Road, Rail & Access Issues

[Sherburnflyer92]

Probably give them a reason to knock back the new Park and Ride rail station and make us wait until around the year 2040 for the tram terminal at the airport they may or may not build.

I've read the plans - looks like the railway station is highlighted as "local rail" .. and is built in within the plans.

 

[LBA4EVER]

In one thread you balme the lack of ATH route at LBA (a new route to that company) on the infrastructure. And then in this you say we should ignore it and move on. I get both threads of the argument but for someone who advocates the position the lack of airlines and routes is LBA lacking in infrastructure I surely thought, you of all people, would of been in support of this?

I understand your point of view ignoring it since the West Yorkshire leaders have been nothing but hot air for 30 years+.

i dont think you get me, what im saying is we will be here in another 30 years (hopefully) and we will still be talking about it, probably when MAN is at around 60million pax a year! course im in favour of it but im not stupid, i know what the leaders of leeds are like! our best hope is to get this park and ride station which i feel will greatly benefit LBA more so than a tram in fact. It really is now or never reg the future of LBA! terminal, rail station etc

 

[Jetchaser]

LBA clearly being shown on the Leeds to Otley line as possible mass transit. I think the importance of this shows commitment from LCC and WYCA for both a mass transit route to the airport and the parkway development. My glass is always half full, so does that not say there must be a will to drive the airport forward and so the new terminal is part of the master plan.
View attachment 21422

 

[Wardair166]

I totally understand F2Ws cynicism. This part of the world really does suffer from lack of action. Blighted by local authorities that specialise in consultation after consultation. West Yorkshire ( in particular) is a "Goldilocks county", left behind at home while other areas party. It really has to come to a stop! The people of this region have suffered backward facilities for far too long!

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

2021, was postponed in 2020, see the first elected West Yorkshire Mayor. What difference that makes I don't know, but I say, lets give them a chance to see what they can do.

As for council and leaders - well Leeds particularly are saying goodbye to a council leader that in my opinion was very backward looking at bringing on a new chap who has stated that he understands the climate change/emergency is an issue; but to tackle it you need state of the art infrastructure. etc.

 

[superking]

We get the same in the Bristol and North somerset areas. The councils seem to go against every thing that the goverment wants.

 

[Len Fish]

I can just about remember the tram system in Leeds when I was very young, flying down from Roundhay Park on the dedicated central reservation. If they went too fast there would be an almighty bang as a protection fuse blew. If only they’d kept them! Of course that was in the days when things left the drawing board and actually got built.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I can just about remember the tram system in Leeds when I was very young, flying down from Roundhay Park on the dedicated central reservation. If they went too fast there would be an almighty bang as a protection fuse blew. If only they’d kept them! Of course that was in the days when things left the drawing board and actually got built.

was having a look on youtube at the old tram system in leeds and the route maps, its incredible the sheer amount of lines and routes that used to be operated, seriously if that was still in operation now nobody in leeds would really need to drive apart from long journeys out of the area! good trolley bus system in bradford too that joined up with the trams.

 

[Heathrowflyer]

I think we must be the only place in Europe that has gone backwards in terms of transport infrastructure. I've walked along what was the old Guiseley line and also the old Wetherby line..crazy decisions. We need to spend billions just to get where we were train/tram wise 50 years ago. The Scarborough to Whitby rail line has been converted into, you guessed it, a cycle path.

 

[White Heather]

I am just reading a book about Leeds Transport and within 4 years, Alderman Rafferty on Leeds Council Transport oversaw the scrapping of all the trams, despite endless objections from the Tory opposition, and then of course Breeching got rid of most if our tracks and stations, and at one point even more were for the axe. In that period the future of transport in Leeds was decimated.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Pre WW2 many cities and towns had tram systems in the UK. In the late 30s trams were beginning to fall out of favour and regarded as old-fashioned and inflexible in terms of routes, and many were replaced by buses that aren't restricted to where the rails can take them. The move gathered pace in the post-war years with London seeing its last operational trams in 1952 - until the Croydon network in south London returned trams to the capital's streets at the beginning of this century.

By the late 70s attitudes were beginning to change with the bus now being viewed as inferior to the tram in many ways not least on environmental grounds. A number of UK cities saw trams returning to their streets in the ensuing decades, and many more cities and towns that turned their back on trams in the first half of the last century would welcome them back if given the opportunity.

The decline in tram and street car networks was not restricted to the UK; many countries around the world followed suit and, as in Britain, many began to reinstate networks towards the end of the last century. Another reason for replacing trams with buses was the supposedly superior ride of the latter but the modern tram is light years away in terms of comfort from the old rattlers and shakers that buses replaced.

Some major world cities were perhaps more far-sighted and retained their tram system. Melbourne, a city I know well, is one and its already extensive network is increased at regular intervals.

I think the residents of a number of UK cities would claim the prize for having the worst public transport network in the country. I don't know Leeds well so can't judge but its public transport system must be dire indeed if it is worse than Bristol's.

 

[White Heather]

Pre WW2 many cities and towns had tram systems in the UK. In the late 30s trams were beginning to fall out of favour and regarded as old-fashioned and inflexible in terms of routes, and many were replaced by buses that aren't restricted to where the rails can take them. The move gathered pace in the post-war years with London seeing its last operational trams in 1952 - until the Croydon network in south London returned trams to the capital's streets at the beginning of this century.

By the late 70s attitudes were beginning to change with the bus now being viewed as inferior to the tram in many ways not least on environmental grounds. A number of UK cities saw trams returning to their streets in the ensuing decades, and many more cities and towns that turned their back on trams in the first half of the last century would welcome them back if given the opportunity.

The decline in tram and street car networks was not restricted to the UK; many countries around the world followed suit and, as in Britain, many began to reinstate networks towards the end of the last century. Another reason for replacing trams with buses was the supposedly superior ride of the latter but the modern tram is light years away in terms of comfort from the old rattlers and shakers that buses replaced.

Some major world cities were perhaps more far-sighted and retained their tram system. Melbourne, a city I know well, is one and its already extensive network is increased at regular intervals.

I think the residents of a number of UK cities would claim the prize for having the worst public transport network in the country. I don't know Leeds well so can't judge but its public transport system must be dire indeed if it is worse than Bristol's.

I don't think that Leeds public transport is quite as bad as some make out. The problem is that the city gets clogged up with traffic in normal times, holding up buses so they end up not running to time or at all. The irony of course is also that because the buses are all one man operated, they take ages to load up, and they themselves then cause traffic to back up in places.
The vast majority of buses operated by Leeds City (First) are new or reasonably new, with a large fleet of Euro VI compliant vehicles, plus some hybrids. and new electric single deckers . Quite a few of the buses replaced in this fleet was sent to other First areas, including Bristol.
The fact is though that Leeds had a lot of tram tracks that were on dedicated areas either in the middle of dual carriageways or to the sides of the road, many of which still exist. These would enable trams to be pretty much immune from many if the traffic hold ups . The tram scheme originally planned made use of many of these, but despite that, Alistair Darling scrapped the scheme after much if the preliminary road changes had been completed.

 

[Len Fish]

was having a look on youtube at the old tram system in leeds and the route maps, its incredible the sheer amount of lines and routes that used to be operated, seriously if that was still in operation now nobody in leeds would really need to drive apart from long journeys out of the area! good trolley bus system in bradford too that joined up with the trams.

Those Bradford trolley buses could fly up the hills effortlessly! Their acceleration was amazing.

 

[Finger66]

And there we’re enough hills for them to be put through their paces too

 

[LBA4EVER]

Those Bradford trolley buses could fly up the hills effortlessly! Their acceleration was amazing.

I would not know, i was not around then! seriously though its such a shame the trams and trolley buses were discontinued, i would love to see the trams in operation now and what would be really unique would be to have a few of the old trams from the past (modified of course) mixed in with the new ones, bit like i saw in warsaw, would be unique to the city.

 

[tonysmith]

I used to catch the trolley bus from greengates to five lane ends to go to the cinema as a young kid

 

[Pat]

I caught a trolley bus from Wibsey to go to school via town to Tong

 

[lbaspotter]

Just a little reminder that West Yorkshire Combined Authoritys open consultation on the the LBA Parkway Rai Station ends next week.

Leeds Bradford Airport Parkway Station

Update July 2025 The scheme is at present going through an assessment of deliverability and affordability, in response to rising costs for project delivery. We will have a clearer understanding of the timeline for our next steps upon completion of this activity.

www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk

 

[Wardair166]

I've already responded.

 

[White Heather]

I've already responded.

Me too.