Bus Strategy

Buses are vital to West Yorkshire, its people, its businesses and its economy. Each week people in West Yorkshire make over 3.5 million journeys on local bus services, making them the most highly used form of public transport.

Buses are vital to West Yorkshire, its people, its businesses and its economy. Each week people in West Yorkshire make over 3.5 million journeys on local bus services, making them the most highly used form of public transport. Those journeys link them to jobs, education, training, shopping and vital health services. Buses also provide essential connections with friends and family, for days and evenings out.

If we are going to achieve the ambitious levels of inclusive economic growth we have set for West Yorkshire and the City Region, an improved bus system is vital.

The vision for the West Yorkshire Bus Strategy (JMP) is to “support economic growth in West Yorkshire by improving connectivity to areas of economic opportunity, lowering journey times by bus, and thereby increasing bus patronage”. Over the next decade it is hoped that bus patronage can be increased by up to 25% from 2015 levels through a series of targeted interventions.

The Bus Strategy will enable the Combined Authority to specify improvements for bus services, and inform decision making on whether the approach currently taken to the delivery of bus services should fundamentally change.  

Objectives for the Bus Strategy are:

  • To enable economic growth in West Yorkshire by improving connectivity to areas of economic opportunity
  • To realise environmental aspirations, including significantly reducing local emissions
  • To support local communities by improving access to health services, education, employment, leisure and retail destinations