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Weaver Network Board
Thursday, 22nd October 2026 at 11:00am

 
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Vanessa Donhowe
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Tim Taylor
  2. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Cllr Keith Anderson Wakefield Council
  5. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  6. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  7. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  8. Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council)
  9. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  10. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  11. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  12. Matt Edwards
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  15. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Matt Edwards
  5. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  6. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  7. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  8. Cllr Keith Anderson Wakefield Council
  9. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  10. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  11. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  12. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council)
  15. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  16. Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council)
  17. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  18. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  19. Cllr Darren Commons Calderdale Council
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  21. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  22. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  23. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  24. Matt Edwards
  25. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  26. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  27. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  28. Matt Edwards
  29. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  30. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  31. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  32. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  33. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  34. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  35. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  36. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Matt Edwards
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  9. Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  11. Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council)
  12. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  13. Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  14. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  15. Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  16. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  17. Cllr Cllr Andrew Judson Bradford Council
  18. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  19. Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  21. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:00
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:02
Good morning.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:25
Thank you all so much and welcome to the third Weaver Network board.
Thank you all for coming, board members, and can I welcome members of the public in the
gallery.
Thank you for taking interest in franchising.
As the passenger in chief for West Yorkshire, I'm really excited by the progress that we've
made so far.
The next 18 months are going to be really interesting and hopefully a game changer for
our region.
Vanessa, oh, just before we take apologies, unfortunately I have to leave at 12 .10 as
I have a call with the Prime Minister and Eleanor Thompson, my deputy, will take over.
I'm also aware that Councillor Anderson also has to leave early.
Is that correct, Councillor Anderson?
So thank you so much for coming.
Okie doke, any apologies.
Thank you, Vanessa.
Thank you, Mayor.
I'm going to ask the question.
I'm going to ask the question.
Vanessa Donhowe - 0:01:24
So we've got three apologies. Apologies from Councillor Hardy
and his
deputy Councillor Smith is attending in his place.
Apologies from Councillor Hinchliffe and Councillor Wray is
attending in his place and apologies from Councillor
Buckley and Councillor Davies is attending in place. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:01:44
Thank you all so much and if I may remind members if you wish to speak

2 Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Please do indicate and if you press the speak button, then it will be recorded on the live stream
Okie -doke. Thank you. So any declarations of interest that anyone would like to declare any item on the agenda?
No, no indications okey -doke

3 Exclusion of the Press and Public

Okay, moving on to item three exclusion of press and public
Officers have advised that information contained in
appendix one to agenda item six,
changes to the mayor's fair scheme in 2027,
are treated as exempt under paragraph three of part
one, schedule 12A of the local government act 1972.
This is because they contain information relating
to the financial or business affairs of any
particular person, including the combined authority,
and further that it is considered that the public
interest in maintaining the content of the appendices as exempt outweighs the public
interest in disclosing the information, as publication could prejudice current and future
decision making.
If we agree the press and public will be excluded should members wish to discuss the content
of the appendix when we consider item 6.
Can we all agree that if we are going to discuss the appendix on item six, that press and public
will be excluded?
Can we agree?
Yes?
Thank you so much.

4 Minutes of the Meeting of the Weaver Network Board held on 17 September 2026

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:03:15
Okay, moving on to the minutes of the meeting held 17th of September.
Are we content to note those?
We are?
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Okay.

5 Chair's Update

So, on to the Chair's update.
Really busy since last month's meeting.
So proud to open Heckman -**** bus station,
and I hope every single member of the Weaver board
takes a day trip to go and have a look,
because it's our first Weaver network bus station,
and a real landmark achievement in our programme
to improve transport network across West Yorkshire.
A really great example of what our vision is for a
better bus network, better facilities,
including indoor and outdoor seating,
new bus stands, changing places, toilets,
cycle parking, up -to -date, accurate bus information.
There's also a really calming green wall at the
north end with a bench where people can sit.
And obviously we're not going to stop there.
We're following up next month with the partial
opening of the new bus station in Dewsbury and
Hoddesfield in 2027.
Also, last month I spent time travelling on the new
Weaver Access Bus, another really great investment,
brand new access busses, seeing firsthand the
impact the new busses are having on the lives of
passengers who typically have difficulty accessing
bus services.
We now have all 33 of our new accessible vehicles
out on the roads, allowing 6 ,700 registered users to
make over 325 ,000 trips a year.
And I want to just put on record my thanks to the
drivers who are often a friend and supporter of the people that
use the bus, helping them on and off,
and often carrying shopping to their door.
So they're really some of the best of us,
the people that work on the Access Bus.
And also it's very pleasing to see that the pilot in Wakefield
for the use of the disabled pass before 930 has meant that we've
over 1 ,500, I think is around about the number,
1 ,500 people taking that opportunity to travel
before 930.
Obviously, helping our high streets, ending
loneliness so people can join clubs, but hopefully
encouraging people with a disability to think about
getting into work or volunteering.
Also, you may have seen, earlier this month, I
visited the Wright Bus Factory in Ballymena, in
Northern Ireland, to see the first of nearly 200
brand -new electric busses.
They will be on West Yorkshire's street in spring next year.
And boy, do they look lovely.
I was very proud of them all stacked up against
Manchester's new busses and others.
I did, I was tempted to let down the tyres of the B
busses, but don't tell Bev Craig, the Mayor of Greater
Manchester.
It's going to be a real game change of a passenger
experience with interior features like USB charging,
air conditioning, flexible space for push chairs and
luggage, and improved accessibility with more
space for wheelchair users.
And if I could just thank members of the public that
really helped us with that design, and I hope you feel
that we've listened, particularly when it comes
to greater space for wheelchairs and buggies to
travel at the same time.
So, with all that great progress in mind, onto the
main agenda.

6 Variation of Mayor's Fares Scheme: Response to Introduction of the £2 National Bus Fare Cap in January 2027

So, item six, variation of mayor's fair scheme.
As I said, this contains an exempt item, and obviously,
if you wish to speak to that, we will then have
to clear the room.
So, the Mayor's Fair Scheme.
You'll be aware, as members of the board, we were one
of the first places in the country to introduce our
own cap on bus fares here in West Yorkshire, the Mayor's
Fair, and I think we inspired government.
And since its introduction in September 2022, the
The Mayor's Fair scheme has supported affordable bus
travel across West Yorkshire with almost 89
million pounds invested, approximately 90 million
passenger journeys made with people being helped
with the cost of transport and the cost of living
every single day.
And in July of this year, the Department of Transport
announced the existing National Bus Fair cap,
which is currently three pound on single fares.
and remember we kept it lower than the cap at £2 .50, that will reduce to £2 for the
whole of 2027.
In response to this, it's right we review the arrangements we have in place for our
own Mayor's Fair scheme with the expectation that operators in West Yorkshire will adopt
the £2 fair from the 1st of January, but also that we continue to maintain the benefits
of the fair cap on day tickets which sit outside of the national scheme.
This paper sets out our approach proposed approach to managing that transition to the national scheme for the start of
2027 whilst also maintaining the simplicity and
affordability for passengers and I know simplicity is very compelling when it comes to
Enabling passengers to make the choice between using their car or going on the bus
So could I ask Tim Taylor director of transport services if you wouldn't mind speaking to this item Tim? Yes. Thank you
So as you rightly pointed out in your opening statements, the Mayor's Fair scheme has been
Tim Taylor - 0:08:43
in place here in West Yorkshire since September 2022 and as you say significant benefit to
passengers in terms of the amounts of funding both put into the system and the 90 million
discounted journeys that have taken place since that time.
As you also rightly point out, the single fare here in West Yorkshire has been capped
at £2 .50 since March 2025 and that remains 50p below the National Bus fare cap which
is funded by the Department of Transport.
With that announcement however, it has been due live this year to reduce that national
fare cap down to £2 from the 1st of January of next year.
It's been entirely necessary for us to review our local scheme and ensure it remains both
value for money for passengers but also ensures best use of local funding.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:09:27
With that national fare cap price now at a point below that of our local scheme, it's
appropriate that we now expect local bus operators to take advantage of the funding that will
be provided through that national scheme in 2027.
And this paper sets out a recommendation that sees us to it, that expects those local operators
to start to use that national DFT funding as a primary source of revenue for supporting
fares locally.
However, we also do recognise that there is a need to maintain a cap on those day saver
tickets.
There is no national equivalent for a day saver ticket and our local scheme clearly
still provides benefit and discount and it is recommended through this paper that we
both maintain that but also hold the current price of £6 which will allow us to then put
into place those transitional arrangements which will come into effect from the 1st of April of
next year and make sure that we have a stable and easily accessible fare structure which will allow
us to then migrate into the Weaver network fares in spring of next year. I will leave probably my
summary there, if that's okay, but happy to take any questions and equally talk through the
alternative options set out in the exempt appendix if needed.
Ms. Cameron -Hicks.
Thank you so much, Tim.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:10:37
One of the things for me is that the day saver,
we've sort of understood that there are people out there with
many, many trips, and particularly people with caring
responsibilities, whether that's taking their kids to school,
then they've got to go to work, then they take,
go and see their mom, and then they go take the kids swimming.
It just feels like the day saver is a really important tool in our arsenal to try and get more people taking more journeys.
So we wanted to keep it as cost effective as possible. Obviously that means we subsidise it.
But I think that's an important part of the package. The £2 fare is really clear and simple.
But if you do more than two journeys, you should be able to have four journeys, five journeys in a day.
And not be worried about hopping on the bus to do a bit of shopping.
Anybody got any comments?
Any thoughts?
Yes.
Councillor Anderson.
Sorry.
Cllr Keith Anderson Wakefield Council - 0:11:33
Having had an interesting week of people challenging changing policies on finance, if we didn't
get funding in 2028, what was the liability to us to obviously try and maintain an increase
in footfall on busses?
Hopefully the two pound fare will help us get to that target.
but what is the risk to us if we ended up in 2028
having to think about funding it?
Thank you.
Obviously it's the uncertainty, isn't it?
It's just a one -year fund.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:12:02
But we are, I am reassured that a Prime Minister who
used to be a mayor that supported the two -pound
fair, I'm hoping that he also will encourage his
Chancellor to be consistent.
But you're absolutely right.
What about the cliff edge?
Tim?
I think probably a couple of key points to note.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:12:19
Firstly, we're already in discussions with the DFT about what happens at the end of the
scheme.
Their national fare cap has been in place now since 2023, so again, it's entirely right
that there is not a cliff edge in funding, even if there is a reduction in funding over
time, and we're making that case strongly to the department already.
Also worth noting, by 2028, we'll be in a two -thirds franchise plus network anyway.
That revenue risk will sit with us.
When we introduced our fair cap back in 2022, we saw 6 % growth on the network in that year
and again we're hoping for equivalent kind of growth here which will then stimulate the
market further.
I accept there is a risk there but we are, you know, we're doing the proprietary work
necessarily at this point in time to prevent that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:13:00
So just to reassure, we carried the risk in 2022 for the last four years.
It's something that's really important to me to make it as affordable as possible in
a cost of living crisis.
Councillor Davies.
Thank you.
My concern is smaller operators.
Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council) - 0:13:16
They seem to be negatively penalised by this.
And I know under 3 .30 it says there's a potential option for
the combined authority to work on their behalf,
this, that, and the other, which sounds promising.
But there's not a lot of time.
And I just wonder what discussions have taken place
with the Transport Minister about this.
And does the Prime Minister, the government,
Transport Minister realise this is an issue across the UK,
that smaller operators are potentially going to be put out
business by this.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:13:44
Thank you so much for that.
