Better local transport

We're absolutely committed to getting good sustainable transport options for our area.

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The only way to reduce air pollution and congestion is to make sure that those who want to have a safe, practical way to walk, cycle, or use public transport.

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Here's how we're working towards that:

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Putting pedestrians first

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Almost everyone walks or uses footways on a daily basis. We've pushed for much more funding to go towards improvements for pedestrians including new pedestrian crossings, benches, cutting back over hanging branches, greening our local streets, resurfacing pavements, and creating new walking routes. Whenever we think about local transport issues we always start with a pedestrians view.

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Most recently we've run successful campaigns for a pedestrian crossing on Otley Old Road and for Monkbridge Road to be made 20mph.

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Better buses

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Locally we've campaigned to make sure we have reliable bus routes. We've successfully lobbied FirstBus to make the Meanwood - city centre service more reliable and are really pleased that the changes seem to have worked well. We have also pushed for and won changes to how complaints information is displayed in bus stops, soon it'll be much easier to complain about a missing bus and get the refund you're owed.

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Across the region Labour Mayor Tracy Brabin has introduced lower bus fares (the '£2 fare cap') which have led to more people using the buses. She's committed to public control of local bus services and recently announced that we're one step closer to introducing a public franchise model.

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Safe cycling

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Not everyone wants to cycle but it's really important that those who want to can do it safely. We also meet many people who would like to cycle into work, to school, to shops, or to worship. For those people the key thing stopping them is the fear that it's not safe to cycle on the main roads. So we've supported the introduction of segregated cycle lanes on Otley Road. Over 70% of injuries on the A660 happen at junctions, if we want people to have the choice of cycling and therefore reduce cars on the road we must make it safe to cycle across junctions and keep cyclists out the way of cars.

We're also really pleased that a new electric bike hire scheme has come to our area. 'Beryl bikes' help people who don't want to own a bike to cycle occasionally, and will make it easier to get around our hilly area for those of us who aren't athletes!

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Rail and trams

Leeds City Council is working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority to get a train station north of the city, which would allow commuters to get into the city centre faster and cheaper than driving in. Unfortunately, these efforts are being hampered by a government which is not willing to support our Levelling Up bids.

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Another transformative change would be a tram system ('Mass Transit') for West Yorkshire. Read about how Tracy Brabin is working to win this for our area.

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Read the latest news on our transport work below: