Road, Rail & Access Issues

[rmac]

Good to hear about the possible re-introduction of the York - LBA service. I think it will be quite useful for incoming tourists/ business passengers using the new BA LHR-LBA route.
Whilst I can see that the route via Harewood, etc might be quicker I wondered if a Tadcaster- Seacroft Bus Station (A64) then onto the Ring Road - Horsforth - LBA route would serve a greater number of potential users. It would link north west Leeds directly to the airport and at the same time might be useful for York - Seacroft area passengers as well, with the possibility of connecting onto other Seacroft bus routes out of the bus station. The A64 and Ring Road are better roads and the bus station at Seacroft is not far off the main A64 anyway.

 

[lbaspotter]

Thanks for posting that LBAspotter. Wasn't the new funding for the York route put in place by the airport as part of the planning process for the terminal extension? If so, is there a chance this could be pulled before it even starts if the airport decides to cancel the terminal development because of the problems it's having with the council, or is the funding for the route already in place?

Its looking like funding for the route is already in place with an agreement between North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council and Leeds/Bradford Airport already been approved. Otherwise how could they go out and tender the service?

Good to hear about the possible re-introduction of the York - LBA service. I think it will be quite useful for incoming tourists/ business passengers using the new BA LHR-LBA route.
Whilst I can see that the route via Harewood, etc might be quicker I wondered if a Tadcaster- Seacroft Bus Station (A64) then onto the Ring Road - Horsforth - LBA route would serve a greater number of potential users. It would link north west Leeds directly to the airport and at the same time might be useful for York - Seacroft area passengers as well, with the possibility of connecting onto other Seacroft bus routes out of the bus station. The A64 and Ring Road are better roads and the bus station at Seacroft is not far off the main A64 anyway.

The problem with that idea is that West Yorkshire Metro would also have to contribute towards funding the service. Seacroft is already well connected with high frequency bus routes 4, 5, 16/16A, 40 & 50/50A into Leeds which makes connecting on the 757 service quite easy. Even at off-peak there are up to 8 buses an hour.
The other option is the number 8 service which already operates from Crossgates & Seacroft on to Horsforth and Pudsey via the Northern section of the ring-road.
Maybe it could be retimed so as to connect with the 757 service at Horsforth. As currently both routes are run by Centrebus.

From my own personnel experiences traffic can be a problem at peak times on that section of the Leeds Outer ring-road. So in an ideal world the new service would be better avoiding Leeds altogether and bypass it by using the suggested route.

 

[rmac]

Fair comment lbaspotter but why would West Yorkshire Metro have to be involved with a part funding if their buses are not actually going to the airport? The bus company that gets the franchise to operate from York to LBA would only be passing through Seacroft bus station. Or does West Yorkshire Metro control or own the bus station at Seacroft?

 

[lbaspotter]

Fair comment lbaspotter but why would West Yorkshire Metro have to be involved with a part funding if their buses are not actually going to the airport? The bus company that gets the franchise to operate from York to LBA would only be passing through Seacroft bus station. Or does West Yorkshire Metro control or own the bus station at Seacroft?

You got it in one. Metro own the bus station at Seacroft and all the bus stops in West Yorkshire, They would also have to accept Metro's range of season tickets, day tickets and passes. On top of that they would be charged to use the "my next bus" live tracking system as well.

 

[wawkrk]

It appears Leeds City Council have finally decided to do something about the local roads around the airport.They have downgraded some with hundreds of tons of granite chippings so no road markings.
Fantastic you morons.

 

[ls27]

Not so! If it is what I think it will be It is called surface dressing and the chips will be gritstone. This process seals the existing surface, to make it last longer and also gives a better skid resistance. It is a cheaper option than taking the top of the present surface and relaying and gives just as good running surface. The French do it and their roads are better than ours! Lining will be done in due course when chippings are bedded in.

 

[wawkrk]

In past years they did use granite chippings on many Leeds main roads and they took many months to bed in. I cannot see this as an improvement when these minor roads were ok. This type of surface just shreds your tyres. I have never seen this in Scandinavia where they have a lot of snow and ice. What about those fantastic roads over the Alps.

 

[ls27]

Granite chippings have never been used in Leeds. I used to order them from quarries north of Settle, many, many moons ago. It has always been gritstone. The skid resistance is not not related to snow, but to normal road runnning where the surface 'polishes' after some time in the normal course of time . It is a good system to which helps spread the budgets of the Council. As far as bedding is, if traffic keeps the speed down then the chipping will bed down in about a week or so.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I sort of object to the categorising of Leeds City Council as morons. At the end of the day, ongoing maintenance is required and at least with this type of installation, the local road network does not have to suffer from temporary traffic lights and massive traffic jams.