And it's something that's really important to me,
that a lot of these smaller operators are
family -run businesses.
We want to support our businesses in our region.
They create jobs and opportunities for young
people in particular.
And that's why when we were looking at the
lotting strategy, we wanted to make it as
appealing and as easy for smaller operators as
possible.
And I am reassured that in the first wave of
the
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:14:25
process of preparing the submission on behalf of small
operators here in West Yorkshire.
So that is a live activity now.
We've asked for a small extension to
allow us to complete that effectively on their behalf.
As the paragraph points out, it's subject to the
to the department to go through their necessary processes and make the allocations necessary,
but we're trying to make the process as easy as possible for those small operators to participate
in the scheme going forward.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:14:51
Anything you'd like to add, Paul?
Super.
Thank you for that question.
Yes, Councillor Edwards.
Thank you, Mayor.
Matt Edwards - 0:15:00
So, are there any particular risks when it comes to some of the routes that cross borders
with this?
There's a lot of concern with the routes in the Calder Valley or the ones up in the north
of Bradford that cross into North Yorkshire.
Just because of the way the funding works on that, it's a bit more complicated.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:15:23
If I could just, before you come in to him, say my ambition is to, over time, as mayors
across the north are coming together and they are under the same scheme, that we can have
that consistency.
You'll have seen in South Yorkshire,
they're bringing busses back into public control.
The same in the Northeast and in Greater Manchester
are ahead of us.
Liverpool as well.
So if you have that consistency across the North,
it's going to be much more straightforward.
But Tim, do you want to talk about permits
and cross -border?
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:15:56
Yeah, so I think certainly during 2027,
actually this, from a passenger's point of view,
will maintain the simplicity that we've talked about.
They'll be paying the single fares irrespective
of which side of the border they get on in terms of the fare cap because that will apply
in greater Manchester or non -franchised parts of north Yorkshire for example as much as
it would here in west Yorkshire. There is no change from a day ticket so our day ticket
is only valid within west Yorkshire and that will remain unchanged through these arrangements
going forward so from a passenger's point of view they will only see the benefit of
that £2 fare irrespective of starting point or destination.
Thank you.
Any further comments?
No.
Thank you.
Okie doke.
Let's move to the recommendations.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:16:38
Are we happy to approve the removal of local subsidy support for adult single bus fares
from January 1, 2027, recognising that the national two pound bus fare cap should provide
the principle funding mechanism for adult single journeys from the 1st of January 27,
31st of December 27.
This will mean the removal of any additional support provided by WICA in additional to
DFT shortfall payments to operators from the 1st of January, 2027.
All those in favour of approving, thank you so much.
That's carried.
Secondly, approve the continuation of subsidy support for the MCARD Day Saver based on the
current customer price of six pound and the fixed subsidy for prepaid day, week, and month
multi -operator MCARD tickets until the 31st of March, 37.
Are we happy to approve?
Please indicate.
Thank you.
That's carried.
Subject to this approval, the Commercial Manager Transport Services, in consultation with the
legal governance and compliance lawyers, will finalise and issue the variation and or amended
and restated scheme documentation in accordance with these recommendations and undertake the
necessary operator notification and implementation activity.
And subject to this approval, so thank you for that, a paper will be presented to the
combined authority in December 26,
seeking approval for the Weaver Network
Fairs ticketing and retail strategy.
And a further paper will seek approval on replacement
integrated fair subsidy scheme to be implemented
from the first of April 27.
The proposal will align with the Weaver Network
and Bus Franchising Programme with detailed
financial, commercial, and legal implications set out
through the appropriate governance process,
including potential consideration by the investment
board or other appropriate board if required.
Thank you so much for that.

7 Bus Performance Quarterly Update

Let's move on to item 7, bus performance quarterly update.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:18:38
As we move closer to the first franchise bus service in the spring, you will no doubt recognise
the importance on this board having access to the most up -to -date comprehensive information
on the performance of bus network and what interventions we've put in place to improve
the quality, affordability and predictability of the network as a whole.
You'll recall the first quarterly report to this board was brought to our first ever Weaver
board in July and the report follows the same format and is intended to help us all understand
trends and what's occurring and to allow us to question where further improvements are
required.
As before, really welcome views on what aspects of the network members would like to see more
information on, if any, in future reports, and to ensure we're ready to oversee the
franchised Weaver network in 2027 and beyond. And frankly, it's a matter of months. It is
coming. So your thoughts are really welcome. Back to you, Tim.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:19:37
Yeah, thank you, Mayor. And as you rightly pointed out, hopefully board members are familiar
with the format of this paper. It's consistent with that first quarterly report we presented
about that first week abroad back in July of this year.
And as I did then, I think what I'd like to do is just
to highlight a few points of note within the paper,
recognising that, you know, comments are indeed very
welcome in terms of the level of detail contained
in these quarterly reports, and in particular to provide
that context for the performance of the network
as a whole as we move towards first franchise services
in spring of next year.
So, firstly, if we take a look at the patronage
trends, so the latest data here shows a deceleration
in the steepness of the pattern of decline over the last year with quarter two to quarter
four 2025 showing a six percent decline which then dropped three percent in quarter one
of this year. The latest figures for quarter two show one point one four percent decline
and that is now lower than the pre -pandemic rate of decline. I'd suggest that that probably
in itself isn't a course of celebration but I think it's a recognition that we are a trend
that is heading in a positive direction.
As you rightly expect, the proportion of adult fare payers
who make up the majority of the market here
in West Yorkshire have the most pronounced effect
on that overall trend, and a 5 % reduction in this market
has been offset by positive growth in under -19s,
which we've seen 4 % growth and disabled passenger growth,
which is just short of 4 % growth also in that period.
