Transport in Leeds

Leeds has strong transport links nationally, with the UK's busiest railway station outside Londonfact|date=August 2008, road connections via the A1(M) Motorway, M1 motorway and M62 motorway, as well as the nearby Leeds Bradford International Airport. There is a dense bus network within the city, and an extensive suburban rail network. The city of Leeds transport area has a population of around 2.5 million people.

Forms of Transport

Rail

The rail network is still of great importance. Leeds railway station at New Station Street is one of the busiest in the UK outside central London, with around 1000 trains serving the 50,000 passengers who pass through the main ticket gates daily. Its modern interior provides connections to London, Southampton and the south, Birmingham and the Midlands, Bristol and the West Country and Newcastle via Cross Country. Edinburgh and the north can be accessed via Cross Country or National Express East Coast services to Aberdeen, although changes are often required at York or Newcastle. Manchester, Liverpool and the west are accessible by First Transpennine Express, as are Scarborough and Hull in the east. There are connections by Northern Rail to many villages, towns and cities in the region.

The station itself has 17 platforms, making it the largest in England outside London, having been rebuilt from 12 platforms in 2001 at a cost of £265m.

From Leeds railway station MetroTrains operated by Northern Rail operate to all parts of West Yorkshire and surrounding local and commuter locations and other operators including GNER, Virgin Cross Country, East Midlands Trains and TransPennine Express operate services to the rest of the country.

Leeds has two railway lines offering direct services to London. The principal route is along the East Coast Main Line which operates half-hourly through the day, and is planned to increase to every 20 minutes. The service terminates at London Kings Cross, adjacent to St. Pancras station. East Midlands Trains offer an alternative route via Leicester and Sheffield along the Midland Main Line to London St Pancras, where passengers can continue their journey onto Paris and Brussels by Eurostar. Through tickets can be bought on NXEC or East Midlands Trains from Leeds to European destinations thanks to this interchange. The East Midlands Trains service operates principally because the train operators a fleet of former Midland Mainline diesel high speed trains (HST's) which are based at the Neville Hill maintenance depot in Leeds. There are three trains per day in each direction.

List of Railway Stations in the Areas of Leeds
*Leeds Station (previously Leeds City station, a combination of Leeds New and Leeds Wellington) - Serves Leeds City Centre.
*Cross Gates Station
*Cottingley Station- Serves Elland Road Stadium
*Bramley Station
*Burley Park Station
*Headingley Station- Serves Leeds Metropolitan University and Headingley Stadium

List of Railway Stations in the
*Garforth Station
*East Garforth Station
*Micklefield Station
*Woodlesford Station
*New Pudsey Station
*Horsforth Station - Serves Leeds Trinity College
*Guiseley Station
*Morley Station

List of former railway stations in the Areas of Leeds
*Marsh Lane
*Leeds Wellington
*Leeds New
*Leeds Whitehall
*Leeds Central
*Newlay
*Kirkstall
*Hunslet
*Holbeck
*Armley Moor
*Armley Canal Road
*Beeston
*Pendas Way

List of former railway stations in the
*Scholes
*Thorner
*Bardsey
*Collingham Bridge
*Wetherby
*Thorp Arch
*Kippax
*Otley
*Pool-in-Wharfedale
*Stanningley
*Pudsey Lowtown
*Pudsey Greenside
*Calverley

Middleton Light Railway

The Middleton Light Railway is one of the oldest rail systems in the world. Originally built to transport coal from Middleton Colliery to Leeds, the railway is now just a heritage piece. The railway effectively runs the length of Middleton Park, joining on to the national rail network at the northern end. The Middleton Light Railway contains Leeds' only road level crossings (Moor Road and Tulip Street, Hunslet). There are two stations, Park Halt and Moor Road. The steam locomotives for the Middleton railway were made in Holbeck, near to Leeds railway station.

Abbey Light Railway

The Abbey Light Railway is a narrow gauge railway in Kirkstall, Leeds.

Roads

Leeds is the focus of the A58, A61, A62, A63, A64 and A65 roads. Nowadays, with the M1 and M62 intersecting just to its south and the A1(M) passing just to its east, it is one of the principal hubs of the northern motorway network. The city centre is pedestrianised, and is encircled by the clockwise-only 'loop road'.

