Transport in Leeds

The Inner Ring Road largely carries through traffic across the city, whereas the City Centre Loop distributes local traffic around the city centre. The City Centre Loop that was formed by using a number of streets to create a one way loop, however they will soon not be a continues loop around the city centre for cars as more roads get pedestrianized. This acts as a local access thoroughfare for city centre traffic, allowing the core centre to be heavily pedestrianised and largely traffic-free.

In 2017, Leeds had introduced a Clean Air Zone and provided financial support to businesses to promote the adoption of cleaner vehicles. This initiative, along with other measures, resulted in significant improvements in air quality.^[13] Leeds announced a Clean Air Zone in 2020, which will charge the most polluting buses, coaches HGVs £50 a day to enter the city, while taxis and private hire vehicles which are not clean enough will be charged £12.50 a day. The proposals came after the government ordered the council to come up with ways to lower the air pollution in the city.^[14]

The railway station has a dedicated public hire

Inner ring road

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.

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) from the Armley Gyratory continues as the A64(M) to Quarry Hill/Marsh Lane. (the number A58 forks off to the north at Clay Pit Lane and The A64 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 under the Railway and join the A61 East Street/South Accommodation Road towards the East Bank. (Here, it meets the East Leeds Link Road (A63), which provides fast connections to the M1 junction 45 at Skelton Lake.) The IRR continues over the River Aire using the John Smeaton Viaduct as a high quality dual carriageway on a flyover, meeting the M621 at Junction 4 Hunslet. The M621 completes the southern flank of the Inner Ring Road, linking up to the A643 Ingram Distributor at M621 at Junction 2 Elland Road which joins back to the Armley Gyratory.

To manage traffic in the city centre and to provide an efficient traffic distributor around the city, inside the Inner Ring Road 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.

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

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

Leeds has an extensive bus network. The main provider of intracity services is

Intercity services to other towns/cities of West Yorkshire are mainly provided by Arriva Yorkshire, First Bradford, First Halifax, and Transdev-owned The Keighley Bus Company. A service to Leeds Bradford Airport is provided by Transdev's Flyer division.

Further services entering into North Yorkshire are mainly provided by Transdev, such as The 36 to Harrogate and Ripon, and Yorkshire Coastliner services to Scarborough and Whitby via York and Malton. Arriva Yorkshire also provides a service to Selby.

Leeds City bus station is the main hub for the city's bus services, and also long-distance Megabus and National Express services.

Leeds has a "public transport box" around a pedestrian core – these are clusters of bus stops on Eastgate, The Headrow, Park Row, Infirmary Street^[16] Boar Lane, Vicar Lane, Leeds Corn Exchange^[17] Albion Street, Cookridge Street, and outside the main entrance to the railway station for services linking the railway station with the rest of the city's public transport.^[18] In an attempt to simplify the bus network WYCA has introduced a core bus network map and branding. Leeds has three dedicated park and ride bus services to sites near motorways:

• PR1 – Elland Road (M621 junctions 1 and 2)^[19]
• PR2 – Temple Green (M1 junction 45)^[20]
• PR3 – Stourton (M621 junction 7)^[21]

In March 2024, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority announced that buses in Leeds are set to be operated under a publicly-controlled franchise system from March 2027.^[22]

Cycling

In 2010, Leeds Cyclepoint opened at Leeds railway station providing cycle hire by the day as well as paid secure parking for up to 300 cycles.^[23] The council provide maps showing ideal road routes for cyclists cycling maps. The Leeds Cycling Campaign works with the council and campaigns for improved cycling provision.

In late 2014 work started on Cycle City Connect, which includes a mostly segregated cycle path connecting Seacroft in East Leeds to Bradford, as well as resurfacing parts of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal shared use tow path. The government granted more money to Leeds, one example is £7.06 million under Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) to deliver improved and expanded cycle links and cycling routes in the city centre and beyond.^[24]

Since the 2014 Tour de France the number of publicly available bike lock-up rack has been increased, which includes high-capacity racks shaped like car outlines. Sustrans' National Cycle Network has several of its routes running through Leeds. These are the major routes 66 (between Manchester and York) and 67 (from Sheffield), as well as suburban routes 668 (from Alwoodley) and 677 (Wyke Beck Way).

An electric bicycle rental scheme, Leeds City Bikes, operated by Beryl, opened in September 2023.^[25] Users must download an app, and can pay on a one-off basis or buy a pass or a "bundle" of minutes as a regular customer. The bikes are collected from bays around the city centre, and hirers are penalised if they do not return the bike to one of the bays.^[26] The company is named after Leeds cyclist Beryl Burton.^[27] In the period from the scheme's launch until February 2024, 13,000 journeys were made totalling almost 36,000 km (22,000 mi). There were 200 bikes available from 20 bays.^[28] The number of bikes was planned to increase to 650 in spring of 2024.^[29]

Walking

The

Leeds Bradford Airport is located to the north-west of the city and has scheduled flights to destinations within

They are 3 direct bus services:[33]^[34][35]

• A1: Leeds – Kirkstall – Horsforth – Leeds Bradford Airport (half-hourly service)
• A2: Bradford – Leeds Bradford Airport – Harrogate (hourly service)
• A3: Bradford – Shipley – Guiseley – Yeadon – Leeds Bradford Airport – Otley (hourly service)

There is a direct rail service from

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal links the city to Liverpool and the west coast. The Aire and Calder Navigation links Leeds to the Humber and the east coast. The city has a dock, situated on both canals at Clarence Dock (adjacent to the Royal Armouries). Leeds has good connections by road, rail and coach to Hull, only an hour away, from where it is possible to travel to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge by ferry services run by P&O Ferries.

In 2014, a free river taxi service was introduced between Leeds Dock and Granary Wharf; operated by boats "Twee" and "Drei".

Transport information services for Leeds

Leeds City Council provides Leeds Travel Info, an online service of real-time travel information, including information about roadworks, traffic incidents, and car park availability for motorists as well as access to local public transport information.^[37] West Yorkshire Metro provides bus and train information online and offers the "My Next Bus" service of real-time bus information by text message or online.^[38] This real-time information is also displayed in certain bus shelters.

Leeds is one of the cities covered by the urban pedestrian route-planning system Walkit.com.^[39] Works and programmes concerned with transportation improvements for the city are reported on the Connecting Leeds website.

See also

• Leeds
• Economy of Leeds

References