There is further work absolutely required for us to correlate these
patternish trends against both societal and economic factors such as rates of
unemployment, economic inactivity and the likes of college and
university admissions as well and we hope to be able to bring some further
details on this in a future report for members to understand. As also
requested in the previous report when we met in July we've also now provided
of patronage and patronage change by passenger cohort
by local authority area and this,
members can see this in table two in the report.
Moving on to punctuality and reliability.
Again, on punctuality, we see another positive improvement
in the proportion of services running on time.
That's now just shy of 86%, so we're at 85 .7%,
up from 83 .6 % in the previous quarter of 2025.
And that sees a pattern of continued
year -on -year improvement.
In fact, we've now seen punctuality improve every single quarter since quarter one in
2024.
Equally on reliability, another positive trend of improvement with the proportion of journeys
cancelled falling from 1 .5 % in Q2 25 to now 0 .9 % in Q2 26 and that's actually the lowest
recorded level we have seen in the series that we report against.
And just for that in context, that means that over 99 % of busses now actually do operate
as planned.
Moving on, I shall move on to customer service activities,
and I'll start some observations set out in the paper around the
Great British Summer Savings and Feebust Travel to 15 -year -olds.
The report describes the short implementation timescales that
were available to us, but equally that were well met.
And as a result, there were some concerns raised at that point in
time by local operators around risks around
antisocial behaviour.
We worked hard to offset and deal with those concerns that
were raised and we increased the levels of resourcing that we had as in our
safe travel teams and targeted placement of those resources on our major bus
stations particularly in the afternoons and early evenings. We are still waiting
on some final patronage data this was a Department for Transport scheme not a
local scheme I hasten to add so we are waiting on final data from the
Department in terms of their evaluation of the performance of their initiative
but local data gives us early indication that there were around about eight
140 ,000 more journeys in that period by under 19s,
about a 10 % increase.
Obviously, this scheme was for only 16s and under,
but still a significant proportion of that age group.
And therefore, clearly, a significant number of young people
did benefit from this scheme being in place,
and also their parents who joined them on day trips
and the like as well.
And also probably really important to point out
that whilst ASB was a concern,
actually the vast majority of people who use this
and young people were clearly well behaved
and law abiding young people and we're grateful for that.
Moving on to the app, the report sets out a plan
to transition from our current MCARD app
to the Weaver app in April from next year
and just to assure members that work is already
well underway to do that work both in terms of improvements
to the user interface, so the actual app,
the look and feel and how it's used,
but also the functionality that that app will contain
ahead of its launch next year.
We've also reported in the paper and we've mentioned in your opening remarks as well,
Mayor, about the new access bus fleet and the new 33 busses are now in operation.
Hopefully members will see those on their streets if they haven't already.
And last but not least, also again referenced by yourselves, Mayor, the report sets out
some work that both our capital programme team, our local authority partners in the likes
of Kirklees for Heckman -Dwight and the CA as a whole bringing together work to improve
our facilities across our state. Heckman -Dwight as you say with its grand opening last month
and the partial reopening of Dewsbury next month. I'll stop there Mayor but happy to
take any questions on the paper or any of the points members would like to raise.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:25:05
Thank you and this is going to be an increasingly important part of this board is performance
because we've got very high standards for the operators and we will be holding them
to those high standards.
And while it is depressing to see patronage falling,
actually falling slower gives us hope that we can
then have that hockey stick of an uptick when we get
to be fully franchised.
And also, it is positive that young people are using
our bus network in good, healthy numbers, because
they are the future passengers as well.
And if they get familiar with busses and routes and
feel safe and supported on the bus network, then we
the
So we need to keep them as adults.
So let's have some questions or comments.
Councillor Edwards.
Thank you, Mayor.
Matt Edwards - 0:25:55
So just table two, the patronage changes.
Whilst it kind of shows that the overall patronage is decreased
by about 1%.
If you look into the breakdown, the biggest, generally speaking, across all of the authorities
is adult fairs, which obviously, as we move to franchising, are going to be quite important.
So can you just give some more commentary on why specifically adult fairs seem to be
going down?
Presumably, the under -19s has gone up quite significantly because it's been funded by
the government.
But, yeah, there's some quite unusual mix in there.
I think that's a good point.
Just to say as well that the decision to
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:26:36
reduce fares for under 19s was made by us.
Because we wanted to ensure that young people started using the
busses. So we tried to make it as cheap as
possible. Tim.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:26:44
Yeah, I think there is more work to do in understanding some of
the background factors on this, Councillor Edwards.
economic inactivity, rates of people going to college and
what -not, and again, I'd like to bring that back to a
future report.
There is clearly some legacy impact here in terms of the
things that work in pattern as well, but again, I think
instead of trying to speculate as to the causal
factors here, I think perhaps bring a paperback to a future
meeting and lay out some of those more detailed research
in that session.
Let's do that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:27:25
And also, if you could add to that the opportunity of
getting those young people not in employment, education,
or training into work, would that impact on our bus network?
I think, you know, looking at it holistically across the region.
So I have got Councillor Anderson.
Cllr Keith Anderson Wakefield Council - 0:27:44
// Going back to table 2, Tim, if you could provide more information on the miscellaneous
outside of this meeting.
Seems to be a large number increase which is about 2 % of the increase for the Wakefield
district.
So I'd like a little bit more information on what that relates to to try and understand
it.
I'm grateful for whoever put together the table in here for the crime statistics to
make Wakefield not look quite as bad as it does when you combine Wakefield, Castleford
and Pontefract.
Unfortunately we out topped Leeds as a city for issues on busses so I'd like a little bit
more information if possible so I can take that to our crimes initiative team to look
at whether we can engage to try and tackle some of those issues going
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:28:30
forward. Thank you, noted and we'll do that. Yeah, I'm very happy to do that, Mayor.
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 0:28:38
Thank you. Councillor Thomson. Thank you, Mayor. So a little bit of
encouragement, I got off the train today and after four years of asking I could
see bus information as soon as I got through the gates at Leeds station, so
there was a little celebration after Carol was on the line. Also good to see
busses running on King Street again after a week of chaos thanks to our friends at
Yorkshire water. It would be interesting to understand what work's being done with them
to tackle the chaos that that's caused and through Leeds City Council. It's still really
difficult to drill down on detail on particular troublesome routes. We've had bad experiences
recently with repeated vehicle breakdowns and that's been a persistent issue that we
just can't get to grips. We don't get proper responses from the operators. Passengers get
ridiculous excuses. I think the worst one recently was being told that the bus hadn't run
because of roadworks at Murgatroyd's in Yeedon which had finished a week before the complaint
was made and before the bus didn't run. It was actually a vehicle breakdown or a staffing issue.
That was incredibly frustrating. That was information provided by first to the combined
authority that was wholly inaccurate. So yeah, just that some work to drill down into some of
the
troublesome, long ones, ones where they get stuck to try to
understand what some of the issues are to unravel them and
see if there are improvements that could be made whether with
joint working with local authorities or with the operators
would be really useful. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:05
Thank you. If I could just say to reassure
the board, because we're going to franchising, we're not taking
our eye of the ball, holding the operators to account for these particular errors. So
we'll take that one away specifically about partnership working with Yorkshire Water and
others, how we as a board and an organisation are going to do it in the future. But this
is also evidence of why we need franchising, because we're not in control and we're being
told things from the operators that aren't necessarily consistent with reality. Is there
Anything you want to add, Tim?
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:30:39
Yeah, just briefly, thank you, Mayor.
Yeah, I absolutely accept and recognise
that these things are problematic for the passenger.
We do a lot of work through our bus alliance
in terms of understanding highest
and lowest performing bus services,
and ask operators for commentary
on why they have problems in certain areas.
It's not a perfect solution, but I think, again,
we can start to perhaps expose a level of detail
in this future report around problem services
and how we get that passenger information better. Absolutely when we get into a franchise
network the opportunity to oversee this, particularly using our bus control centre will be really
pivotal, making sure we get timely, accurate information out to passengers equally, to
their understanding too will be really important. But yeah, welcome further input to that conversation.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:31:23
Thank you Tim. Councillor Davies.
Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council) - 0:31:29
Thank you. My question's about the five to 15 year olds free summer travel. Obviously
the idea is great in terms of helping families out but it seems to me it was
a rushed and they all thought out policy and obviously there were negative
consequences. I'm a bit puzzled by in 3 .16 it says you're waiting for a
detailed evaluation of the scheme whether there's going to be any future
plans about it to go for next year and yet I had anti -social behaviour in my
ward and I took it up with the police and the response I got on the 28th of
August was this morning, I'll read out, this morning I received correspondence
that's back from the office of the transport minister with responsibility for busses. I
can confirm that central government have no plans to extend the scheme past August. As
this policy has now been devolved to regional mayors, I've also heard back from WICA that
they have no plans to extend it either. So I just wonder, I'm a bit puzzled by that,
I just wondered what the, you know, which is it? Is it still under consideration or
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:32:28
has it been scrapped permanently? Well there was no expectation for us to pick
up after August. That is consistent. So it was a summer scheme delivered by government.
And so we don't run the whole network, so we wouldn't be bringing in free travel for
under 15s to continue beyond August. But when we franchise, we can make our own decisions
about fares and free travel. But Tim, do you want to add to that?
Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council) - 0:32:56
So yeah, the scheme was put in place by Department for Transport. It was a relationship between
Department for Transport and bus operators.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:33:01
So our involvement was, you know, observational only,
in terms of their agreement to sign up to it.
We couldn't compel operators to participate,
but most if not all regional operators did
here in West Yorkshire.
The scheme was only ever intended to run
for the month of August.
It was a cost of living and a short -term exercise
that government decided to put in place.
There were discussions that there may be an opportunity
to extend but ultimately it clearly never took place and I think it was right that it
did end during that period of time.
I would not like to speculate as to whether there might be an equivalent version of it
in 2027.
Clearly we have to wait for the government to make their choices on these things.
I think certainly from our point of view whilst accepting that there was some concerns around
ASB in terms of the actual net benefit, in terms of patronage growth and the behaviour
change that hopefully that will drive, from our point of view, a positive thing.
I'm happy to engage obviously with members in terms of the
local effects that might have had.
And again, as the Mayor said, what we will end up doing in our
December meeting, you've seen this in the previous paper,
is bringing forward a first ticketing and retail strategy
which sets out all of our fair structure,
including young people as well, and what we will be charging
young people on our future network from spring of next year.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:34:19
And there was a bonus for our visitor economy as well,
that we've got brilliant countryside, great venues,
people being able to move around West Yorkshire,
and take their kids out for the day is a positive.
But under franchising, we'll also be in charge of the
fares and ticketing.
So we can also decide if we want to bring in a summer
scheme or if we want to enable care experienced
young people to travel for free or apprentices to
travel for free.
You know, we'll be able to, as a board, be able to
understand what's going to work for our communities.
But thank you for that.
And Councillor Commons, if you turn off your mic,
Manav.
Thank you.
Just we touched on, it's anti -social behaviour, so just glad we've touched on that.
Cllr Darren Commons Calderdale Council - 0:35:02
We booked the trending in patronage and we're going up as we discussed earlier on and a
lot of that is from young people. Thank you for the bus station because that did help
as you said. They do have CCTV and we can monitor the anti -social behaviour in there.
As we're in round three we've got other stations such as Brigal to Todman which don't have
that facility. Is there any funding through WICA or through the Weaver network that we
can do in the short term, because I don't want to lose
the uplifting patronage we've got because people feel unsafe.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:35:33
That's a really good question.
And I wonder if I could either come to Tim or Liz about that,
because it's really important for me that people feel safe
and are safe on our bus network.
