Bus campaigners call for 'more transparency' from Mayor's office on franchising plans in West Yorkshire

Campaigners in West Yorkshire are calling for “more transparency” from the Mayor's office on bus franchising plans.

Better Buses West Yorkshire staged a ‘People’s Question Time’ protest outside the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) offices on Wellington Street, Leeds this morning. This was aimed at highlighting how local bus groups feel they have been locked out of decisions about their bus services.

Distinctive green Weaver Network buses are on their way to the region’s roads from next year, after Mayor Brabin’s landmark decision in 2024 to bring public transport back under public control for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Cristiana Mirosanu, Green Councillor for Chapel Allerton ward, called on Mayor Tracy Brabin to change WYCA’s rules and allow the public to ask questions at WYCA board and committee meetings.

“We demand more transparency about how decisions are made and actual public ownership,” Coun Mirosanu said. “We want people to be involved from all areas in co-producing the bus routes and bus stops, so that it actually serves the communities.

“All the decisions should be made with the people who are directly affected by them. It should be led by the public, not just saying ‘we have a consultation, fill out this public form.’ We need everyone to come together to solve any issues.”

Currently the West Yorkshire Combined Authority does not permit questions or statements from the public during Combined Authority meetings, making it an outlier amongst other combined authorities.

Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Peterborough & Cambridge, West of England, Hull & East Yorkshire, Liverpool, and York & North Yorkshire Combined Authorities all have formal public questions or public forums as part of their meeting structures.

As such, campaigners are calling for all decisions around bus reform, including franchise tender documents, to be made public, so that bus riders can see what decisions are being made about their services.

The protest organisers, Better Buses for West Yorkshire, say that public scrutiny during WYCA business is essential to holding the Mayor and the Combined Authority to account.

Councillor Matt Edwards, Leader of the Green Group on Bradford, described the lack of public scrutiny as “absurd.”

“Buses are public transport, there is no public transport without the public so it’s absolutely absurd that we have a system being designed without the user at heart,” Coun Edwards said.

“We have public money being wasted on a system where the public are not being consulted. There is no point asking people what they think if you are just going to do something completely different.”

Addressing around 40 protestors outside WYCA’s offices this morning, Mayor Brabin committed to hosting a ‘Mayor’s Question Time’ specifically aimed around the bus network and addressing any existing public concerns.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has categorically denied any suggestion of secrecy, branding it as “incorrect,” and confirmed that no decisions are taken in shadow board meetings.

The authority explained that these meetings are instead designed to allow detailed and commercially confidential information to be shared with elected members to allow them to be informed and make timely decisions in publicly-accessible meetings.

“Our Weaver Network Board will be made up of elected councillors from across the region, with decisions taken at meetings in public, which are free for anyone to attend,” a spokesperson for the Combined Authority told the YEP.

“The Mayor also holds regular question time events across the region, as well as a monthly show on BBC Radio Leeds, where any member of the public can ask a question.

“It is categorically untrue to suggest business is conducted in secret and anyone who has a query can contact the Mayor’s office, where caseworkers are on hand to support.”