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West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

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Logo for Metro the trading name of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.
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Logo for Metro the trading name of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.

The West Yorkshire Passenger Traffic Executive (WYPTE) is the executive arm of the West Yorkshire Passenger Traffic Authority (PTA). It was formed on the 1 April 1974, with the formation of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. From the outset the trade name was known as Metro, originally with a suffix of its district i.e. Metro Leeds for Leeds, Metro Bradford for Bradford, Metro Huddersfield for Huddersfield and Metro Calderdale for Halifax, however regional variations in branding have since been discontinued. It is responsible for setting transport policy in the area, and by subsidising bus services and by funding local MetroTrain services.

Contents

Buses

Buses in West Yorkshire are operated by private companies, with early morning, late evening, Sunday and rural services often supported by Metro. They have a special rural bus section, which promotes a combination of minor local links and major long distance routes in the county.

History

Bus fleet 1974-1980

New buses were purchased in large numbers at the outset, with Leyland Atlanteans and Fleetlines being bodied by Charles H. Roe of Leeds to a specific design for the PTE, with most of the Fleetlines going to Halifax, though a small number of Fleetlines were bodies by Northern Counties. A number of MCW-Scania Metropolitans were also purchased. Single decks were met by short Leyland Leopards with Plaxton Derwent bodies usually for Halifax. The PTE also had a coach fleet which traded as MetroCoach, with the more upmarket coaches having being branded MetroCoach Executive: these were usually Leyland Leopards with Plaxton and Duple bodies, but later Leyland Tigers with the same bodies were also purchased including some Royal Tigers with stylish Roe Doyen bodywork bought in 1983. The coach livery was ivory, red and brown.

In 1979 the last Fleetlines arrived for the PTE (making a total of 156 PTE specified Fleetlines), and towards the end of the year the a new batch of Atlanteans arrived with a revised driving position, which was made higher up, pantograph windscreen wipers, and a new interior decor which was akin to London Transport's with yellow/orange upper and green/brown lower panels and a new moquette (seat pattern), again, simliar to LT's in a brown and orange pattern. This was the new standard interior specification.

In 1980 a batch of the new Leyland National 2 was purchased, and ten MCW Metrobuses arrived 5 arriving in April and five in November.

Fleet livery

In 1976 modifications were made to the livery. Originally there were three stripes at the sides of the destination box that wrapped round to the sides of the bus and swept down. This took time to apply, and a trial was made with one thin line. In 1977 a further modification was made when the lines were removed entirely and the green area at the skirting area of was raised up: thus there was slightly more green. The other change was the fleet name, which was known as MetroBus, removing the district names.

New integrated bus system

During July 1981 MetroBus (the WYPTE) and the National Bus Company (NBC) formed a new integrated transport system for West Yorkshire, known as the "Metro-National Transport Company Ltd". All PTE and NBC buses in the West Yorkshire area began to appear with a new emblem, which consisted of the MetroBus WY's in one box and the NBC "double N" or "N-blem" appearing in another to the right of the PTE emblem, and slightly lower, both boxes were linked to show the integration. They also appeared with MetroBus fleetnames with "The easy way from here to there in West Yorkshire"

Bus fleet 1980-1986

December 1981 saw the last Atlanteans delivered to the PTE with VWW361X: numbered 6361 it carried the PTE standard Roe bodywork. In 1980/1 the PTE initially ordered 22 of the new Leyland Olympians (although two were cancelled); also ordered was a further 10 MCW Metrobuses but with the 'new' Alexander RH-type bodywork. They also received two of three long National 2's VWU1331/2X (1331/2) with YWX333X (1333) arriving in early 1982. In October 1981 the first Olympian 5001 (reg UWW1X) arrived: this bus is now with Chester City Transport as HTU785X (this vehicle has however been out of service since June 2005), the second 5002 (UWW2X) arrived about the same time. The rest of the batch arrived during March 1982 and around the same time were the ten Alexander Metrobuses. More Olympians arrived from later in 1982-3.

January 1983 saw the arrival of 20 MCW Metrobus MK2's and a batch of Duple Dominant bus bodied Leyland Tiger buses, which were dual-purpose. Also in 1983 two buses in Huddersfield were painted to mark 100 years of public transport in Huddersfield with Atlanteans 6299/300 (PUA299/300W), the former being painted in Huddersfield red and cream and the latter in Huddersfield Tramways livery. Later in the year more Olympians arrived, and during 1984 a total of 40 Metrobuses were purchased plus more Tigers. Charles H. Roe closed down at this time (although was to reopen in 1985 as Optare) and the last batch of Roe-bodied Olympians made a total of 151 Roe-bodied Olympians, with the last complete bus being 5145 (B140RWY); six of the batch were coach-seated for MetroCoach - these vehicles however had only their shells built at Roe - the interiors were finished off at ECW.

In 1985 the PTE ordered 15 Olympians with Optare bodywork:

De-regulation

De-regulation occurred on Sunday 26 October 1986. The WYPTE bus division was re-named Yorkshire Rider and with it a new livery of dark olive green and cream was used and a stylised "YR" emblem, five double-decker buses were operated in each of the municipal council's colours (already included were the two Huddersfield buses), with words on the sides between the decks saying "Building on a Great Tradition". The bus services and fare/bus pass/timtables division was re-named Metro. Throughout 1986/7 a lot of Freight-Rover Sherpa minibuses were purchased which was the craze during the early days of de-regulation, though bigger MCW Metroriders were purchased in 1987/8. Yorkshire Rider privatised in October 1988, the first PTE to be privatised, during this time 50 new double-dckers arrived, 25 MCW Metrobuses and 25 low-height Northern Counties Leyland Olympians, which featured yet again another interior decor change, with two tone grey panels, and a new moquette being two tone grey and pink with YR emblems on. These were the last order before privatisation. From then on the PTE (by now known as Metro) didn't run buses anymore.

Operators

Interurban links

Don't fancy the train? Why not take the bus instead? Please note that evening services are normally at the same frequency as those on Sundays, but this can vary. Evening services on the most frequent routes tend to finish around 2300.

Bank Holidays

Generally speaking: But check before travel on the Metro website at http://www.wymetro.com.

Rail (MetroTrain)

A Class 321/9 electrical multiple unit at Doncaster carrying the original Metro livery.
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A Class 321/9 electrical multiple unit at Doncaster carrying the original Metro livery.

A Class 144 diesel multiple unit at York carrying the latest Metro livery.
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A Class 144 diesel multiple unit at York carrying the latest Metro livery.

Routes

The MetroTrain services are as shown below; long distance services that also use the routes are included: The timetables also include the local services between Leeds and Bradford, and between Leeds and Sheffield.

Operators

Most local services are run by Northern Rail, and longer-distance routes in West Yorkshire are served by First TransPennine Express, GNER, Virgin Trains and Midland Mainline.

Leeds SuperTram

In 2001 Metro (the West Yorkshire PTE), came up with Leeds Supertram, with the idea of operating (and, to some extent bringing back) a tram network for Leeds. Though in late 2004/early 2005 Transport Secretary Alistar Darling rejected the idea. In the spring of 2005 Metro stepped up campaigns to persuade the Transport Secretary for the need of a tram system in Leeds, however efforts came to naught as in December 2005 the project was cancelled indefinitely by Mr. Darling, who responded with plans for a cheaper bus-tram system (buses designed to look like trams operating at high frequency with bus stops resembling tram stops). This is not the first time this has happened, around the mid-1980s the PTE was interesed in bringing back trolleybuses in Bradford, but this came to naught.

External links

 

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