And that's why we use the apprenticeship levy to train
those 15 PCSOs with the sergeant to be on our bus network.
but I know we can do more with the infrastructure and CCTV.
Tim, can I come to you?
Or would that be Paul?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:35:59
No, I'm happy to field.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:36:01
So as the mayor's pointed out, we have Safer Travel Team.
I'm happy to bring members of that Safer Travel Team
to have a conversation with yourself
so you better understand the roles that they're
currently going to take and how we make choices
around how we deploy them.
They're clearly visible presence on the ground,
and that makes a big difference to people's perception
of safety.
We can also then also have a follow -on conversation
around capital investments.
If there is an opportunity for CCTV investment in certain
hotspots, happy to do that.
Now, clearly there is CCTV already in place in
Colerdale, which you as a local council have access to.
How we share that information is also going to be really
important under WEAVER in the future too.
So getting them joined up, CCTV network, both on the
infrastructure that's in place now, but any
opportunities for, like you say, hotspots at certain
locations, happy to talk.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:36:48
Tim, that would help me if I understood where the CCTV is
and who monitors it because we will have a control centre,
so we will be able to draw it all together in one place. Is that our
ambition and so on? So could we take that as a piece of work
just to understand the safety structure and where our cold spots are?
Councillor Edwards. Thank you. It's a follow -up question from that. So
Matt Edwards - 0:37:10
I mean that angle that we're taking now it's obviously important to look at the
CCTV side of stuff but is there any opportunity to maybe work with some of
the things that the Deputy Mayor of Placing does
in terms of things like the Trojan busses and doing outreach work to protect bus services because ultimately I
Mean obviously the WIC is vested in those busses running on time
But it's even more vested when there's a fan at the financial cost has been shifted to us potentially. I think that's a great suggestion
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:37:37
Let's bring in the police and crime team
to look at transport network
and in parallel with the CCTV
I think everybody the board could all benefit from understanding what else is going on alongside
Is that okay?
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:37:58
Yes, Mary. It sounds like we probably bring a paper on safer travel to a future meeting and set out both what we do now
Some of the opportunities as we've described in things like joined up CCTV
And just make you aware of the things already in place. We have a 24 -hour
Control centre already in Leeds watch in Middleton and leads that launches all of our stations not just those in Leeds
So again, that's you know
already a key facility how that will work alongside our own bus control
centre will also be pivotal going forward. But yeah a paper that will cover all those points will be helpful I think.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:38:24
Super thank you so much. Councillor Edwards, yes please.
Matt Edwards - 0:38:30
Just on that in terms of one, because I went to the first bus depot in Bradford and had a chat with some of the drivers and the operating manager there and just a particular angle on this that might getting missed is some drivers raised concerns with the young people using the busses late at night and the particular concerns they
had with taking bus drivers and taking young people from residential areas into
the city centre maybe for the last bus so just the impact this maybe had on
bus drivers themselves because they've got a slightly different perspective of it
but it was causing them worry that they were taking young people at late nights
into town. Yeah exactly. Thank you yeah I think that's something we we often think
about the passenger don't we but let's also think about the driver Tim. So one
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:39:14
One of the things that we are doing under our franchise contracts is ensuring that all
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:39:18
drivers have appropriate levels of safeguarding training in place.
I think it's right that we can perhaps give you a bit more information and again perhaps
include it in that paper that we bring back on and what that might look like because it
is, you know, they are the eyes and ears of the network for us and it's important that
they understand their role in that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:39:33
And also just to say CCTV is not the silver bullet because it's just maybe a deterrent
but it won't stop bad people.
So, you know, we live in a complex world, don't we?
But let's do what we can to make West Yorkshire
the safest place to be.
Okie doke, happy to move on to Councillor Felstead.
Just one question about the migration
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:39:55
from MCARD to the Weaver app.
Because obviously there's some concerns there.
Will it be seamless, i .e. will people be moved
from one platform to another?
Will that be done with a phased approach and will there be back of shop support just in
case something goes wrong during that migration of a passenger from one to the other?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:40:23
Thank you, this is so important, the seamless nature and the ease at which the app is going
to work.
Tim?
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:40:28
So as you'd expect the Mayor's made really clear that she wants this to be a seamless
process and for passengers to experience no disruption in that.
The back office that we are building will be the same as the existing M -Card system,
so it is the front of the system that will change.
Passengers will be sent links, invited to go and download the new Weaver app from their M -Card app account.
As soon as they go into that future Weaver app account, all of their existing account details will be there,
all of the tickets they've previously purchased and the purchase history will remain.
So it will be as simple as that in terms of people migrating.
We've got a big testing programme to make sure that is seamless as you'd expect it to be as well.
And again, we're hopeful that we'll launch that early next year.
Ahead of franchising, so we want this to be something that's not going to land on day one
of first service, we want people to start to adopt it really from April onwards.
Great stuff, thank you. It's really important if we're building patronage for young people,
particularly where everybody lives on their phone, it's got to be really seamless.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:41:26
Okay, thank you. I thought that was a good conversation, thank you.
So, are we all happy to note the contents of this report and the information it contains
on the performance of the current bus network, raise any concerns as we have done regarding
performance of the bus network, and ask that further information or improvement actions
or mitigations are brought back to a future meeting?
We've done that.
And to consider and share further areas of service delivery that members wish to see
in future quarterly reports.
All happy to note and confirm.
Thank you so much.
Moving swiftly on to bus reform customer work stream.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:42:05
So, as we move closer, and I am determined to get a
countdown clock in Paul's office, but he says it's
bullying his workforce.
He won't allow it.
Anyway, as we move closer to the launch of bus
franchising, we are preparing a range of
customer -facing functions that will provide
passengers with new and improved services across
travel information, disruption communications,
feedback management, and lost property.
These services will be provided under that unified
Weaver network brand by a range of touch points such
as the Weaver app, the customer contact centre,
and the new website.
This means that where passengers once contacted
individual bus operators, they now deal directly with
Weaver as a single point of contact, resulting
hopefully in the more seamless and accountable
customer experience.
As the volumes and expectations of customer contact with the CA will increase significantly

8 Bus Reform Customer Workstream Update Paper

under Wever, our ability to manage this effectively will need to evolve through the procurement
of new tech solutions and of course the development of existing ones.
This paper sets out our recommended approach to progressing the necessary work required
to be ready for spring 2027.
Paul Matthews, Director of Bus Franchising, if you could just talk us through it, thanks.
Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:43:24
Thank you, Mayor. Yes, this is quite a brief report, but it's
actually a prelude to and is for noting an approval request that the CA will be receiving
next week at its meeting to delegate the customer service and travel information outline, strategic
outline case and the associated expenditure to the chief exec in conjunction with the
So this is really a paper for noting what's coming to the CA.
Just by way of context, you may recall last time when I presented the different work streams
that the bus franchising programme have, customer is obviously a key one of those.
And this paper talks about two aspects of the customer work stream and it doesn't talk
about other aspects of what the customer work stream is doing, such as the app and the website,
etc.
This is particularly focused upon the technical requirements for two of those
aspects dealing as the Mayor has said with the travel information and customer
services. So again as the Mayor has said at the moment the current structure is
that the support services we offer the customers are provided by operators and
by the authority in quite a fragmented fashion.
And post -franchising, the goal is to make sure that is a
unified system so that customers not only don't see
any difference, but actually over time,
they will notice a significant improvement in what they are
being offered.
There are particular four areas where there's technology
implications, which I mentioned in the report,
which perhaps is self -evident.
Two of them are just requiring development of existing systems
and two of them require new systems.
And there is also reference in the papers to MVP,
a minimum viable product, which sounds quite negative,
but it's making sure that we can get to day one with delivering
what we have set out, i .e., a betterment of service but
certainly no deterioration in service.
And then from there, we can hopefully develop our systems
going forward.
So the four areas which are set out here,
the first of them deals with the contact centre platform.
And again, the paper which is before you sets out
that at the moment, the transfer of customer contacts
from the operators, the Weaver networks,
creates new requirements, both in terms of scale and quality
of how we're going to capture data,
how we're going to transfer that data into our own customer
relationship management system that we have.
And so what the funding is seeking to do in terms of the
contact centre aspect is to develop the flow of data into
the contact centre platform, into the CRM,
and make sure that the integration needed
for a separate system is also required.
What this will deliver for customers
is actually more reliable reporting,
better ability to track where customers' contacts are going,
and also improving reporting
and the performance management capabilities.
So there's one aspect dealing with
customer contact centre or the contact centre platform.
The second aspect deals with more practical issue of
workforce planning.
The current approach that we have within the authority is
dealing with, it's very manual.
It relies upon constant analysis of workflows and
doesn't take fully account of seasonal variations,
variations by time of day.
The quality, the current reporting quality assessment
is quite limited.
And so funding, what we are aiming to do is to procure
a dedicated workforce management solution that
integrates with the one I've previously described that
then will help us align the staffing into the customer
contact centres to reflect the changing nature of
volumes, et cetera.
So workforce management system, which we haven't got
at the moment in authority is important.
A third one is the fact that, again, like customer contacts,
lost property is dealt with in a multitude of different ways
at the moment, which is not really practical from a custom
point of view.
What this funding is seeking to do
is provide a dedicated lost property solution where
automation, AI capabilities will help staff search, compare,
match item records much more quickly than they're able to do currently, increasing the
opportunity for customers to be reunited with their lost property while maintaining
staff oversight of the systems, making sure that we don't enter into any sort of GDPR
risks at all, and it will enable customers to report lost items and receive updates through
self -service channels as to where their property is. So it certainly will be radically
improving the overall lost property proposition.
And then finally, the feedback management aspect.
Again, this is to do with currently customers cannot
track the status of their feedback, which they've
registered either with us or necessarily with other,
with operators.
And in fact, the existing customer relationship
management system that we've got is pretty
underutilised at the moment.
So we're not taking full advantage of workflow
automation, case routing, using AI, and what we want
to do is make sure that we give our advisors the tools
to manage customer feedback more consistently
and efficiently.
So the four aspects of what we will be seeking to the CA
next week are really around those funding aspects which
are set out in the paper.
So they are quite broad and up to 650 ,000 pounds,
you can see in the table below, funded from the capital provision
that we have.
It is varied because we haven't necessarily done all the work to
spec out what is required.
Some of them, as I say, are developments of existing
systems, some of them are new systems,
but the total that we'll be asking the CA to approve next
week is up to 656 ,000 pounds.
but hopefully the other content in the report otherwise is self -explanatory.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:50:21
Thank you so much Paul and I needed the solution to the umbrellas turning up in
my office so I'm grateful for the focus on lost property. Any comments on
the work streams? Councillor Edwards.
Councillor Thompson, that's generous, thank you.
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 0:50:39
Thank you, that's very kind, thank you Mayor. Just wondering, going back to the previous item,
thinking about passenger safety and driver safety, the current difficulties with getting hold of
anyone after, well operators after five and then anything at all after seven, how do we think this
will help to improve that? Also really welcoming the single point of contact because at the moment
people don't know, passengers don't know whether to complain to the operator if they know who it is,
to the combined authority or where to go, so that would be a massive help. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:51:06
Thank you, I think that's interesting about the 24 -7 opportunity.
Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:51:15
Yes, again, it's something that will evolve over time. The principle of having a unified
centre is so important and it will, of course, we will only be dealing with a part of the
network from day one, which will be not where we want it to be, but the ultimate goal is
to have the one port of call, a unified centre. Similarly, the hours provision, both in terms
the control centre and the contract centre will need to reflect where the core volumes
are coming in.
That's why the workforce management system is important to track where the core volumes
are so we can flex and if necessary change the working hours that we plan to have.
