The Worst Transit City in Europe (And How to Fix it)

[@RMTransit]

To be clear, this video isn’t meant to propose an actionable plan for Leeds, just to highlight the obvious need for *something* and some of the key considerations to make - like the regions dispersed nature!

[@jasonhaven7170]

I'd recommend a video about the Lagos Rail Mass Transit system that opened this September. It really shows how quickly African countries are developing and what they're learning from us about transit.

[@lws7394]

There was a 'plan' for the 'Northern Powerhouse Line'. A fast/high speed rail line improvement between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle. (With 12bln Pound, more manageable and a lot less expensive than HS2, and with probably more daily travellers). Currently the 70mile Leeds-Liverpool takes 90 minutes. With NPL that would be reduced to 50-55 minutes and Leeds-MCR 25 min, creating one daily commute metro area with like 8-10 mln people, hugely improving opportunities. But BoJo Boris Johnson axed the plan. So the 44 mile between Leeds-MCR remains on victorian age rail lines, in 50 minutes at Victorian age travel times ..

[@RMTransit]

@@MrLukealbanese Yes, population numbers vary depending on where the line is drawn - region is similar in population to Metro Vancouver! Happy to chat, email linked in the channel page.

[@bobemor]

follow-up video with an actionable plan for Leeds in partnership with the West Yorkshire combined authority??

[@josephowen4732]

Leeds is a very difficult city to work out transit for. The rail station already has very good connections to Bradford via multiple routes, however the nature of these prohibits adding more stations in between to the mix of services. Another issue is that the current orbital buses are woeful, poorly timed and very low frequency and with limited numbers of river crossings on the river Aire, suburbs to suburb commutes at rush hours can be terrible. It also combines with that to reach the M62 motorway from the Aire Valley requires passing Leeds. Orbital railways in Leeds are not an option due to the terrain, this could be negotiated by a tram, however there are limited alignments they could realistically use without street running at which point you might as well have a bus. The main commuter corridor in west Yorkshire is Bradford into Leeds which has a substantial number of trains per hour and also reasonable buses, both express and none express. Leeds railway station is at capacity and cannot take any further services and once you are within the city centre of Leeds there is nowhere else to put a useful station for metro services as the CBD is relatively small. The chances of any elevated rail rapid transit is fanciful I am afraid, no one would want that. I dont know what the answer is, because I don't necessarily know what the question that needs answering is although I would say that potentially the thing which would be useful is a single integrated bus network, with priority measures on roads, increased park and rides (though Leeds is fairly decent at this). For a fraction of what you would spend on a mass rail transit solution you could have a large, effective, frequent electric bus service. Spend the rest on electrifying the remaining railways. I am a fan of rail, but not rail for rails sake. Anyway, thanks for the video 😊

[@tomwatts703]

This video has given transport in the North more thought in 8 minutes than the current UK government has in over a year, like you said a West Yorkshire transit system has been considered in the past but realistically the 'Network North' proposals are unlikely to ever happen unfortunately.

[@williamerazo3921]

Tories want more roads and nuke the HS2. Yeah they are piss now that the mainline won’t ever have any improvements that HS2 would have provided

[@Steven_20031]

Wholeheartedly agree

[@RMTransit]

The current proposals are clearly not thoughtful, or from what I can tell likely to happen. Better ideas need to fill that void!

[@Steven_20031]

@@RMTransit some of the larger towns have been completely forgotten about in the WYRT scheme, I did tweet a chain to WYCA stating that the system should extend as far as Keighley as the rider numbers show clearly that the current offerings aren't enough, 1 bus to Bradford every 15 minutes in a roughly 60 passenger single deck non articulated bus and every 20/30 minute double decker busses to Leeds. There are 2/4 trains an hour to Leeds and 1/2 an hour to Bradford which on weekends and peak times are consistently standing room only and even then it's a struggle. The ridership numbers are there to prove it's needed but the current plans near enough ignore the town with its multiple reasonably dense villages that see infrequent bus service in some areas meaning car ownership and taxis/ride shares are most commonly the only option. Not to mention poor service on early mornings on a weekend

[@tomwatts703]

@@RMTransit they were almost certainly thrown together last-minute as an attempt to distract from the loss of HS2, the original announcement included a number of projects that were previously dropped/cancelled (some by the same government) and others that had already been built(!)

[@Tom-ed2fc]

As a Leeds resident, it's great to see you covering Leeds, cities outside London in this country rarely get any attention given to their urban transport needs

[@memofromessex]

I think it's looked over entirely. I have been all over the UK, but I have never been to Leeds

[@Quasihamster]

Cities outside London? Is that the UK's version of Bigfoot or the Yeti?

[@RMTransit]

Manchester and Leeds both in the back half of this year, more to come!

[@stephengray1344]

Well the non-London parts of the UK do tend to have the worst public transport in Western Europe (possibly Europe as a whole, but I'm less knowedgable about Eastern Europe).

[@piccalillipit9211]

Cities outside London don't exist stop lying...!!!

[@pmberry]

For those not already aware, Leeds had a serious, workable and costed plan for light rail but this was pulled in the 2000s. Even a watered-down trolleybus system was approved and then cancelled in the 2010s. On a different scale, and affecting not only Leeds of course, HS2 was cancelled this year (though watch this space). This country is simply not committed to any serious investment in transport infrastructure.

[@oliveriliffe4508]

It's actually so sad :(((((

[@ttookkyyoo]

Any transport infrastructure in the north that is. London get's all the shiny new projects with spiralling cost and Manchester might be the only northern area to get a serious rail project in the form of Ordsall Chord which is laughably underused. I live in Leeds and have to get a bus into the city for work and it can really suck.

[@listerofsmeg884]

Exactly. Our trash newspapers, which basically control the UK government,just poo poo anything that might cost taxpayer money (even though the owners of said newspapers pay 0 tax themselves)

[@letter1014]

Labour and Conservatives don’t work well together.

[@ttookkyyoo]

@@letter1014 they're barely doing their respective jobs right now at all

[@olamide6712]

The busses are stuck in traffic, the trains don't run and the tram system was never built. History of UK northern cities

[@NaenaeGaming]

The tram systems were built (as well as the trolleybus networks for that matter), they were just ripped back out!

[@RMTransit]

It needs to change!

[@olamide6712]

@@NaenaeGaming I think that was the case in Europe as well because they had a lot in the 1800s and then got rid of them. It's just they've had a clear renaissance in all decently sized cities whereas it's just a select few in the UK

[@TheWolfXCIX]

@@NaenaeGamingTBF those old tram systems weren't high speed and don't provide much benefit over bus routes. Modern trams have far more benefits and would have needed different alignments anyways

[@harrympharrison]

As the adage goes: we got there first, and now we're the worst!

[@-Osiris-]

Massive respect for covering this, UK cities outside London don't get this kind of informed and detailed coverage normally

[@aaronsmith9209]

Leeds is the perfect example of just how huge the investment and power imbalance in this country is, it once prided itself as the motorway city of the 70s. There is a lot of regional inequality in Britain. London will always get investment but for every crossrail or DLR we get, the rest of the country needs twice as much to catch up. Even the home counties are underfunded and suffer from poor regional public transport. I spent a few days in the west of england this week and forgot how bad the trains could be, they were often delayed from junction bottlenecks/poor track layouts, old and worn out trains and at times overcrowded as nearly everywhere was a 2 coach train. In a lot of towns in the west, the bus is weirdly more convenient to use than a train but they rarely have priority so get delayed and stuck in traffic and also not integrated with rail at all. I don't see why a system like the DLR couldn't be built in places like Leeds, Newcastle's Tyne and Wear Metro is pretty successful and shows what can be done with the right people in charge. Coventry is a building a light rail system now but I am not sure how good they will be as the vehicles are tiny and not that fast!

