue to fail our community. Otley deserves better and Labour just doesn’t deliver despite what they want you to think they are doing. Only by electing Lib Dem candidates do we see the improvements in this town that this community desires and deserves and, we don’t just turn up at elections, make promises we have no intention of keeping and then disappear to the following April and the next election."

A spokesperson for First Bus said: "First Bus continue to work with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and local partners to improve facilities at Otley bus station. This has recently included the installation of real time information at the bus stands. Safety of our customers and staff is a priority and we are reviewing the way buses enter and exit the bus station. In the meantime, we provide a member of staff on site who supervises the movement of buses onto and off the bus stands.

“The bus link to Menston Station, commonly known as the Otley DASH, is run by Transdev and is timed to connect with trains to and from Leeds.

“We absolutely recognise the importance of service reliability and punctuality for our customers and continue to adapt timetables to meet the road network conditions. As a result, we are introducing revised timetables from April 24 which will help reflect congestion hot-spots such as through Headingley.

“Some services currently have temporary frequencies in place. We are closely monitoring our services and will review those frequencies at the earliest opportunity, in line with passenger demand and driver availability. Together, with partners, we are focussed on improving services which will help attract people out of cars as well as putting in place the bus priority needed give customers quick and reliable journeys."