So it will evolve over time.
It will not it will I firmly believe represent an improvement from the current system from
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:52:16
Matt Edwards - 0:52:20
Wendy -Sandra to talk to us the 700 ,000 people there.
It's a nice little thing to do in theElectriciate.
We look forward
to saving about 100 million for
regular reporting on complaints and customer feedback through the governance, like the
member led side of things, once franchising starts, and what role specifically will the
board have on that in terms of scrutinising information and holding operators to account?
So a good question. Paul?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:52:47
Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:52:49
Two aspects to the question. As per Tim's report, where there's already a reference
to customer feedback, well, the tools which we are seeking the CA to approve will enable
better reporting so that through Tim's report coming forward each month we'll be able to
provide the data on customer feedback and hopefully some degree of granularity of the
nature of that feedback. The second aspect in terms of performance reporting, as members
heard in the workshop, that customer complaints is part of the contract management system,
So having a proper data capturing process through the technology we're requiring here
to enable proper performance management and contract management is important.
So I think the board will see it in respect of the routine statistical feedback that Tim
Routini will deliver, but also in terms of reporting about performance management of
Contractors I suspect I would suggest the board have a report about how contractors are performing on a routine basis as well
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:54:01
Then that's a good takeaway. Let's do that councillor Davis
Just a quick one on lost property so I appreciate what you're saying about
Cllr Debbie Davies (Bradford Council) - 0:54:13
If there's one port one number you mean that that will be a lot make things a lot smoother
Just in terms of where you collect it from, so I have an issue with Charles PE kit going
missing on the school bus and you know I've rung a number and then I've rung the operator
and it's like oh well make sure he gets on the bus the next morning and the PE kit will
still be there.
So that works really well.
I appreciate, I'm presuming there's no plans to make a central lost property thing so you
all have to trek to Leeds to pick it up or anything like that.
Is that going to continue?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:54:45
And where school busses are running, how are they also included?
Paul?
Paul
Yeah, it's a very good question.
Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:54:54
I think the answer probably won't be quite satisfactory because we have not done the
detailed work to define how the process will work.
But the ultimate goal has to make it as no worse situation than the current we've got,
but hopefully a better situation than exists.
But it will be so important for customers to be able to track where their property is
and to self -serve and to know where the property is,
and then the ultimate place where they collect it from
has still to be defined.
School busses are part of the same franchising process.
So the same functionality, the same process
will apply whether you're on a service 19 or a school bus.
But the actual detail of how it will work in practise
has yet to be defined.
When will we get that, Paul?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:55:40
Paul Matthews, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:55:41
Once we are certain and the CEO have approved the technology, then we're already beginning
to work on what it looks like, but we do need certainty around the technology to be able
to develop processes.
So that work is ongoing, but we need to make sure it's in place or we understand what the
process is by early of 27, so it's ready for May.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:56:03
I wonder if you could bring your early thinking to the next board, please, so we can understand,
Because obviously this, when someone loses their dissertation on the bus, they need to
know where to go and get it.
Councillor Judson.
Thank you, Mayor.
Cllr Cllr Andrew Judson Bradford Council - 0:56:20
Yeah, just to, this is a conversation offline really, it's more for my own benefit so you
can reach out.
I'm still getting complaints regarding cancelations of school busses within the Bradford District.
I think there's 14 that are due to be cancelled.
One of them coming out of Belden and Bingley, the B50 is causing serious problems for residents
due to timings when they've got to get to work or get other children to school
it is causing a problem so I do want to reach out if we can just have an
ongoing conversation regarding the bus school routes what's being cancelled
what can stay and take it a little bit further from there so we can address
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:56:55
these situation please. Thank you councillor Johnson and that's a really
important piece of work for us about the smoothing they offer on school busses to
those that are statutory expectations.
So Tim, to you.
Tim Taylor, Director, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:57:09
Just a really brief, hopefully reassuring, so we're well aware of those issues.
The service in question leaves Bradford on time but actually arrives late to make the
journey that the school children then use to go from Eldwyck down into Bingley.
We are making a change to the timing of that service starting from the 2nd of November,
so when they go back after half term.
We're bringing that journey forward by 12 minutes.
We believe that will then solve the traffic congestion
is hitting en route to Aldwyk to then come back down
into Bingley.
Have to have a conversation offline with you about it,
though, Kansas, since then we are, I'd say,
on top of and dealing with actively.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:57:44
Thank you, and as somebody that used to walk
from Howden Clough down to Bristol,
it's all right downhill, but uphill is terrible.
I forever was late for school,
and I was forever in detention, and it's just no good.
It's not a great start to your day as a young person
when you want to be keen and eager and learn,
and then you're in detention and you're late home
because you've missed the bus or the bus is late.
So, absolutely.
Okay, thank you.
Well, we've come to the end of the agenda
in quite a timely fashion, which is good news.
So, thank you so much.
There's no approvals there,
but we just note that this is going to the CA.
So, thank you for that contribution.
And I'd like to thank everybody for your attendance today.
and just to remind you of the next meeting,
which is the 3rd of December, 2026.
And just as any other business,
just to inform members of the Weaver Committee
that are gonna be such dear friends
by the time we get to fully franchise in 2028,
that we do have merchandise that we're going to share
with you, which is lanyards and a t -shirt if you'd like.
But also we have a bus focused Mayor's Question Time
at Greenhead College this evening in Kirklees.
Councillor Smith, you'd be very welcome.
I'm so disappointed.
Councillor Wood will be there.
That's marvellous.
And as always, we are open to discussions from
members of the public, whether that's message the
mayor on the BBC radio or mayor's question time,
where people from across the region can come and talk
to us as we go on this exciting journey together.
So thank you all colleagues for your determination,
and dedication and commitment.
Reading the papers is no small task, so thank you.
I close the meeting.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Vanessa.
Thank you.