Inner Ring Road

In the 1960s Leeds set about the most ambitious inner ring road plan of any British city. The road is designated as a motorway, and describes a semicircle round the western, northern and eastern parts of the city centre. The road is elevated at its western and eastern ends but in cutting and tunnel to the north. This enabled a long stretch to be hidden underground, reducing the scar it makes in the city's fabric (as has been a problem in many other cities, for example Birmingham and Leicester. Pedestrians may walk over it into the city centre, completely unaware of its presence. This gave Leeds City Council the idea to promote the city with the slogan "Motorway City of the Seventies". The inner ring road is made up of the A58(M) and the A64(M). The road begins as the A58(M), at the Armley Gyratory and ends as the A64(M) at Quarry Hill (the number changes as the A58 forks off to the north at Clay Pit Lane).

The A64(M) continues east as graded dual carriageway with traffic light controlled junctions, and heads southwards towards the East Bank. Here, it will meet the East Leeds Link Road, providing fast connections to the M1. It continues over the River Aire as a high quality dual carriageway on a flyover, meeting the M621 at Junction 4. The M621 completes the southern flank of the Inner Ring Road, linking up to the A643 which joins back to the Armley Gyratory.

City Centre Loop

To ease traffic in the city centre and to allow the quick passage of traffic through the main routes, in particular where the Inner Ring Road does not help, the City Centre Loop was created. This involved no actual engineering or construction work, but the remaking of the city's entire one way system. One of the main advantages of the loop is its simplicity: whereas in other cities unfamiliar drivers may have to preplan a route across the city's one way system or have to attempt map reading while driving, perhaps missing lanes and turnings, in Leeds the main body of city centre traffic is carried around the loop in a clockwise direction, and drivers can simply follow the signs and use the convenient junction numbers. However the city centre loop is less useful for drivers wishing to travel in an anti-clockwise direction. All loop signage is marked with the city centre loop logo, and each junction has a number and a name. The city centre loop connects the A58, A61, A64, A660, A65, A653 and A62 as well as smaller local routes. The route runs by Leeds City Station, the Merrion Centre, Quarry House, and Leeds General Infirmary as well as through the heart of the city's financial district.

Strategic Point in the UK

Leeds is one of the most strategically important cities, according to road position. With the M1 and A1 heading South towards London and the East Midlands, the A1(M) heading North towards Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, the M62 heading both West towards Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool and the M62 and east towards Kingston upon Hull and the Port of Hull (this is a particularly important freight route).

Away from motorways, a regional dual carriageway network meets in Leeds. The A64 is an important trunk road, heading as an unbroken dual carriageway up to York and then on to Scarborough. Added to this, the A61 expressway to the north links the northern suburbs of Leeds to the city centre, and onto Harrogate and Ripon. The A660 and A65 dual carriageways link the commuter belts to the north west of the city and onto the Lancashire, meeting the A650. The A6110 expressway forms part of Leeds' Outer Ring Road and continues as dual carriageway southwards, connecting the areas south of the M62 to Leeds, although it is often quicker to use the M621 from Birstall.

The M621 is an internal urban motorway. Much of it is the former M1 (until it was diverted as the South East Leeds Orbital linking the M1 and A1(M)). The Motorway begins at the M62 in Birstall (near Ikea) and finishes where it merges with the M1 at Stourton. Since the M1 diversion the motorway has increased in length, previously it only ran from Birstall as far as the City Centre. The M62 and M1 collectively create a part-orbital motorway around the south and east of the city.

Bus/coach/taxi

On 30 January 2006, a zero-fare bus service (the FreeCityBus) started running, on a circular route (including stops at the bus and railway stations), in the centre of Leeds.

Leeds has a large modern bus station at Dyer Street served by National Express and local bus services. Buses in the city are mainly provided by FirstBus and Arriva. Harrogate & District provides a service to Harrogate and Ripon. The Yorkshire Coastliner service runs from Leeds to Malton, Scarborough, Filey, Whitby and Bridlington via Tadcaster, York and Malton.

The city's new bus station has become a controversy in the city. One of the main reasons is its location (approximately one mile from the railway station). The distance from the railway station is not the only problem with its location. For someone unfarmiliar with the centre of Leeds it would prove very difficult to find (situated behind the Kirkgate Markets). Not only this but the size of the main bus station is also inadequate. Many First Buses do not use the station, only external buses and National Express coaches use the station. For a city the size of Leeds a 26 stand bus station is far too small. Hence Eastgate, The Headrow, Park Row, Boar Lane, Vicar Lane, Albion Street and Cookridge Street are lined with bus stops. There are three smaller bus stations in the city centre, one on Vicar Lane, one to the rear of the Leeds Shopping Plaza on Boar Lane and one outside the main entrance to the railway station for services linking the railway station with the rest of the city's public transport. The lack of integration in Leeds' public transport system is a common criticism.