[@allws9683]

@@totallybored5526 Erh , what has Hull given the world ? ..

[@Mark-gt5uu]

​@@totallybored5526Hull seems perfect for a light rail system.

[@siwynjones]

@@allws9683Chip Spice!

[@samc749]

Being born and raised in Leeds I can’t tell you how excited I got for something as simple as a tram when I moved to Manchester for Uni or even when I visited my mates in cities smaller than Leeds like Sheffield, Newcastle or Nottingham which all have tram/metro systems. Hope we get a new government soon that actually cares about improving the cities internal transport infrastructure!! 🤞

[@g-man4744]

You should definitely do one on Dublin, Ireland. Worst public transport of any European capital I visited! Urban population of almost 1.5 million inhabitants, with 2.1 million in the metro area, it has NO metro, only 2 tram lines that weren't even connecting until a few years ago, only 3 major commuter lines, over reliance on buses (it has NO rail connection to the airport!), and its expensive!

[@samnicholson5051]

The two tram lines connecting are only just a technicality at that. Unlike with many other light rail systems, the services don't overlap at any point, meaning less trams from A-B in the city centre. Fortunately there will be a major infrastructure upgrading project in the coming years on all the railway lines around Dublin, that will improve the frequency of most of the Commuter services and make them a lot more reliable. Not really enough, but a lot better than nothing I guess. For the record I've heard a number of people say Rome is overall worse than Dublin, despite ticking all the boxes.

[@hamishashcroft3233]

But at least for all its faults, the Irish government is investing a lot in public transport in Dublin - Luas, metro, extended/electrifying suburban rail, reorganising busses etc. None of that can be said for the UK government or most British cities.

[@ATG-gc2cy]

Try living in Dublin. 🤦‍♂️ Successive governments have not prioritised public transport in our capital, nor Ireland as a whole. It’s a disgrace.

[@g-man4744]

@@hamishashcroft3233 fair point, but at least London is well connected, Dublin as the capital city has comparably really poor infrastructure. And rail services in other cities in Ireland are almost non existent (bar couple of suburban lines in Cork, similar in Belfast, and that's about it for the whole of Ireland). The UK has probably one of the worst train services overall, I'll give you that.

[@g-man4744]

@@samnicholson5051 Upgrade to DART will be an improvement but they need to rethink the entire rail network around the city, the usual choke points won't be solved with newer trains. Connolly station in particular is particularly bad, most suburban trains grind to a halt for a few minutes before entering the station, my commute takes 30mn while it could take half that time if speed and access to platform were better.

[@AndrewJohnson-ur3lw]

Leeds Supertram was cancelled when the government pulled the funding in favour of London. One route was planned to go to the new Stourton Park and Ride which has ended up with electric buses adding into the congestion on the road. Many of the roads still have wide central reservations from when the old trams were scrapped forming ideal segregated routes. I have heard comments that Manchester made a big mistake in having high floor stock as they are unable to buy replacements off the shelf.

[@pmberry]

As someone who used to commute to Leeds but has the option of working from home 20 miles away, I don't get to the office (right by the station, usefully) very much because the transport _by any mode_ is terrible. (I use the park & ride.) I'll have retired before anything changes. Everything you've said makes sense, but here's the crux of it, in West Yorkshire or anywhere else outside of London: • Do we have the demand? Yes • Do we have the technology? Yes • Do we have the expertise? Yes • Do we have the money? Yes • But do we have the political will? Hell, no

[@RMTransit]

Very apt

[@TheHoveHeretic]

Leeds was the subject of a failed trolleybus proposal, back in 2007. It died in 2011 and that was before the banking crash, with PFI (Private Finance Initiative) funding at it's height and an allegedly 'progressive' government in power. Fast forward to 2023 and the phrase "snowballs chance in hell" springs to mind.

[@jordyboy62]

Sheffielder here, actually we don't have the money because it requires govenment approval for localities to borrow money for use on infrastructure. The government have to borrow it on our behalf so we could build it. It's a stupid system.

[@pmberry]

@@jordyboy62Yes, the government approval = the political will we can't seem to muster.

[@jordyboy62]

@@pmberry the political will is there. It's just the will to ensure the North gets nothing.

[@northbytrain]

I live in the North of England and I really appreciate the attention you have brought to public transport here recently- especially Leeds, which urgently requires a rapid transit system as you discussed here. One city that is also in the North that you could focus on is Newcastle. It would be really cool to see the Tyne and Wear metro or bus services covered. Very detailed video- thank you again. 😃

[@simonbone]

Yep. Newcastle (Tyne and Wear) is the pioneer in turning old rights of way into a viable rapid transit system. The Metro was done at relatively low cost, and still doesn't cover some areas that could really use it. The 19-km Sunderland extension cost 1/200th of the price of Crossrail.

[@northbytrain]

​@@simonbone Yeah! To add to that aswell, if the metro wouldn't be enough to do a full video, Reece could make it about all of the Northeast's rail network, including historically, since the North East has a lot of historical lines like the Leamside line and of course the Stockton to Darlington line.

[@daniyalzuberi5441]

Pretty much all the northern cities have been forgotten about when it comes to investment and infrastructure

[@thingimabob0]

1) yes, but 2) manchester does kinda get special treatment in this respect

[@RMTransit]

Manchester gets some investment, though cutting it off of HS2 is . . . something

[@thingimabob0]

@@RMTransit leeds were the first to be cut from HS2 😅

[@rhysrail]

@@RMTransitit’s interesting how the Manchester metro link gets so much attention from people compared to the likes of the Tyne and Wear metro which is apparently longer according to google and has underground tunnels as well as a bit of heavy rail running in a city far smaller

[@grassytramtracks]

​@@kaij.d7307 it gets some, but a tram isn't really adequate for a city it's size a metro is really in order for a city its size. Same goes for Birmingham and Glasgow without a doubt, and quite possibly for many of the other of the other major cities in the UK

[@RendererEP]

What I've always found interesting is the stretch of Northern England, starting from Merseyside, all the way to Leeds, down to sheffield, with Manchester Warrington Wakefield Huddersfield etc etc in between is *almost* a super conurbation made of multiple conurbations. I recently returned from Osaka, where the rapid transit area also includes the cities of Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Akashi, Wakayama and all of the towns in between. There is more similarity in the fact a mountain range splits the area down the middle. (The Kongo Range vs the Peak district). It was really convenient and I was suprised at the distances I covered with ease. I was on a metro train through tunnels, then suburbs then countryside and a mountain range and then suburbs and city again all within 45 minutes. Distances and local stations are balanced with local, semi rapid and rapid services with each city having its own metro whilst being connected by a larger, more express-like regional metro. or multiple Elizabeth Lines if that makes any sense. This whole area in England has a similar total population to London being slightly over 8 million, only the green belt has stopped an entire built up area, seeing as the multiple cities inside of it are also conurbations (Leeds-Huddersfield-Wakefield-Bradford, or Manchester's built up area for example). I do wonder if it would be a good idea to have all of these cities in the West of Yorkshire and the South of NW England to be put into one giant transit system? Also, if you compare country sizes, its clear the built up area in and around Osaka is a similar size to the area of England I speak of, so its not implausable.

