Commuters welcome Leeds-Bradford tram plans

Bradford and Leeds could have trams running by the 2030s, if the new plans get the go-ahead

Plans for a new tram system linking Leeds and Bradford have been broadly welcomed by commuters.

If given the go-ahead, one line would run between the two cities, while another would be constructed from St James's Hospital to the White Rose Shopping Centre.

Work on the £2bn scheme could begin in 2028, with the possibility of another line between Leeds and Dewsbury at a later date.

With the proposals due to be discussed by West Yorkshire Combined Authority later, the BBC spoke to commuters along the proposed routes for their views.

The nurse

Luciana Hamatanga says she would welcome a tram system if it is more reliable than the buses

Luciana Hamatanga is a nurse at St James's Hospital and when I caught up with her, she was waiting for a bus home to Seacroft.

She told me she would definitely welcome a mass transit system in the city, adding that it would be especially good "if it gets me to where I'm going faster than a bus".

Ms Hamatanga said she was often "frustrated" with the buses in Leeds when she was in a hurry.

She said she could not currently rely on them to get her to work on time and if she was late it meant a delay for another nurse who was at the end of a long shift.

Ms Hamatanga said the last time she bought a bus ticket lasting a month, it cost about £75 "and I only used a bus eight times".

"At other times, the bus would get cancelled. I'd be waiting like right now looking at the screen expecting a bus in five minutes time and the screen would just go blank," she said.

"If you don't have money for a taxi, then you're late for work because you have to wait another 15 minutes."

She added that she was curious what the travel experience on a tram would be like as she had never been on one before.

The retiree

Colin Halstead says he wants to have a system similar to the trams in Manchester

Colin Halstead is a retired college teacher, and when I spoke to him he was waiting at a bus stop in Bradford for the X6 to take him to Leeds.

He told me he would "love it" if the tram system got up and running, "partly for comfort, partly for environmental issues, partly as a reliable form of transport".

Mr Halstead pointed to trams in Manchester as a system which he said worked "beautifully".

He added that in his experience the Manchester trams "run like clockwork, are clean and environmentally friendly".

Like other commuters I spoke to, he said he was frustrated with the bus service in West Yorkshire.

As an example, he said the X6 to Leeds stopped running at 18:00, meaning he could not have a night out in the city.

Mr Halstead said that although there would be an initial outlay to get the trams running, in the long-term they would be "even more environmentally friendly".

"They're quiet, they'd have their own tracks so they wouldn't get caught up in traffic. I just like the idea of trams," he concluded.

The shopper

Patricia Lumby says she would go shopping more in Leeds and Bradford if the trams were reliable

One of the suburbs on the route for the first phase of the planned mass transit system is Bramley in Leeds.

It was here I spoke to Patricia Lumby, who was on her way to the shops there.

Mrs Lumby said if there was a tram to Bradford or Leeds city centre, she would go shopping to either of those places more often.

She also spoke of what she said was the lack of reliability of the bus services to and from Bramley.

"We don't have a very good bus route. It used to be better," she said.

"We had the 508 and could just jump on it and go to Halifax but you can't nowadays.

"They say buses are coming and then they don't come."

Mrs Lumby told me she thought a tram system would be "a lot better than the buses" and hoped they would be more regular and would not be as overcrowded.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].