The railway station has a dedicated public hire taxi rank that operates 24 hours a day. The rank is serviced by the whole Leeds fleet of 537 taxis, 237 of which are wheelchair accessible. All are fitted with a taxi meter set to Leeds City Council's fare tariff. All drivers are knowledge tested and have undergone criminal records investigations. The bus and coach station also has a dedicated rank which is located just outside near the police station. All vehicles, drivers, and operators of both taxis and private hire vehicles must be licensed by the Council. [cite web | url=http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Community_and_living/taxis_and_minicabs.aspx | author=Leeds City Council | title=Taxi and private hire licensing | accessdate=2007-12-15]

Local public transport information

[http://www.leedstravel.info Leeds Travel Info] is Leeds City Council's public access website providing real-time travel information in the Leeds area. West Yorkshire Metro provides bus and train information on its [http://www.wymetro.com/ website] , and offers the innovative "My Next Bus" service of real-time bus information by text message or online. This real-time information is also displayed in certain bus shelters.

Air transport

Leeds Bradford International Airport is located to the north-west of the city and has scheduled flights to destinations within Europe plus Egypt and Turkey and to the rest of the world via London Heathrow Airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The airport is the largest in Yorkshire. Since the arrival of budget airline Jet2 (who chose Leeds Bradford as their base) the airport has experienced a considerable increase in passenger numbers. In September 2007, Jet2 announced the introduction of eight new destinations from the airport. Intercontinental routes to Pakistan, Egypt and the USA are available, and new transatlantic routes are expected to arrive soon. In 2007 the five metropolitan councils of West Yorkshire sold the airport to Bridgepoint Capital for in excess of £140 million. The new owners are currently drawing up an expansion plan.

There is a direct rail service from Leeds to Manchester Airport, with trains running throughout the night. Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield is 40 miles from Leeds.

Inland waterways

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal links the city to Liverpool and the west coast. The Aire and Calder Navigation links Leeds to the Humber and the east coast. The city has a dock, situated on both canals at Clarence Dock (adjacent to the Royal Armouries).

ea transport

Leeds has good connections by road, rail and coach to Hull, only an hour away, from where it is possible to travel to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge by ferry services run by P&O Ferries.

Former Tram System

See Leeds Tramway

Leeds' tram system was dismantled in the early 1950s (as was the case in most cities) with the final services running in November 1959. In recent years this decision has become regarded as short sighted. The former routes of the tram are evident on some of the main routes in and out of the city, for instance the void in the A64 York Road now filled with guided bus lanes and the unusually wide central reservation in between the carriageways on the A58 Easterly Road (towards Wetherby). The original tram system ran a larger route than the proposed supertram, the original system ran along the A64, A58, A61, A660 and also down through Beeston and Belle Isle. By the time the tram network was dismantled it had become unpopular with many people in Leeds due to its ageing, drafty, poorly maintained fleet. Neighbouring Bradford lost its trolley bus system during the same era (the final journey being made in 1972). Sheffield also lost its tram system several years earlier, yet has seen the return of the tram in the early 1990s.

Rejected Tram plans

The city had plans in the 1990s and 2000s for a tram network known as Supertram. However the government axed the scheme due to an unwillingness to pay for any costs over budget, despite an undertaking by the City Council and local businesses to underwrite any such additional costs and the Department for Transport's apparent preference of a bus-based rapid transport scheme to a tram-based scheme. An inquiry into corruption at the Department of Transport was called for, although nothing came from the calls.cite web|url=http://www.gos.gov.uk/goyh/news/newsarchive/337532/|title=Leeds Tram Scheme - statement by Alistair Darling, Transport Secretary|publisher=Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber|date=2005-11-03|accessdate=2007-02-14] cite web|url=http://www.wypta.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A339D59D-9486-4DDD-881C-F88080AD1496/0/SWG11205ITEM4.pdf|title=Leeds Supertram - Closing down arrangements|publisher=West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority|date=2005-12-01|accessdate=2007-02-14] There have been suggestions that a modern Trolleybus system might be built instead.cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6755469.stm
title = Plan for city trolleybus comeback
accessdate = 2008-04-29
year = 15 June 2007
work = BBC Online
publisher = BBC ] Leeds remains the largest city in the European Union without a mass transit system.fact|date=April 2008

Leeds Trolley Bus

There are currently plans to build a trolley bus system from the proposed Stourton Tram deopt, to St James' Hospital, in Harehills, this will run via Hunslet, Clarence Dock, the Leeds City Centre and Quarry Hill.

Notes and references

See also

*Leeds