[@EpicSpiffer]

What you’re proposing is essentially what HS3 or Northern powerhouse rail was supposed to be. High Speed connections from Liverpool - Hull via the major cities in between. We can certainly dream about it ever happening

[@RendererEP]

@@EpicSpiffer sort of. Id say more like each city with a metro/light rail/trams that all connects to each other and the end points with one long express line between them. Which is what the Osaka area is like. Maybe its too much given the urban area in Kansai is far more populated. Your suggestion sounds more plausable but without some sort of change in the way this country runs, it won't happen as already previously shown with the whole Northern Powerhouse failure.

[@matthewwilliamson8430]

I've often thought that the urban areas of the Mersey-Humber axis should work closer together. This should help to offset the divide-and-rule ethos emanating from the Capital. And I'm saying that as a one-time Londoner, who knows and admires the north.

[@RendererEP]

@@matthewwilliamson8430 I'm a Londoner born and still living here, the centre of wealth and power is too centralised in this corner of England. Having a London sized group up north would definitely help things whilst avoiding further devolvement.

[@procrastination_productions]

Interesting tidbit, Leeds originally planned in the 1930s to turn its Victorian tramway into a stadhbahn with tunnels underneath Leeds city centre. Leeds’ trams were often on seperate rights of way and this can be seen on York road and Selby rd.

[@samuell.foxton4177]

parts of this reservation is now a busway

[@procrastination_productions]

@@samuell.foxton4177interestingly, Easterly rd never carried trams but still has a central reservation waiting for them. Leeds really didn’t want to ditch their trams and central government really forced the city’s hand in the end.

[@samuell.foxton4177]

also allegedly some construction was done around City Square, though I have not seen evidence of this

[@samuell.foxton4177]

@@procrastination_productions there are a few more roads around the East of Leeds in particular with reservations that never had trams - from there up to Seacroft mainly. Some of this was going to be used for Supertram

[@hellojasonsuresh]

The construction was cancelled because of the war. I feel it was the first omen in a tranche of Leeds transport disasters - nearly getting there, but never quite getting a spade in the ground. Desperately sad and never the fault of Leeds itself.

[@jimerso6004]

As a Bradfordian its great to see you cover West Yorkshire! After years of failed projects there does seem to be political consensus around building some form of rail transit system for Leeds/W Yorks, that said the best we can hope for is probably a Sheffield/Nottingham/Birmingham style tram system. Leeds absolutely deserves an automated light metro but I just can't see the funding being available for that sadly.

[@paulwild3676]

Do you know if Bradford was in the South East, it would be the second largest place after London, yet it doesn’t even have a station on the main Leeds to Liverpool via Manchester line. That is how London governments treat the North.

[@joejoiner2780]

Really great analysis. I live here in Leeds and one of the most depressing things I learned when I got more interested in transit and urbanism was that, until 1959, Leeds used to have an extensive tram system that was deemed "one of largest and most advanced urban transport systems in the UK" before its closure. Right now, we do have trains that connect some areas of Leeds, but the majority of the connections are by buses, which are infrequent, slow (largely due to traffic), and largely unreliable. A lot of people are therefore more convinced by their cars which only makes the situation worse. The city desperately needs funding and some government that actually cares about doing this right, and not just talking about it.

[@RJM56]

Having lived in Melbourne all my life I'm so glad that we "forgot" to get rid of our tram network when other cities around the world did and are now rebuilding them from scratch ... Looking at you Sydney.

[@George.Theodore.Mulryan]

I'm so mortified that this video exists, but knew you were talking about Leeds the second I saw the title. Thank you for covering us!

[@paultidd9332]

I’ve lived in Leeds city centre for 27 years. There have now been three failed proposals. I blame the city council for just not wanting to do it! I went to a city council transport meeting where a senior councillor said, ‘we want to invest in a transport system that doesn’t exist yet’. They then made reference to Google style cars running across the city as a public transport system!! I’d rather they just went with something they know that works, as suggested in this video!!

[@onlineo2263]

😂 That sounds awful. I have a feeling they do this as they are trying to come up with a proposal that they can get funded. It's amazing that there have been 3 bids for funding that have totally failed, yet in that time Nottingham got a tram network going.

[@zylenxh]

It's British culture to try so hard to be different and then end up doing nothing at all.

[@LeodisTrainSpotter]

@@onlineo2263 The council just blow the money instnatly, in Belle isle in Leeds, they gave us a bike path.. barerly anyone bikes up here. Instead of solving our social problems like crime.. they give us made a lane people walk on because theres no bikes

[@onlineo2263]

@@LeodisTrainSpotter well that cycle lane was central government funded.

[@chatteyj]

@@LeodisTrainSpotter To be fair bike lanes aren't a bad idea, a national network of decdicated cycle lanes would be cool. Imagine cycling from Leeds to Hull to see the sights and have some lunch!

[@paulhargrave3421]

Excellent thanks. I was in Leeds a couple of weeks ago and have family from the area. You're absolutely right about the inter-urban connectivity in the region. Probably worth mentioning connections to York as well - because of history it has much better UK connectivity (it's on the London - Edinburgh line) and gets a lot of tourists. Leeds to York is fairly well served by traditional rail however so maybe it's not relevant to a Leeds centred system but still quite important for the local economy. More widely Leeds - Manchester needs to get much better to really power the north.

[@liamtahaney713]

UK really lags behind the continent. Quite a shame. I don't think the uk will be building anything like this any time soon.

[@MercenaryPen]

we'll have to see whether transport is a priority after the next general election. For all his many flaws, Boris Johnson did prove that there's massive demand around the country for reopening old rail routes and for higher order public transport in general, if another government is willing to put money into that in a substantial way a lot could be done

[@nailil5722]

They completely screwed up when they decided to privatize the entire rail system. Nothing works as it should now and everything is incredibly expensive. A 35 minutes ride from Stansted to London is now 25£, for the same money you can go from Frankfurt to Bonn in Germany and it's a 2 hours train ride.

[@sihollett]

@@nailil5722 The UK (long before privatisation) felt that it was more important to spend money on social welfare and the NHS rather than subsidising the stockbroker belt commuters who would gain the most from cheaper rail travel.

[@jan-lukas]

​@@sihollettah yes it's surely the NHS that has to much funds instead of things like highways and alike

[@garethking1639]

@@sihollettit’s sad that anyone would think cheaper rail travel would primarily benefit the rich. All big cities should have plenty of public transport options to carry every kind of worker into city centres. Around Cardiff for example, the Valley lines transport people who have been priced out of Cardiff, there are precious few stockbrokers.

[@therealrooster]

Step 1: Elect a government that actually cares about anything north of Greater London

[@joegrey9807]

Or anyone earning less than a million

[@illiiilli24601]

Challenge: Impossible

[@williamerazo3921]

Hope Labour does well next election

[@jimbrankin9874]

It is impossible. MPs spend a lot of time in London and are eventually captured by the city. We have had government by different parties, the last Tory government was totally dependent on MPs from the “red wall” and it didn’t make any difference. They still refused to invest in the North.

