A major investment of more than £180million in bus services in Leeds to double passenger numbers within 10 years and improve air quality has been proposed.

The details were revealed as part of the ambitious new Leeds Transport Strategy to be released later today which would see a total of £270m of improvements made to the public transport networks in the city.

Following on from yesterday’s announcement on rail improvements with new stations serving Leeds Bradford Airport and at the White Rose Centre and Thorpe Park, Leeds City Council has today confirmed significant investment is also proposed to transform bus services.

Operator First West Yorkshire has pledged to invest £71m to provide 284 new state-of-the-art buses for its Leeds fleet by the end of 2020. This will offer a better experience as well as the new buses being low Euro VI or zero-emissions vehicles which will improve air quality in the city by reducing NOx emissions by 87 per cent. Leeds City Council is also in talks with other bus operators about additional investment in their services. This partnership approach, including all bus companies, is aiming to increase demand, encourage more people to use public transport and improve air quality in the city.

The new buses would be complemented by infrastructure improvements part-funded from the £173.5million of Department of Transport funding secured following the decision not to proceed with the New Generation Transport (NGT) trolleybus in May, with the funds needing to be invested in public transport before the end of 2021. Additional public and private investment would also be available, such as from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and developer contributions.

The proposed improvements include:

• Over 90 per cent of services on the core bus network to run at 10-minute frequency, along with more frequent early evening services
• Additional bus priority measures on key corridors including the A61/A639 South, A61 North, A660, A58 north east and A647 to ease congestion and improve bus journey times and reliability
• A new park and ride site at Stourton with an express bus serving the city centre, along with a further new site in north Leeds and Temple Green which opens next year – would add more than 2,000 additional spaces in the city
• The current Elland Road park and ride service to continue to be expanded and for it to link with other parts of the city
• A focus on improving local bus journeys to improve connectivity between communities and neighbourhoods
• Use of new smart technologies to improve ticketing, boarding and waiting times using real-time updated displays and information to generate increased network capacity, along with free wi-fi on all new buses
• Bus stops across the city to be improved, with 1,000 more offering real-time information on services
• Improvements at Leeds Bus Station and enhanced district hubs across the city as part of a more integrated bus network connecting with community services

The need to provide improved bus services with better reliability, faster journey times and a more integrated network connecting communities was one of the priorities identified from the recent survey as part of the transport conversation in Leeds.

Bus travel is the most used form of public transport in Leeds, with 15 per cent of working residents travelling by bus and 250,000 bus trips being made per day in the city. They also provide a key service to those without a car, which is currently approximately one-third of households in Leeds.