A Green councillor has asked transport bosses at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to explain why councillors were sent an email that services would be “retimed” whilst First have actually announced that it plans to cut one bus an hour to Holmewood.
The email sent on Wednesday 7th May refers to the 617/618 service, which connects Allerton and Holmewood, and advises that for this service “some journeys will be retimed by around 5-15 minutes.” This same information was made available on the West Yorkshire Metro website.
However, the First West Yorkshire website states the services would see “frequency changed from every 15 minutes combined to every 20 minutes” .
Councillor Matt Edwards, leader of the Green Party councillors on Bradford Council has emailed the Director of Transport Services at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to ask why the authority is trying to downplay what is, in reality, a significant cut to vital bus services.
He said, “The community in Holmewood needs good bus services. The car ownership rates in the area are some of the lowest in West Yorkshire and I know many people rely on these services to get to and from work, do shopping and get to BRI.
“I have already been contacted by people who are very worried about the impact this will have as these services are already very busy.
“Bus users got a raw deal under the last Conservative government and it’s not looking much better under this new Labour government. Earlier this year, the Labour Mayor decided to increase the cap on bus fares which meant bus fares went up. We were told this was to improve services but less than a few months later we are seeing more cuts to services.”