[@katrinabryce]

Step 1 is to give the West Yorkshire Mayor a decent-sized transport budget. Step 2 is to let her get on with it. Even if people in Westminster genuinely care about the North, they are not going to understand the specific local issues. For example, Transport for London did a better job under Boris Johnson than Network Rail did under Boris Johnson. Same person in charge, same city, very different results. Westminster should restrict itself to inter-city travel, and setting national standards to ensure interoperability between different regions.

[@geordieinjapan]

"Is it Leeds? Its gotta be Leeds" *click* *wait* "Yes. Yes it is"

[@katrinabryce]

The Tyne and Wear Metro is another local and relatively recent example of a rapid transit project. I would start by looking at the existing bus network, and think about how adding rail to the mix could improve it.

[@RMTransit]

Another system I need to cover!

[@sterlinghartley2165]

This technic lead me to realise 2 things: 1) The lines cut from 1910 railway network (The network map I have on hand lol) are often the busier bus lines, 229 for example, and to restore lines would be a big help. 2) Most buses don't feed train stations by a long shot, for example Batley Station has 3 bus go near and are only hourly.

[@daveatron_]

Thank you!!! Lived in WY my whole life & the lack of connectivity around Leeds is insane. The best thing about Leeds transport is there's a 2h15min train to London every 30 minutes. Too bad no one cares about getting half decent public transport in the actual leeds area itself

[@jimbrankin9874]

Bradford is even worse.

[@RMTransit]

Getting around town should be easier than getting to London!

[@fluffy3953]

mental that it would take me less time to get to london than the other side of the city at rush hour

[@cedarcam]

It often takes longer to get 6 miles out of Leeds than it has taken on the train from London with only one bus an hour that often does not turn up.

[@JonathonV]

Leeds is cool. I was there last year, and I thought it was fascinating how consistent the architecture is: lots of beautiful buildings, all with a similar aesthetic. Transit would have been nice while I was exploring the city, for sure!

[@owendaniel2557]

Unfortunately the current UK government couldn't care less about investing outside of London. All other UK cities are so far behind compared to other Western European counterparts

[@RainShadow-yi3xr]

Manchester really isn't but everything else. yeah.

[@sihollett]

The current UK government isn't interested in investing in London either. I gather Jeremy *unt's policy is stimulus will come after the economy shows it is stimulated.

[@lazrseagull54]

​@@RainShadow-yi3xrManchester is way behind continental cities in its size range. Most neighbourhoods, including Moss side, Middleton and importantly, the Oxford Road corridor are still only within walking distance of a bus stop.

[@RMTransit]

For sure, as has been the case for many past UK governments - its bad and clearly not helpful to the nation as a whole!

[@frglee]

The present government talks the talk when it comes to investing in infrastructure of the 'Northern Powerhouse' when it comes to getting votes from all the gullible muggins there, but the reality is it can't walk the walk as the cancellation of the new High Speed Train line to Leeds and Manchester from Birmingham and London has demonstrated.

[@jevgenijmesceriakov4995]

Great video! The situation in Leeds reminds me of what we have in Vilnius. It has a population of more than half a million and it doesn't have any trams or metro. Although it has an extensive bus and trolleybus network, they get overcrowded during rush hour and constantly get stuck in traffic. Maybe it is a good city to discuss in future video

[@Jon-mf2no]

The irony is that Leeds was the first city in the UK to introduce electric trams, all the way back in 1891.

[@seanyboy123987]

Being from Leeds I LOVE that you’ve made this video. You should do some research on the bus guideways on Scotthall Road and York Road - basically a failed attempt at a BRT system where buses are often forced to travel at slower speeds than other traffic. It is certainly frustrating to see London’s transport get invested in time and time again when my train home from work is cancelled and I have to sit on an old bus for an hour!

[@cillianbissett582]

I would love to hear your thoughts on Dublin. There’s an issue with urban sprawl because Ireland doesn’t build up; you have people commuting from Dundalk, Greystones, Maynooth, and Navan, and other further out towns to Dublin City for work.

[@james-om1wd]

Wasn't expecting this! 😄 I used to live in Leeds and something I always found annoying was the lack of service between suburbs. Most bus services would just go from one end of the city to the other via the city centre, so my commute would often involve at least two buses (and that's if they do turn up!) Sadly I don't see any of these proposals happening imho.

[@RMTransit]

The unregulated bus system creates a ton of problems!

[@thomaspreudhomme9443]

Exactly the same situation in Cambridge. Radial routes, bus stuck in traffic, heavy congestion. I guess it's the normal pattern for any significant city without good public transit, even a city as small as Cambridge.

[@leilanyx_]

oh, the most frustrating part is their aren't many services that connect to the ring road in leeds so getting anywhere by bus takes about an hour and a half with multiple buses. made job hunting a bit of a nightmare bc everywhere takes so long to commute to.

[@TheWolfXCIX]

Leeds has a lot of very wide roads and not a lot of existing rail right of way. A tram-train system seems to be the best option, having just got back from Cologne something like their system would be perfect. Some cut&cover underground sections in the very centre of the city, some exclusive right-of-way on larger roads around the centre, and then new/existing train-like alignments outside of the city.

[@veganfishcake]

Thank you for this! Such a good video and really touching as someone living in Manchester who sometimes visits Leeds and cares about the lack of investment in the North.

[@hellojasonsuresh]

I know the Leeds case inside out and lived in Leeds for many years. The ultimate problem in Leeds, no matter how much people may try to unpackage why the council did or didn't do something, or why different proposals failed, is that there was never a Government truly committed to Leeds. The blame lies squarely at Westminster's door. Even with the recent quasi-devolution, West Yorkshire (note, not Leeds City Region that wasn't allowed a devolution deal by Westminster) still has to strike a funding deal with central Government - it is not able to raise tax locally. Sadly, things have only got worse - Leeds has had its new airport terminal canned by Robert Jenrick under Boris Johnson, while now both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail have been cancelled. The Government has no real intention of funding the robust rapid transit network that a city the size of Leeds would have in any other developed country.

[@lukeherring8275]

As a Leeds resident who has done some commuting to Manchester and plenty of travelling around Yorkshire, I definitely agree with your suggestions. In a dream world, the main things I'd want are: A true Transpennine upgrade, electrifying the line with high speed right of way and continuous 200km/h running. It currently takes 45 mins on the fastest Leeds to Manchester service, which may not sound too bad, but there are services that do London to Leeds in just over 2 hours. Additionally, this train gets delayed very frequently by ~15 mins, because it gets stuck behind a slower service. Similarly, electrifying Leeds to Sheffield route would improve the service a lot in that corridor too. The rail operator CrossCountry operates the only high speed intercity service between the two cities, with frankly completely unfit rolling stock resulting in absolutely packed trains. I was just shocked how much nicer the route from Doncaster to Leeds was on an electric train, even on a relatively slower service. In general, I think Leeds is quite underserved by rail, with routes to a lot of places only available on slow services and drawing the short straw on an awful combination of unreliable operators. (Getting to Leeds from London is no problem with LNER being one of the most reliable operators, but the LNER services to Leeds terminate there, so going any further north quickly requires TPE or CrossCountry). However, I imagine it's even worse in the likes of Halifax, which basically requires travelling via Leeds or Bradford, despite not even being that close to the former. Some kind of West Yorkshire S-Bahn style system would be amazing and truly integrate the region together. Finally, an inner city Leeds tram or light rail system would also be fantastic. Currently, buses frequently get completely full during the morning rush-hour making commuting even quite short distances unreasonably difficult. Thankfully, Leeds inner city centre is small and very walkable, but getting there from somewhere fairly far in the suburbs quickly becomes a chore. Being able to hop on a frequent tram from, say Headingley, to the city centre or another suburban area would really improve quality of life.

