Own Goal?

A few evenings ago, I drove along the A647 in the evening rush hour, a road that has seen significant investment in the past couple of years with the creation of the Leeds-Bradford cycle super highway and new bus stop infrastructure. The works also involved a significant restructuring of the roundabout where the A647 meets Woodhall Lane at Thornbury Barracks near the Leeds Bradford boundary.

Traffic on the A647 itself now flows straight through, traffic light controlled but all traffic turning right or left needs to use the nearside lane and cross the main carriageway as allowed by the traffic light control. This resulting queue at rush hour in this lane was well back over the Bradford boundary as significant numbers appeared to be waiting to take what was formerly the right turn towards Pudsey. The straight through lanes were flowing freely.

This nearside lane is also where the bus stops are located and it was disheartening to see a number of buses from First’s recent major investment in services X6 and 72 having to sit in the queue to access the stops. Surely a case for a bus lane to get better value from the investment since, despite the messages of declining bus services in the metropolitan areas, the Leeds-Bradford service is probably better than ever. The X6 and 72 both offer a ten minute frequency. In comparison, a recently acquired 1979 Metro timetable shows a 15 minute frequency on the 72 and just four return journeys on the equivalent of the X6 each rush hour plus an occasional longer distance service passing through.

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