Transport

Providing an integrated transport system that connects people to jobs and businesses to markets is a central part of our vision of delivering good growth that improves the quality of life for everyone in Leeds City Region.

Good transport facilitates business growth. It brings people together, means workers can find the right jobs that match their skills, and gives people the ability to make the most of their free time.

To support the development of a transport infrastructure fit for the 21^st century, we are investing a £1 billion West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund, covering West Yorkshire and York, which was secured by the LEP and West Yorkshire Combined Authority through the Leeds City Region Growth Deal in 2014.

The Transport Fund is being used to make major improvements to motorway access, orbital roads, radial improvements on corridors for better public transport options into our urban centres, increase capacity on key road and rail links between district hubs, and enhance rail stations.

Roads

Leeds City Region is well-connected by road, with the M62 and M1 and A1(M) motorways providing direct access to major town and cities across the north of England, London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

With a working population of 1.4 million people and a further 7 million within an hour’s drive, it’s vital that our road infrastructure is congestion-free and gets people where they need to be.

Thanks to the £1 billion Transport Fund, we’re making major investments in our road network, delivering projects like the Wakefield Eastern Relief Road. Completed in June 2017, it provides a new link between key housing and employment sites, and has opened up access for 2,500 new homes in the city.

Other road improvements projects we’re working on include major improvements to the York Outer Ring Road, a link road to improve access to Leeds Bradford Airport, a £120 million package of measures along the A629 Halifax to Huddersfield corridor, and the £67.8 million Corridor Improvement Programme along the Key Route Network.

Public transport

We subsidise the cost of local bus and train services, and provide funding to make sure communities across West Yorkshire continue to have access a bus service. We also provide funding for concessionary fares for young people, disabled and blind people and seniors.

Under our travel brand Metro, we provide day-to-day services like bus stations, travel centres and public transport information. 

Over 300,000 people now travel around the region using MCard, making it one of the biggest travel smartcard schemes outside London, while 100,000 people use our Metro-branded bus stations every day. 

The Transport Fund is investing in Rail Park & Ride at 15 key stations across the region, providing better access to jobs, training and leisure opportunities in urban centres.

Leeds station is one of the busiest in the Northern Powerhouse, welcoming over 31 million passengers in 2017/18. The station is undergoing a £161 million multi-year redevelopment to increase capacity, with a new roof and improved roadside, new platform and alterations to platforms, tracks and signalling.

Cycling

We want to support the establishment of cycling as a major mode of transport, with increased active travel benefiting health. Over the past year we have enabled over 6,000 people and businesses to see the health, environmental and economic benefits of cycling and walking through cycling training and grants and other activity via our CityConnect programme.

We are also building a world-class cycling infrastructure enabling people to travel to work by bike. The CityConnect Cycle Superhighway, linking Leeds and Bradford, is the longest segregated cycleway in the country, and we’re building on this with further projects in York, Leeds, Bradford, Castleford and Wakefield, plus a scheme to open up cycle access to our region’s canals

Rail connections

Leeds City Region is the home to some of the first railways in the world – a heritage that the region is building on.

Leeds City Region has strong rail links to the rest of the country. London is two hours away, with regular, direct services to Manchester, Manchester Airport, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

The eastern leg of HS2 will see the construction of a state-of-the-art station in Leeds city centre and will form a central part of a significant regeneration programme across the south bank of the city, in what will be one of the biggest changes in the city centre for 150 years. 

Air transport

Easily accessible from across the City Region, Leeds Bradford Airport flies to London Heathrow Terminal 5 five times daily, and serves other global business and leisure destinations either directly or via connecting flights. 

Airlines serving Leeds Bradford Airport include low cost and travel operators, such as Aer Lingus, BA, Flybe, KLM, Ryanair, TUI and Thomas Cook, and Jet2.com, which is based at the airport.