[@ahmetcankirmizi]

nice pfp! awesome album

[@kevinmarshall5431]

What you have said about linear infrastructure is right in a lot of respects, because there are grass reservations, in suburbs of Middleton and Seacroft, that were left over from the original network that closed in 1959. Also, I would run a domenstrator shuttle on the disused railway between Bradford and Dewsbury, to guage opinion.

[@RMTransit]

I think "demonstrators" are kind of a poor idea, it gives people a sense that you aren't confident in the demand for better PT

[@jimcobb2116]

There are a lot of comments about lack of investment outside of London and central government not caring, but other cities in the UK have managed to do something. Manchester is the obvious example, but there is Sheffield to the south of Leeds, along with Nottingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh (although badly in that case) and Birmingham. Leeds has a a history of differing proposals that get cancelled before gettign anywhere, so this is a local government issue in Leeds. Yes, more central funding would help, but Leeds needs to get its act together and follow many other cities, rather than playing the "It's not fair" card all the time.

[@ლუკა-ჩ4ე]

i have lived in Leeds for 7 years. it’s a great city, and i’ve definitely found my community here. but it doesn’t feel like it’s a serious city. car dependency and the severe lack of infrastructure continually pushes me to ask myself what’s stopping me from moving to mainland Europe. I’d be far less likely to be knocked off my bike there.

[@Joseki]

You should do a video on the massive challenges Rome has when building public transport: massive surface area, lots of nearby towns, the archeologistic nightmare that is building a metro line (ex. the Piazza Venezia Metro C stop project). I think it would be really interesting.

[@gregoryalexander5190]

A similar story (on a smaller scale) with Edinburgh, a city built on volcanic bedrock over 7 hills, and you can't put a spade in the ground without finding the grave of a 13th century monk. I think there could be a good video in archeologistic/geology nightmare cities.

[@ballyhigh11]

I've often thought that about Rome (and indeed any place in Italy). The minute you put a shovel in the ground there must be a fairly high certainty that you'll discover something archeologically important!

[@manveruppd]

The had the same issue building the Athens metro, I believe, which is why it took like 10 years longer than it was supposed to. Tunnelling machine had to stop every 30 metres for the archaeologists to be called in.

[@Hastdupech8509]

​@@ballyhigh11In Naples they found an entire Roman dock and the Greek forum digging the Municipio and Duomo stations respectively. Not an excuse for the incredible slowliness of the works (obviously, politics is to blame, engineering overcomes problems a lot faster), but yeah, can be tricky to dig inside city centres. Yet, imo, if we wanna keep them alive and not just some sort of Disneyland for adults, we have to invest in them.

[@elliottaylor7818]

May I recommend Nottingham as an example of an absolutely fantastic bus/tram network in spite of a severe lack of good (or even electrified) rail in the city. The branding of the numerous bus companies in Nottingham is second to none. Makes up for the fact that it will NEVER see major investment in any large rapid transit system (or anything for that matter) by virtue of how the council is organised. Worth a visit if you are based in the UK at the moment

[@MoPaTography]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for raising awareness about Leeds! I've left a few Leeds comments on your videos in the past so I'm going to be deranged and believe this video was down to my comments 😅 Jokes aside, yes Leeds needs heavy investment in the infrastructure! The Leeds council are already reshaping the city to be pedestrianised, more walkable and fewer cars. This has led to access to Leeds to be even more challenging. The national rail lines are constantly cancelled or delayed, you can't rely on them to get you to the city. The busses are stuck behind all the car traffic which is now worse because of reduced road access and trains being cancelled. It's a situation that gets worse and worse. I just hope we get Leeds transit sometime in my lifetime 😅

[@ryannewman9248]

Estimates completion 2040

[@stothsam]

One of the prospective Labour candidates for West Yorkshire Mayor actually thought the solution to the region's transport nightmare was a Hyperloop from Leeds to Manchester 🤣🤣

[@BigBoomOfDoom2]

Thank you for another great video. Channels like this have gotten me really interested in public transport and urban planning.

[@danielburkel1424]

Can you do a video about Nuernberg, a city with a population 500.000 and it has the only automated metro in Germany.

[@RMTransit]

Eventually, need to wrangle some footage first!

[@danielburkel1424]

@@RMTransit I could film some, I live near Nuernberg.

[@FalseKing98]

thank you for covering leeds! i found myself walking to the city centre (2 miles) yesterday because i dislike the bus system so much

[@jasonhaven7170]

I'd recommend a video about the Lagos Rail Mass Transit system that opened this September. It really shows how quickly African countries are developing and what they're learning from us about transit.

[@hachimoobela6903]

I’d love to see that!

[@BLACKSTA361]

If they keep this up theyll have a Top Tier System in no time😊

[@jamesquayle9194]

Great video and really well considered options. Years before COVID I used to live in Rawdon in North West Leeds and work in Stourton in South East Leeds. I had to move house after a couple of years as the journey would take up to 1 1/2 hours each way during rush hour. All main routes were simply gridlocked every morning. It could take half an hour to get from Rawdon to Horsforth. The lack of ability to deliver a mass transit system in Leeds, let alone the West Yorkshire area is like some kind of bad joke demonstrating the absolute ineptitude of both the government but also Leeds City Council who have not once, but twice had committed funding. I’m now 44 and working from home, I strongly suspect I’ll be retired before anything substantial ever sees the light of day!

[@rachelcarre9468]

Totally agreed, the UK is extremely poor at doing public infrastructure. Leeds also needs a better airport.

[@RMTransit]

I mean if Leeds had far better rail transport you could get to more airports easily!

[@rachelcarre9468]

@@RMTransit Manchester is very close and has excellent international routes with it's own railway station that connects to Leeds. As you point out, better transit to get people onto the rail so that can make that connection is the next logical step.

[@jeffgaw]

@@rachelcarre9468I would be happy to see Leeds airport remain as it is. It's good for European travel and loads of holiday destinations these days. I nearly always use Manchester airport even though I live in Leeds, it has loads more options for destinations and airlines. Trouble is I live right on the Eastern outskirts of Leeds and getting a train is a total pain and takes ages. It makes driving the least painful option, but driving on your return when you've just flown 5000 miles and been up 24 hrs is the last thing you want to do. We desperately need a better, faster rail service from Leeds (esp east) to Manchester Airport. I guess one problem is that you have to go over the tops of the pennies in quite a short distance. Maybe that's why the service feels like it belongs in the 1960s. I don't know enough about rail travel to know if that's a major reason it's so slow. But would be interested to hear from others that do know more about it.

[@jonevansauthor]

@@RMTransit yes, it absolutely doesn't need an airport and the amount of money that would cost would be eye watering. Unless those airships for national transport become a thing but that's on the never never like cold fusion.

[@jonevansauthor]

@@rachelcarre9468 and yeah - a high speed underground link between Manchester and Leeds would be fabulous. It's only 50% further than the Channel Tunnel, and last I checked, there's less of a water problem. It'd be easily worth the money since all such schemes are hugely profitable for both ends (and whoever digs it of course).

