Transport in Leeds

Publication of the proposed route of the second phase of High Speed 2 on 28 January 2013 revealed that the station at Leeds would be a new terminus called Leeds New Lane, connected to Leeds station by pedestrian walkways, possibly with moving walkways.[3] However, following a review in November 2015, there have also been proposals to instead add the HS2 platforms as an extension to the existing Leeds station.[4]

The Middleton Steam Railway is the oldest continuously working railway system in the world. Originally built to transport coal from Middleton Colliery to Leeds, the railway is now a heritage piece. The railway effectively runs the length of Middleton Park, joining onto the national rail network at the northern end. The Middleton Steam Railway contains Leeds' only road level crossings (Moor Road and Tulip Street, Hunslet). There are two stations, Park Halt and Moor Road. The steam locomotives for the Middleton railway were made in Holbeck, near to the location of the present Leeds railway station.

The Abbey Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway in Kirkstall, Leeds. It ran between Bridge Street and Kirkstall Abbey, but was dismantled in March 2013, after the owner, Peter Lowe, died in October 2012.[5]

Inner Ring Road By the International Pool

Inner Ring Road Passing underneath the Nuffield Hospital

In the 1960s Leeds set about building the most ambitious ring road plan of any British city. The road is designated as a motorway, and describes a semicircle round the western, northern and eastern parts of the city centre. The road is elevated at its western and eastern ends but in cutting and tunnel to the north. This enabled a long stretch to be hidden underground, reducing the scar it makes in the city's fabric (as has been a problem in many other cities, for example Birmingham and Leicester). Pedestrians may walk over it into the city centre, completely unaware of its presence. This gave Leeds City Council the idea to promote the city with the slogan Motorway City of the Seventies. The inner ring road is made up of the A58(M) and the A64(M). The road begins as the A58(M), at the Armley Gyratory and ends as the A64(M) at Quarry Hill (the number changes as the A58 forks off to the north at Clay Pit Lane).

The A64(M) continues east as graded dual carriageway with a mix of grade separated and traffic light controlled junctions. The Inner Ring Road junctions off and heads southwards towards the East Bank. Here, it meets the East Leeds Link Road, which provides fast connections to the M1 northbound. It continues over the River Aire as a high quality dual carriageway on a flyover, meeting the M621 at Junction 4. The M621 completes the southern flank of the Inner Ring Road, linking up to the A643 which joins back to the Armley Gyratory.

The Leeds city centre loop

To ease traffic in the city centre and to provide an efficient traffic distributor around the city, in particular where the Inner Ring Road does not help, the city centre loop was created. This involved no actual engineering or construction work, but the remaking of the city's entire one way system. One of the main advantages of the loop is its simplicity: whereas in other cities unfamiliar drivers may have to plan a route across the city's one way system or have to attempt map reading while driving, perhaps missing lanes and turnings, in Leeds the main body of city centre traffic is carried around the loop in a clockwise direction, and drivers can simply follow the signs and use the convenient junction numbers. However the city centre loop is less useful for drivers wishing to travel in an anti-clockwise direction. All loop signage is marked with the city centre loop logo, and each junction has a number and a name. The city centre loop connects the A58, A61, A64, A660, A65, A653 and A62 as well as smaller local routes. The route runs by Leeds railway station, the Merrion Centre, Quarry House, and Leeds General Infirmary as well as through the heart of the city's financial district.

Leeds is served by the M1 and A1 heading South towards London and the East Midlands, the A1(M) heading north towards Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, the M62 heading both west towards Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool and the M62 and east towards Kingston upon Hull and the Port of Hull (this is a particularly important freight route).

Away from motorways, a regional dual carriageway network meets in Leeds. The A64 is an important trunk road, heading as an unbroken dual carriageway to the outskirts of York and then on to Scarborough. Added to this, the A61 expressway to the north links the northern suburbs of Leeds to the city centre, and onto Harrogate and Ripon. The A660 and A65 dual carriageways link the commuter belts to the north west of the city and onto the Lancashire, meeting the A650. The A6110 expressway forms part of the Leeds Outer Ring Road and continues as dual carriageway southwards, connecting the areas south of the M62 to Leeds. The Outer Ring Road is designated as A6120 in the north of the city. To the north east of the city, the East Leeds Orbital Route being constructed by Balfour Beatty will take the Outer Ring Road away from existing residential areas and facilitate development of land as part of an East Leeds Extension project.[7] Guided bus routes using kerb guidance operate on parts of the A61 (Scott Hall Road) and A64 (York Road).