As for roads over the alps, they do not have to deal with thousands of heavy vehicle passing over them every day. I would suggest that the wear and tear in a large city is much greater than in a sparesly populated mountain.

 

[wawkrk]

I am sorry but Leeds City Council make me angry. DSA gets a link road, we get a load of chippings on the road into our village which does not help.

We now have regular traffic jams at Yeadon traffic lights at Murgatroyds tailing back into the tunnel at all times of the day. There is space there to create a roundabout which should have done years ago. Traffic is now diverting down Warren House Lane to avoid it. It's ridiculous.

 

[Aviador]

It's yet another prime example of a Leeds City Council bodge job for North West Leeds. You don't see these chippings on the roads in central or South Leeds. I expect they will be wanting more money from the airport to do the job properly.

 

[Jordan-34092]

I must admit that Bradford council takes better care of there roads than Leeds does.

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[wawkrk]

ls27,
How can you talk about the council spreading the budget with a few chippings. We are talking about the almost non-existent infrastructure around an International airport for heaven’s sake.

whoshotjimmi,
I assume you are familiar with the country lanes around the airport. Bayton Lane was improved not so long ago. The edges were cleared and white lines put down. The surface was not so bad. Now it’s worse. And what traffic jams?

Both of you are missing the point.
So the council spends 20 quid in 50 years on the access routes to our local village airport.

 

[ls27]

What seems to be coming across is that there is a misunderstanding of maintainance and capital works (new roads and infrastructure). What is happening at the moment is maintainance, which is coming out of the council tax budget.In most cases of capital works the council will have to borrow money to carry out that work, but will be paid for by the council over a period of perhaps 60 years. This will need government permission. That is how DSA will be getting the money to carry out such work.If the council can get the infrastucture done without borrowing then they will get developers to pay for that, not just LBA, All colours of government have not wanted to give Leeds money to carry out infrastructure work, hence we are having to make do with a trolley bus stystem,in six years time, and not a tram as in Man. No Aviador, what is being done is not a bodged job. it is good maintainance to try and stop water ingress into the surface to prevent pot holes and maintain a good running surface.

 

[Aviador]

Fair enough ls27. Do you think the new Leeds City Region funding will make it easier for a new link road to happen?

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[White Heather]

If Leeds Bradford were in Manchester, the following would have happened:

The Pudsey to Dishforth Motorway, rejected in the 80s and which would have gone along the line of Scotland Lane, would have been built and the airport would now have a long established motorway link (it was turned down on environmental grounds, although the Harrogate and Knaresborough by pass follows the same route as originally proposed).

Leeds would have got a tram system instead of a forthcoming trolley bus

The tram would have gone to the airport whereas our forthcoming trolley bus will go to Asda at Holt Park! Perhaps someone should think about diverting the route proposed from West Park through Horsforth to LBA rather than to Holt Park, especially given that Boddington Hall (Leeds University Student Accommodation) is closing - its presence was one of the main reasons for running the route to Holt Park in the first place!

The airport would, by now, have a suitable road network around it.

Whatever anyone thinks about the rights or wrongs of spreading chippings on the roads as maintenance, the fact remains that in 50 years of ownership, Leeds did Diddly Squat with the road infrastructure around LBA, or the public transport, yet now expect Bridgepoint to do the things they failed to do.

My only hope is that now they have this huge transport fund, they allocate some of it to the rail link to LBA - as a priority, and just for once wake up to the fact that a successful and accessible airport will actually help the City grow and compete.

 

[wawkrk]

That just about says it all Heather.

 

[ls27]

Not sure Aviador. Who are the people controlling the budget? The Leeds City Region is made up of all of the 'County of West Yorkshire' ,York and other parts of districts in North Yorkshire and Barnsley. The person interviewed on Look North last night was described as Chair of Leeds City Region and not a councillor.The problem will be - where will the money come from. My guess is Business Rates (that goes direct to the exchequer - if I remember rightly) . Maybe congestion charge, Regional borrowing and maybe government grants for specific cases. This will be a good case for the government to push for a Regional Mayor.
In Greater Manchester all the transport monies from the ten districts is pooled and they have not too long ago borrow 500 Milion (Euros or pounds- I'm not sure which) to enlarge the tram. This the way 'forward ' I think. There is one thing I don't think that will go away is that developers of what ever, will have to pay for some infastructure. It's been going on for years and has shown it's head with airport planning.
I agree with what White Heather says- as usual she has hit the nail on the head.

 

[wawkrk]

Is not typical of Leeds City Council that the proposed trolley bus service closest to the airport terminates in the middle of a council estate.

 

[Moo2009]

Trolley bus to me is a total waste of money this money should have been put to getting a proper tram system in place which terminated at the airport yes it would be more expensive but am sure it would be better than a trolley bus

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