Leeds city centre roadworks hitting bus services, council told

The council said some of the major work would soon be completed

Roadworks in Leeds city centre are posing a major challenge for bus operators, councillors have been told.

Bus firms said congestion due to major work had hit their ability to provide a punctual and reliable service.

Unions said the issue was also affecting operators' ability to retain drivers.

Leeds City Council said the comments were "disheartening" and that it was not responsible for all roadworks in the city.

The issues were raised at a Leeds City Council scrutiny meeting about the state of bus provision in the city.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Transdev's commercial director Paul Turner said congestion had been "killing us" a year ago and that the situation had not improved.

"Probably the number one bit of feedback we have from customers is the reliability and predictability of bus services," he said.

Arriva said it was considering rerouting some of its services in the city, with the firm's Dwayne Wells adding it faced a number of challenges.

"The biggest one is punctuality, particularly with the recent infrastructure work in the city centre - Whitehall Road in particular.

"We have taken it up on ourselves to add time into the timetable to account for this congestion. Up to 30 minutes were added onto some journeys and it still isn't enough unfortunately."

Bus operators in Leeds said the work was hitting their ability to operate a reliable service

Andrew Dyer, from Unite, said drivers had received a "decent pay rise" which had improved staff numbers but the congestion and resulting timetable changes were affecting the ability to retain staff.

"The traffic situation in Leeds is ridiculous," he said.

The council said while major redevelopment work was its responsibility, other work was managed by developers or utility companies.

The council's executive member for transport, Helen Hayden, said its focus had been on prioritising buses.

"We get heavily criticised for it," she said.

"We are, especially in the city centre, reframing the roads to give priority to buses, so it's a bit disheartening to be criticised for doing that by bus operators."

Gary Bartlett, the council's chief officer for highways, acknowledged the previous "12 to 18 months" had been "particularly difficult" for drivers and public transport to get around the city.

However, he said some of the major works would soon be "coming to an end".