Why is Leeds such an ignored city?

It gets on my nerves when cities such as London especially and Manchester are having money thrown at them for transport.

Leeds imo can no longer take the amount of people wanting to travel around it. There are so many students and people who come into the city to work (especially in finance). A smaller city like Sheffield has a tram so why not Leeds? It's arguably the regional capital of Yorkshire

Some sort of mass transit system is desperately needed here.

Posted from TSR Mobile

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Reply 1

A Mysterious Lord

Leeds is getting trolleybuses (buses that run on overhead wires).

The rail network around Leeds is probably the best outside London, it's Manchester that often gets left behind - yes they have trams, but the rail network is shocking.

Reply 2

Squidgyness

My local news is NE and borders or whatever. I joke it stands for Newcastle and Everywhere-else. Sometimes a major city ges more attention for whatever reason. London gets the most, but others do it too.

Nothing much you can do really.

Reply 3

Cll_ws

I was studying in Leeds last year, it's a great city, for a student probably one of the best in the country. Although as far as getting around, I found that most things were within walking distance, you can walk from one end of the city centre to the other in no time, where exactly do you think the problem is?

The only transport related problem I had was with the trains, they need to put some extra carriages on half of the trains leaving from Leeds. I used to have to get the Leeds-Manchester train every time I came home and whether I reserved a seat or not, the chances of me getting one was almost zero, most of the time just because I couldn't even reach the seat due to the train being so full! It was always awkward as I usually had a suitcase and bag, and had to stand the whole journey. They came like every half an hour as well, yet every single one was packed. It was the same with the Nottingham and Sheffield trains as well.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

closey95

You don't want trams. Trust me, in Edinburgh they've been trying to set up these trams for ****ing ages.

Nobody wants trams.

Reply 5

original_username

Original post by A Mysterious Lord

Rail Network around Leeds? Don't they only have the city centre station.

They only have buses for public transport as far as I'm aware.

Reply 6

Pixiefairy

I live in small town (almost a village)- (with sheep) near Leeds, it's really nice. I've not been to London but i think Leeds isn't too busy, i don't know what the student life is like.

Reply 7

scriggy

At least you're well connected to the rest of the country rather than being stuck out on a limb. :colonhash:

Reply 8

Jackkkkk

Same issue with Bristol!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 9

Bored_troll

Original post by jblackmoustache

It is full of chavs.

Reply 10

90pies an hour

Going back abit like but there was at one stage plans for a underground in Leeds, would be interested to know why nothing ever came of it.

Reply 11

Snagprophet

Original post by Bored_troll

It is full of chavs.

They all are. London, Manchester, Leeds. Scum of the Earth.

Reply 12

TheJ0ker

Sheffield's roads are terrible though, I'd wager the worst in England.

Reply 13

River85

Original post by jblackmoustache

To be perfectly fair every single city has major congestion. Car ownership has got to such high levels, and our transport infrastructure so neglected, that it can't cope.

The Western Bypass (in Tyneside Gateshead to be exact) is the busiest road outside the M25, I think. This is largely due to it being close to the MetroCentre (one of the largest shopping centres in Europe), Team Valley (one of the largest industrial and retail estates in Europe), and A1 motorway. Since heavy industry has declined and light manufacturing and service industries have taken its place, people are now travel greater distances to work (where before they were more likely to work locally or use public transport as they couldn't afford a car).

At least Leeds is properly connected to the motorway system. Yes, Newcastle/Tyneside does have a light rail/underground network (first of its kind in the country I think) as well as good bus links, but the Metro is showing its age and the wider region was (and continues to be) largely ignored in terms of motorways. Have a look at national mao of motorway networks and you'll find that Tyneside, one of the largest urban areas in the country, has a pathetic section of the A1 upgraded to motorway. Leeds is well served for motorways.

Also the new rail system that is coming into place and is expeted to eventually include Leeds. What are the chances it will expand further north? Very small.

Instead of complaining to a student website why don't you contact the MPs in your area?

Reply 14

limetang

Original post by closey95

You don't want trams. Trust me, in Edinburgh they've been trying to set up these trams for ****ing ages.

Nobody wants trams.

They're brilliant when they work though.

Reply 15

Variations

There's other cities in the country apart form London?

Reply 16

Joinedup

All these places used to have tram systems but they got ripped out to make more room for cars after ww2.

Imo local authorities should be empowered to issue bonds to fund transit system infrastructre, like they can do in the usa. wouldn't that be a useful part of the tory localism agenda?

Reply 17

Rakas21

Original post by jblackmoustache

I agree, the city can be extremely conjested at times and the ring roads come to a standstill every rush hour.

I will say that trams are a needless expense however, what i would rather see is the Headrow devoid of traffic bar busses, taxis and bycicles, this would free up the choke points significantly. On top of this the entire ring road would need upgrading.

Original post by Cll_ws

Leeds is very well served for trains (6 an hour to and from Manchester) but i do agree with the need for extra capacity, they were due to be given £100million to this end but i think that the coalition scrapped it when they came in.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 18

mr-breaker

Original post by closey95

You don't want trams. Trust me, in Edinburgh they've been trying to set up these trams for ****ing ages.

Nobody wants trams.

Trams are great.
It's not our fault Edinburgh City Council treats project management like Superman treats Kryptonite..............

Original post by Joinedup

Imo local authorities should be empowered to issue bonds to fund transit system infrastructre, like they can do in the usa. wouldn't that be a useful part of the tory localism agenda?

That would involve giving local authorities greater autonomy in revenue raising, coupled with further devolution to make decisions like that.

remember we live in Great Britain :lol:

Reply 19

Cll_ws

Original post by Rakas21

Yeah, they were pretty frequent, just always totally packed regardless! The only time I ever used to get a seat was when I got the first train of the day at about 4am, as the tickets were always dead cheap :tongue: