Call for ‘radical action’ to improve Wakefield district bus services

Members of the local authority are due to debate a motion calling for action to bring the area’s bus network back under public control.

Matthew Morley, the Labour-run council’s cabinet member for planning and highways, claims passengers in Wakefield have suffered the most compared to other local authority areas in West Yorkshire.

Coun Morley’s motion, to be considered at a full council meeting on Wednesday (June, 28), calls for a number of measures to improve servies.

It states: “One of the ten pledges the West Yorkshire Mayor declared was to ‘bring buses back under public control, introduce simpler fares, contactless ticketing and greener busses.’

“We welcome the projected plans and funding alongside the vigorous work the West Yorkshire Mayor and Combined Authority have completed in the endeavour to make this pledge a reality.

“Since 2021 and the Covid-19 lockdown periods, there have been numerous rounds of major revisions in the bus services within the Wakefield district.

“The common denominator with these changes has been a reduction in bus services, mileage covered, connectivity and journey opportunities.”

Coun Morley says that the bus network in Wakefield already had “critical deficiencies” before the pandemic, “leaving Wakefield behind compared to other local authorities.”

The motion also states: “We acknowledge that there have been vast challenges for bus operators both regionally and nationally.

“However, Wakefield appears to be the district that has been severely impacted the most by the service reductions.

“The current system of privately owned buses has proved, both nationally and within our district, to be deeply flawed.

“It is high time that we take a radical approach for our residents to ensure that the district receives the support it desperately deserves.”

In September last year, Coun Morley publicly criticised Arriva after they annouced another round of service cuts in Wakefield.

He said at the time: “Wakefield has faced cuts worse than anywhere else in West Yorkshire.

“The bus companies aren’t playing ball with us.

“Myself and my colleagues get constant e-mails from local residents about cuts in services.

“Some areas have been cut off altogether.

“In rural areas where we have minimal bus routes, you can’t get out in the evening now. But we don’t have the answers.”

Coun Morley’s motion calls for the council to:

– Work with the West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, to ensure plans for the bus network across the Wakefield District and West Yorkshire, are brought under public control

– Support Labour’s calls for the biggest bus reform in 40 years, giving communities the power to set routes, fares and services and plan the network in the interests of local residents.

– Work with Simon Lightwood, Wakefield’s MP and a shadow transport minister, to call for the ban on municipal bus companies to be overturned.

– Work cross-party with elected members to ensure that all wards are represented equally in the plans.

– Work with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to restore core bus networks and ensure secondary bus networks are rebuilt.