'Ghost buses' in Yorkshire: Problem of buses which never appear 'keeps mayor awake at night'

Tracy Brabin was referring to the increasingly common problem of buses that are scheduled to arrive, and may even be listed as being minutes away on bus stop timetables, but never appear. The claim came in a meeting where West Yorkshire Combined Authority were voting whether to move ahead with a plan to make real time bus information across the region more reliable.

Ms Brabin, herself a regular bus user, has pledged to improve bus services since she took on the role of West Yorkshire’s first elected mayor in 2021. She has introduced “Mayor’s fares” a £2 cap on bus journeys, and begun plans to bring bus services into public ownership – something which could take years. But many bus services have remained unreliable, with complaints of buses cancelled at the last minute.

At a meeting of the Combined Authority earlier this month members discussed a £615,000 IT upgrade that would improve the current system.

A report to members said the new system “will encourage the increased use of public transport for education, employment and leisure activities, by providing people with improved journey information, for example real time travel updates.”

Leeds Councillor Stewart Golton said: “The Mayor has made considerable efforts to try to improve bus patronage in West Yorkshire. However, we all know how erratic bus services have been of late. We need car users to be confident that if they make the switch to buses they will get to work on time. Real time bus information is key to providing that confidence – and that clearly isn’t there at the moment. We’ve all heard the discussions about ghost buses.”

Cllr Golton was told this new system was a major step in improving the current system.

Ms Brabin said: “This keeps me awake at night – these darn ghost buses. I’m in a privileged position when am at a bus stop as I can see that a bus hasn’t come. I hear about members of the public going to bus companies saying that a bus didn’t come, and the companies saying ‘no, its on our schedule – it was there.’

“In my privileged position I can say ‘I was at that bus stop, and it didn’t come.’ I will do everything I can to make buses more reliable.”