Student Unions for three colleges join in public transport appeal
Students from three major higher education establishments in Leeds are joining together for a major campaign to fight for better public transport.
Student Unions for the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan Universityand Leeds Trinity University College in Horsforth are uniting under the banner of Leeds Student Bus Service Campaign in a bid to improve bus reliability, increased frequency of buses and fairer pricing.
Between them, the unions represent almost 100,000 students in Leeds. Protest plans are only at an early stage, but student bodies could unite to boycott buses by organising walking and cycling events.
A website – www.leedsstudentbuscampaign.com – has been launched where students can complain about late buses and sign a petition calling for improvements. The campaign also has a page on Facebook.
Hannah Greenslade, community officer at Leeds University Union, said:
“We put a lot of money into the buses in Leeds, it would be quite effective if we were to withdraw that custom in some way.
“We’re hoping to get support from outside the student body as well – we’re aware that there is a lot of feeling among local residents about the frequency and reliability of services.
“Too often buses are late or simply don’t show up at all. It would be better if services ran on a regular basis like every 10 minutes or so, instead of giving specific times
“The 97 bus, for example, is the only bus that stops at Leeds Trinity and other parts of the local community – yet at peak times, there is one bus every 20 minutes, which is often full.”
Greenslade is also calling for fairer pricing for all Leeds students.
She added: “The Green Zone buss pass scheme does little to help students as those that travel by bus most often are those that live outside it. Termly and monthly passes are expensive and do not allow students to receive discounts if just making occasional journeys.
“We are calling for a universal student discount which applies to all university and college students throughout the year.”
Greenslade said she’d recently had a meeting with bus operators First Group which runs the majority of buses in Leeds, which she claimed had seen the company fail to move on any of the issues.
A spokesman for First said:
“First provides a high-quality, dedicated, bus service for students in Leeds, especially in terms of cost and frequency.
“Cost – we have a number of specially discounted tickets for students to use on our services to ensure they get good value for money.
“Frequency – Many of our routes used by students have dedicated 10 minute frequencies allowing students quick and easy access into the city.
“We will listen to the concerns of the students unions, as we have done so in the past, and will try and work out ways we can address some of these concerns.”
Metro, which works on behalf of West Yorkshire bus and rail passengers, said today that the work it is doing to develop a Quality Contract schemefor West Yorkshire’s buses would address the issues being raised by the Leeds students.
By bringing bus services under a London-style franchising system where operators bid for the right to run services, Metro says it would be able to set standards in terms of fares, frequency and reliability of services. This arrangement would also end the current confusion over different operators’ tickets by enabling Metro to introduce a flexible ticketing system which could be used on all the county’s bus and train services.
What do you think? Are buses unreliable and overpriced? Have your say in the comments section below.
The Guardian