[@TheWritingDev]

I knew just from reading the title that this was going to be about Leeds. I can't believe that such a large city doesn't have an urban rails system. It would benefit highly from it

[@melbutterworth7976]

As a brit I guessed this would be about leeds lol, the situation is pretty bad. I do think though that the existing rail lines are an incredibly valuable asset, especially the wharfedale lines. I think the budget of any new system could be greatly reduced by utilising the existing lines and simply upgrading track and signals crossrail style for a more frequent service.

[@shawd04]

There have been so many projects proposed, and then canceled. Even rails and infrastructure were installed and put in the ground, before digging them up again later. Such a waste of time and money...

[@TAP7a]

As a Brit, your closing thoughts are bang on the money. Appreciate this informed and sensible consideration of a major city that too ogten goes unnoticed

[@MercenaryPen]

while we're at it, we likely need to sort out the main railway station in Leeds and the approaches on either side of it, because at the moment there are lines on the national network (including the Settle-Carlisle route) whose frequency is unfairly reduced by the lack of access to platforms at Leeds

[@Eric_Hunt194]

The frequency of the Leeds to Carlisle service is down to the sparse population between Carlisle and Skipton, not capacity into Leeds. Those services use the low-numbered platforms which are much more flexible. Considering how empty of people the route is, a train every two hours isn't too bad. The big issue with Leeds Station is over the other side, especially Platform 17 which limits the semi-fast Nottingham and Lincoln services to two cars only.

[@RMTransit]

City centre rail tunnels are popular for good reason!

[@cedarcam]

@@Eric_Hunt194 There is a plan to put an extra line in out of 17 to Holbeck so the Sheffield / Nottingham's have independent lines, of course it may never happen it was only proposed a couple of years ago

[@CarolineFord1]

Leeds and Bradford were historically the home of trolleybuses as they were good with the hills. The last system was in Bradford. Rail is poor locally - there are still lines that are not electrified. Bradford is a post-industrial town which would benefit greatly from better public transport and connections to Leeds.

[@ianbrown4411]

I saw the title for this video and had my finger crosses - "Please be Leeds", then I noticed Bridgewater Place in the thumbnail and knew it was. I grew up in a carless household in a little town just outside Dewsbury and lived there until I was 30 except for 4 years at University in Manchester. Living in West Yorkshire actually gives you a very poisoned understanding of distances that despite having moved away 15 years ago, is still engrained in my head. Where I lived wasn't far from being the middle point of West Yorkshire, almost pretty much 7-9 miles away from each of Leeds, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Bradford or Halifax. But they were all over an hour away by bus. I lived in the middle of the 4th densest populated part of the country and going to one of the 5 biggest towns around us was considered a day out. That was my childhood. We got a "Family Day Rover" (Those that know will know ;) every few Saturdays and go out for a full day just for my mum to go to C&A. Everywhere was just so far away! Manchester, York and Sheffield were all about 30-35 miles away and these were for really special occasions we would probably do one a year as they involved going to one of the bigger towns then changing again for another 45 min to an hour journey so could easily involve a 4 hour round trip. It wasn't until I moved to Manchester for University in 1998 and I subsequently bought a car that a I realised just how poisoned my view of distances was. I could get from my flat in Salford to my parent's house in less time than the 212 bus got from Staincliffe to Wakefield. 30 miles vs 7 miles. I also started to realise I had a completely distorted sense of Geography. I moved back to West Yorkshire in 2022 and met my future wife. She grew up in a little village called Whitley. I had heard of it, but had never been, it just seemed so far away, it was about an hour on the bus. But now i have a car and I could leave my house and be at hers to pick her up in less than 10 mins. I have long since moved on and now live in the south in a town the same size as Batley that has 3 railway stations where I am just used to jumping on a train and being in the city 7 miles and 20 mins later, but my sisters are still in the Dewsbury/Batley areas and despite both being in the 40s now and having cars for over 20 years, they still have quite a distorted view of distances and geography and there are places that they just never consider going to because they seem so far away, because for the first 20 years of our life, every trip on public transport took about ano hour......

[@ravenmusic6392]

Quite common here unfortunately. In my city (Bristol) there are about half a million people with no Tram, metro and only one commuter rail line with 2 trains an hour. The mainline services are good, but most people use the buses which are expensive and slow. It also like many cities used to have an extensive Tram network

[@1leon000]

The biggest city in Europe that's only metroless is Belgrade. 1.6 million people without a metro is unreal, and they got some Chinese money and just began to build one 3 years ago (it's going to be complete around 2028). Even Sofia, with 400,000 less people, has had a metro for 26 years. Belgrade has had trams since the 1900s, though.

[@dedomenici]

Four out of 10 residents of Leeds can reach the city’s centre in under half an hour, while in like-sized Marseille the figure is nine out of 10. I stole this fact from a new government white paper.

[@grassytramtracks]

And I didn't think of Marseille as being as being as great as it could be. There are several transport deserts (mostly outside the city itself) and the tramway largely duplicates the metro

[@jacobjackson7227]

Mersey rail which is Liverpool’s and ‘surrounding region is a rapid transit solution, however it is only in select areas and tends to want to get people from A-Z instead of making more local stops. Like going from the outskirts to the city centre instead of suburbs to other suburbs, meaning bus is the only option to getting to school etc… and due to bus lanes being removed, they take so much longer than what’s needed. A series of tram infrastructure would be much better suited.

[@KittyLovesFerries]

Ooh, near me. Can we have one on Hull next as it's awful with transit. It only has 288,000 or so living but there are a number of bus routes that are frequently full (packed in rush hour) and sometimes run upto every 5 minutes both inbound and outbound.

[@Leo_125.]

This is the same situation down south in Bristol

[@TheRandCrews]

I thought this was going to be about Dublin and their possible plans for a metro, which should be needed to supplement the tram and commuter rail system.

[@LarryLoudini]

As a Dubliner I really thought it’d be Dublin. I’m 33 and have seen four metro proposals in my lifetime that have always been 5-10 years. However, while transit in Dublin is shambolic and utterly insufficient, in the rest of Ireland it’s just simply absent

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

Ironically, the times I've been to Leeds, I've always been able to get to where I was going - city centre or not - by rail.

[@rogersexton7857]

Excellent video. West Yorkshire needs a proper NETWORK of rail services. And it needs REGULATED bus services feeding into that network.

[@holnrew]

And integrated ticketing is an important factor

[@rogersexton7857]

@@holnrew I would put it even more strongly. INTEGRATED TICKETING IS CRUCIAL.

[@RMTransit]

For sure, just having regulated buses would be transformative.

[@cameronallan5624]

Announcement expected in January on this. Mayor is due to make a decision.

[@markstott6689]

​@RMTransit The buses in Leeds were once owned and run by the city. Then along came Margaret Thatcher and neoliberalism. The Conservative government had the buses privatised and the service has slowly spiralled down hill. If a service doesn't make enough money First Bus Leeds just does its damnedest to dump the service. If you're lucky a small operator may take it on.

[@fluffy3953]

As a leeds resident, i find your proposed maps quite interesting although missing some key routes that could do with light rail. For example, from the city centre to university campuses, and then onto headingley would be one location that i think would benefit. The buses on that route are routinely dangerously overcrowded despite being double deckers running every 10 min or so, sometimes more! A route running down york rd and up belle isle along existing tram tracks would probably be a good idea as well. I also question the choice with the ALM design to not include a direct link between Leeds and Wakefield (another city in the area), this is another route where the bus runs every 10 minutes and still attracts queues halfway down the bus station at peak times! Obviously, a lot of this is just stuff you wouldnt know without experiencing, so no hate. Very nice to see this finally get mentioned in transit communities. My biggest gripe was seeing an old photo of the tram system on the leodis archives, and seeing that the bus stop i used nearly every day used to be a tram stop!

