LeedsCityBus was a bus service which operated in the city centre of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The service started in 2011, as a replacement for the Leeds

FreeCityBus FreeCityBus or FreeTownBus is a family of zero-fare bus services which are operated in the centres of several cities and towns in the England, English county of West Yorkshire. The services operate as ''FreeCityBus'' in the city of Wakefield ...

service, which runs in other towns and cities in West Yorkshire. The service ran under contract to

West Yorkshire Metro Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE), at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yo ...

History

The Leeds FreeCityBus service began on 30 January 2006 and was the first

zero-fare Free public transport, often called fare-free public transit or zero-fare public transport, is public transport which is fully funded by means other than collecting fares from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local governme ...

bus service in West Yorkshire, this was followed by similar services in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

. The services are designed to link passengers to the bus and railway stations, shops and other locations. In February 2011, the Leeds FreeCityBus came under threat of withdrawal, due to increased running costs. West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority (WYITA) and Metro decided to look at alternative ways of keeping a service in Leeds, as the service was popular with passengers, with over 7.5 million passengers using the service in the first five years of service, with the option of a small charge for passengers using the service being explored. On 25 March 2011, Metro and WYITA announced after a meeting that the FreeCityBus service in Leeds would be replaced by LeedsCityBus, with a 50p charge for a single journey. To soften the blow, Metro announced that passengers who had valid day or season tickets from Metro, First or other operators would be able to use the service for free, along with anyone who had an English National Concessionary Pass. The LeedsCityBus service started a week later, on 1 April 2011. The service ran on a fleet of six buses which were provided by Metro and was operated by

First West Yorkshire First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and Fir ...

. On 20 February 2016, Metro announced that the route was to become part of route 5 and a new service 15 would operate some parts of route 5.

Route

The service ran in a circle, linking key nodes in the city centre, serving the bus, coach and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

stations, the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

Leeds General Infirmary Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its previous name The General Infirmary at Leeds is still ...

plus the nearby dental and maternity hospitals, the two main

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in the city,

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

, plus the many shops and markets in the city:

References

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External links

LeedsCityBus homepageLeedsCityBus leaflet (PDF)
Transport in Leeds Bus routes in England PTE bus operations

History

Route

See also

References

External links