The M621 is an internal urban motorway. Much of it is the former M1 (until it was diverted as the South East Leeds Orbital linking the M1 and A1(M)). The motorway begins at the M62 in Birstall, (near Ikea), and finishes where it merges with the M1 at Stourton. Since the M1 diversion the motorway has increased in length, previously it only ran from Birstall as far as the city centre. The M62 and M1 collectively create a part-orbital motorway around the south and east of the city.

AccessBus in Leeds

Guided bus lane on York Road.

On 30 January 2006, the zero-fare FreeCityBus started running, on a circular route (including stops at the bus and railway stations), in the centre of Leeds.

Leeds City bus station, on Dyer Street is served by long distance Megabus and National Express services and local bus services. Buses in the city are mainly provided by Arriva Yorkshire and First West Yorkshire.

Harrogate Bus Company provides a service to Harrogate and Ripon, Keighley Bus Company provides a service to Shipley, Bingley and Keighley and the Yorkshire Coastliner service runs to Pickering, Scarborough, Filey, Thornton-le-Dale, Whitby and Bridlington via Tadcaster, York and Malton. Stagecoach in Hull operates a service to Hull via Goole, while Stagecoach Yorkshire operates to Barnsley.

The 26 stand bus station[8] has become a controversy in the city. One of the main reasons is its distance from the railway station (about half a mile). Many First Leeds buses do not use the station, only external buses and National Express coaches use the station. Hence Eastgate, The Headrow, Park Row, Boar Lane, Vicar Lane, Albion Street and Cookridge Street are lined with bus stops. There are four smaller bus points in the city centre, one at the Leeds Corn Exchange,[9] one to the rear of the Leeds Shopping Plaza on Boar Lane,[10] one on Infirmary Street[11] and one outside the main entrance to the railway station for services linking the railway station with the rest of the city's public transport.[12]

The railway station has a dedicated public hire taxi rank that operates 24 hours a day. The rank is serviced by the whole Leeds fleet of 537 taxis, 237 of which are wheelchair accessible. All are fitted with a taxi meter set to Leeds City Council's fare tariff. All drivers are knowledge tested and have undergone criminal records investigations. The bus and coach station also has a dedicated rank which is located just outside near the Millgarth police station. All vehicles, drivers, and operators of both taxis and private hire vehicles must be licensed by the Council.[13]

A 1925 Leeds tram at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire

Leeds' tram system was dismantled in the early 1950s (as was the case in most cities) with the final services running in November 1959.[15] In recent years this decision has become regarded as short-sighted. The former tram routes are evident on some of the main roads in and out of the city; for instance the void in the A64 York Road, now filled with guided bus lanes, and the unusually wide central reservation between the carriageways on the A58 Easterly Road (towards Wetherby). The original tram system ran a larger route than the proposed supertram; the original system ran along the A64, A58, A61, A660 and also down through Beeston and Belle Isle. By the time the tram network was dismantled it had become unpopular with many people in Leeds, due to its ageing, draughty and poorly maintained fleet. Neighbouring Bradford lost its trolley bus system during the same era (the final journey being made in 1972). Sheffield also lost its tram system several years earlier, yet has seen the return of the tram in the early 1990s.

The city had plans in the 1990s and 2000s for a tram network known as Supertram. However the government axed the scheme due to an unwillingness to pay for any costs over budget, despite an undertaking by the City Council and local businesses to underwrite any such additional costs and the Department for Transport's apparent preference of a bus-based rapid transport scheme to a tram-based scheme. An inquiry into corruption at the Department of Transport was called for, although nothing came from the calls.[16][17]

From 2009, proposals were developed to build a trolley bus system, also referred to as "New Generation Transport". The three proposed lines would have run into Leeds city centre from Park and ride sites at Stourton (South Route) and Bodington, just beyond the Ring Road on the A660 (North Route), and from St James's Hospital (East Route). In the city centre there would have been a loop route connecting the three incoming routes.[18] A revised version of the proposal was considered at a planning inquiry in 2014, the outcome of which was a recommendation that the scheme not be proceeded with.