[@nikaki99]

You should make a video of Thessaloniki, Greece. A city which builds a couple kilometers of metro for many years and it's still far from public usage. Yet the only means of transport in this city is public buses, with very bad quality of service running through congestions.

[@paulwild3676]

Greece is not the 5th biggest economy on the planet.

[@daxibradley5922]

Yes, I was there a couple of weeks ago, and there doesn't appear to have been much progress since my previous three visits (2016, 2017 and 2019). The traffic is still appalling, which is one reason why I always stay in Ano Poli!

[@nikaki99]

@@daxibradley5922 There has been progress since those years, but there are some technical issues that delay the public release of the network.

[@nikaki99]

@@paulwild3676 It's not all about economy. It's about quality of life in places where solutions need to be made!

[@daxibradley5922]

​@@nikaki99well, I suppose I shall have to keep visiting Thessaloniki to check on progress! Ευχαριστώ πολύ για τα νέα. 😊

[@arem2001]

So great to see you covering Leeds! I actually just graduated from Leeds University writing a dissertation on this very topic! Shame you didn’t post the video earlier I could’ve used you as one of my sources.

[@Thedavidbiodanza]

You seem to have overlooked Bristol which is if anything in even more dire straits than Leeds which at least has some electrified suburban rail routes. Especially if you just look across the river to its neighbour Cardiff with it's South Wales metro which couldn't make the comparison between the two more stark.

[@Oliverharry600]

As a lifelong resident of Bristol I can vouch for this, the bus system is horrendous and there is an over reliance on cars which causes huge traffic issues. I live in an outer suburb of Bristol and would never consider a job in the city centre as the bus can take 2 hours in rush hour! If I didn’t drive I think I would have moved away long ago

[@radicallyrethinkingrailwaysina]

Leeds attracts attention as the largest city in Western Europe but no doubt Bristol runs a close second. The so-called United Kingdom has become a dysfunctional entity and the sooner it is broken up into its elements - including returning the Irish occupation zone to its owners- the better.

[@neilflood6508]

As a Londoner, I agree that Leeds/West Yorkshire is poorly served by the lack of high quality frequent mass transportation. Having travelled all of the major conurbations in Britain, West Yorkshire is one of the top three areas that I feel needs urgent investment in public transport as it is harming the local population and economy. The othe two biggest areas IMO are Bristol and The Potteries.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

I live in West Yorkshire but not in Leeds itself. A Manchester style system isn't viable for Leeds as there aren’t any suitable disused or under-used rail routes extant in the city's immediate surroundings. The only possible one would be Ilkley, but as this is currently a high quality electrified suburban line which shares part of the route with long distance services. With my crayons out and an unlimited budget I'd go for a Prague-style street-running tramway for the immediate surroundings and inner suburbs of Leeds and Bradford, with electrified heavy-rail for the outlying towns- including reopened or new routes for radial journeys such as Wakefield to Bradford.

[@gottagothatsme]

The most frustrating thing I found living in Leeds was the existing heavy rail infrastructure wasn’t even being used to its full potential to make up for the lack of a metro system. Every morning you’d have totally packed, two carriage trains arriving just twice an hour and barely on time. Hourly trains on Sunday too which again were always packed. Such an easy fix with existing infrastructure but there was never any money or inclination to do it.

[@MervynPartin]

Your comment about this country having just one city is exactly how it seems to those of us who do not live within the M25 orbital motorway. London gets far more investment per resident than anywhere else in Britain, and most of it coming from Central Government, i.e.. our taxes. Several schemes for Leeds have been proposed, but each time the Government pulled the plug- well, they had Crossrail in London to support, plus further financial handouts to Transport for London. It is ironic that Leeds once had an extensive tram system.

[@salkoharper2908]

I lived in Yorkshire for 9 years (Leeds, Sheffield, Huddersfield) and my overriding memory is of how difficult it was to get anywhere without a car. Going from Huddersfield to Sheffield on the slow train would take half the day. On a map its such a short distance. The train winds through every little village on the way. The problem is, you only have the 2 options. Very, very slow train or drive. If your young, old or poor you might not have a car, so it limits where people can get to for work, college, shops etc. It made going to see my gf in Huddersfield such a long journey. We both now live in London and it is so easy to get around on the Tube, train, bus etc.

[@jack2453]

Interesting. An alternative thought may be to look at the northern corridor as a whole. The existing regional rail Liverpool-Manchester-Huddersfield-Leeds-Hull is not bad and could be beefed up in speed, frequency and connectivity with electrification and better integration between trains and local transport to become the bones of a Randstad-style network.

[@clivebroadhead4381]

It's' over 20 years since Greater Manchester got trams, West Yorkshire now needs a mass transit to match London, i.e., the DLR. In addition the heavy rail Wharfedale and Airedale Metro Lines need extending through the centre of Bradford to the rest of the Region

[@elliottstirrop4353]

Love this! can you do Birmingham UK next please!

[@jonathandixon7693]

If you think Leeds transport is bad, come and visit Bradford! They keep on changing their mind about NPR and a new station for Bradford more times than ive had hot dinners this month!

[@mrharvest]

Cute idea but absolutely 0% chance of happening in the UK political climate. Affordable housing along transit? Serving underserved communities? Spread the wealth? Yeah, no, not in the UK.

[@sho-m-er5194]

The point about Manchester's tram system really struck a chord, everytime I walk through the city centre on a weekend or in rush hour I feel like getting trampled is an event that could happen

[@mikegillard7283]

Leeds City Council is anti car, they just forgot to create an alternative I.e. rapid transit etc. There is no reason to go there. The transport system is starting to creak, the local paper highlights the bus system which has planned in delay to timetables.

[@DJenerate]

I feel like you should take a look at Birmingham and the wider West Midlands urban area too. Sure, we have one tram line, that runs through Birmingham City Centre then out to Wolverhampton, but that's it. There's local rail lines, but some of them, like my local line between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, only gets a 30 minute service in each direction, due to having to fit around express services. There is a second tram line being built, but when you compare the system to that of Manchester, it's laughable.

[@andrewfoster259]

So glad you featured my home City and I've travelled the world and Yes Leeds is seriously lacking a decent Metro System, Not for lack of trying. But the government only really like spending all the Money in London.

[@mcstevenhouser7317]

Love that you've started doing videos for UK cities, was just wondering if you'd plan on doing a video on the transit systems in the west midlands as there's been a big push towards tram networks in the past decade. Would be nice to see you overlook it and say ways it could be improved.

[@baerlauchstal]

Guessed it straight away. Leeds is a great city, and really does deserve better.

[@PauxloE]

I was recently in Belgrade (Serbia). That city has an extensive network of trams, buses and trolley-buses, but no metro or similar. Even the main train station has very few trains (it's not possible to reach by train from other countries). The bus to the airport runs every 35-36 minutes.

[@easydrive3662]

Population of leeds is actually around 760k not 500k and together with bradford next door with a population of around 400k the area has over a million population, as a stand alone city ie its city centre and the inner urban density area it is actually the 3rd largest city of england and known as the 2nd financial centre of the uk with currently a construction boom in the city. As i write this there are currently over 20 cranes up in the city with many skyscraper buildings under construction or due to start soon. Its totally crazy that the city has no mass transit system, its roads are just clogged up and all the council seem to bother about is cycle lanes! Ideally a mass supertram system, the outer ring road turned into at least a dual carriage way and the airport expanded would be a start altho plans are in action now to expand the airport terminal.

[@samuelharry3829]

Way back in the day there used to be an extensive tram line around this area.

[@ricardasrasciukas1783]

Well it's a perfect time to do an episode on Vilnius, Lithuania :D You would be surprised how a mid-size city became a haven for cars (modal split for cars went from 20 to 40% in 30 years). And previous ambitious plans for tram were scrapped for the sake of 'BRT'... and then noone really knows what 'BRT' is, so there's no BRT. So basically there's no strategic thinking in transit policy; some trolleybuses are 35 years old and they are reaaaallly aged and have to be replaced BUT at the same time the transit authority claims customer satisfaction is 9/10 or smth :D BTW, I lived in Toronto for 3 months and Vancouver for 9 months - I just LOVED them both in terms of the transit system!! I could have never imagined that North America has anything good in terms of public transit and I was sooo wrong. And Vilnius would be great for Skytrain! or tram... :)

[@obamtl]

Even before discerning the thumbnail, I already knew you were talking about Leeds. Thank you for shedding light on this.

[@petitkruger2175]

The current UK government (conservatives) will never build rapid transit for Leeds/ Bradford because they won’t get any votes there. So annoying when politicians put their own needs infront of the country’s

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Which is weird, because in other countries, they build even more transit projects to gain more votes.

[@sonicboy678]

The irony is that doing so _could_ net some actual support.

[@EpicThe112]

They need to do that in order to get the votes up there the solution I can see is have a crossrail Thameslink style Services running thru Leeds City Railway station. Once outside of the electrified territory run on diesel power Over the Calder Valley and Huddersfield Northern Transpennine Railway lines.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

​@@EpicThe112run on diesel? Where's the ambition there? 😉 The Huddersfield line is eventually getting electrified through to Manchester anyway. The problem with Leeds Station is that it's built on top of the river so any underground platforms would have to be deep and well protected against water ingress. Nearby Sheffield has the same problem, hence the trams being stuck over on the far side, out of sight like a red-headed stepchild.

[@EpicThe112]

@@Eric_Hunt194 thank you for telling me about that and what I meant diesel is that dual mode OHLE commuter trains on this hypothetical Crossrail Thameslink Leeds. Is that they must use Diesel power to reach Manchester Victoria if the tunnel has a branch to the Calder Valley Line Manchester Victoria to Leeds City via Halifax & Bradford Interchange.

[@JackMellor498]

Leeds was the city that saw Britain's first overhead-powered electric tram network for a city in 1891, Leeds is famous for them! If any city (and wider conurbation) deserves a modern light rail network it’s West Yorkshire!

[@johnburns4017]

Merseyrail in the Liverpool City Region was created in the 1970s from separate rail lines terminating at separate terminal stations in the centre. One line was underground in central Liverpool & Birkenhead. These were joined in the centre using tunnels creating a hybrid commuter rail/metro. It also enabled four terminal stations to be eliminated, making matters cheaper to run. One third was cancelled when Thatcher came to power. The city has miles of tunnel and trackbed awaiting trains. Leeds needs to use the Merseyrail model for a metro covering a wide area. Use what is already there as the base. It is a disgrace what has happened to Leeds and Liverpool.

[@radicallyrethinkingrailwaysina]

Why don't you NOT copy other failed UK cities and instead follow TOP CLASS examples like Lausanne or Rennes or Utsunomiya or a multitude of small cities with well done public mass transit. Just more examples of UK unwilling to shed the exceptionalism

[@johnburns4017]

@@radicallyrethinkingrailwaysina Merseyrail was and still is a success. An object lesson of how to convert old individual lines, some being the oldest in the world, into a network. Merseyrail has recently introduced battery trains.

[@Kresimir_]

Whenever i see a video like this i look up the population of the city in question and cry when its less than winnipeg

[@nixcails]

It's always been the issue though that the old Urban West Riding which includes Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley in the Post 1974 South Yorkshire has hills and dales (steep U shaped valley's) that topographically get in the way. Leeds did have a fairly modern tramway until November 1959 with central reservation European style running. The main issue why it went was the pro car politics of both Post War Conservatives and Labour majority governments. The first British Motorway the M1 ran from London to Leeds (since expanded further north) and Leeds City Council and later the Transport Executive WYPTE took a pro car and bus based transport system linking up dales (those aforementioned U shaped valleys) with buses going up and over hills and existing rail lines linking cities [US definition] across the region. Thus MetroBus and MetroTrain were created in 1974 out of the various Corporation owned Buses and British Rail's local lines. Intially local rail was tatty and many stations run down and neglected. WYPTE invested heavily in building small halts and two car rail buses to improve (or at least run) a rail service and encouraged intergrated tickets between bus and rail. Sadly with bus privatisation starting in 1986 and rail privatisation in the mid 1990's the network didn't get to how it was envisaged 49 years ago. WYPTE has tried to keep rail and bus investment up as much as the current legislation allows and the regional Mayor [Tracey Brabin, Labour] has expressed an interest in getting the same level of control and subsidy that Manchester has attained. Meanwhile The Leeds - York/Doncaster/Sheffield/Huddersfield/Halifax/Manchester regional rail service functions frequently but does suffer with congestion and overcrowding due to station platform lengths at smaller stations and the age of some of the rolling stock.

[@manveruppd]

Having lived there for 17 years, I couldn't agree more about the need for better rapid connections between Leeds and the cities around it. Despite its transit problems, Leeds is a fairly well-off place, and when you visit one of the neighbouring towns like Bradford or Wakefield the contrast in how run down and depressed those places are is shocking. I have many friends there who face daily 60' commutes just to travel 15-20km from the outskirts of Bradford into Leeds, and a fast and frequent MRT system would not only reduce their commute, but also improve life for everyone travelling within Leeds by taking hundreds of cars off the road.

[@stephenclark9917]

Population of Leeds isn't 500k, it was 812k in 2021

[@N05K177]

So proud to see Lausanne in the intro

[@RMTransit]

Lausanne is great, if they can do it surely Leeds can!

[@EuroDC1990]

Absolutely spot on, much of Northern England has very poor transport links. Leeds's lack of a proper rail system and Sheffield's lack of tram expansion is criminal. Not just West Yorkshire but the Yorkshire region as a whole needs a proper integrated transport policy. Sadly every time something gets announced it gets pulled again a few months or years later. I think Leeds also has a particular problem in that its station is very large. Commuter Rail does exist to an extent but the size and number of people using Leeds station means it can take a long time to get to and from the platform and get through the ticket barriers. If your journey time is 15 minutes by train or 30 minutes by bus but it takes you 10 minutes to get out of the station and another 10 minutes to walk where you're going then you might as well have taken the bus (which it seems Leeds does pretty well). Sadly the UK isn't good at infrastructure projects, and London is the only place where huge projects seem to get the go ahead is in London and then they cost double what they were meant to and it's just accepted.

[@JohnnyZenith]

Bristol needs mass transit too. I'd like you to cover this!