Leeds Trolleybus plans on track

Regional transport chiefs today (15 June) backed plans for a brand new trolleybus system in Leeds.

The Yorkshire and Humber Assembly’s Regional Transport Board endorsed the first £150m phase of a £300m bus rapid transit scheme from the Regional Transport Funding Allocation at today’s meeting in Sheffield.

Transport Board Chair Chris Glen said: "We believe this is a major regional scheme to improve transport for business and commuters in one of our key cities, as well as a great opportunity to improve the city's environment.''

And Metro Director General Kieran Preston added: “Gaining the Regional Transport Board’s financial backing is a huge step forward in our plans to develop what will be the UK’s first new trolleybus scheme in Leeds.”

“It means we have an agreed funding source, which combined with the DfT’s acceptance of our business case could mean that people will be riding on state-of-the-art trolleybuses by 2011.”

Developed as part of the £4.5bn, 25-Year Transport Vision for the Leeds City Region, the 20km trolleybus network, which is being dubbed New Generation Transport, is based upon the routes planned for Leeds Supertram. Today’s decisions backs the first phase of the work.

As well as a city centre loop, there is a North route through Headingley, a South route to Stourton and an eastern route which takes into account housing and regeneration to the east of Leeds. All of these routes would connect to Park-and-Ride facilities at the edges of the city.

Services would be operated by state-of-the-art, fully accessible tram-style vehicles which pick up their power supply from overhead wires. This would give the network the sense of permanence associated with tram systems while at the same time reducing climate change emissions and avoiding future reliance on fossil fuels.

Other benefits of these vehicles include high performance, low noise, air quality benefits and low maintenance costs.

Drawn up as an alternative to the Leeds Supertram scheme, the New Generation Transport network would deliver many of the congestion-busting benefits that Supertram would have provided, with greater flexibility for future extension into other areas. Independent advisers have calculated it would deliver a Benefit/Cost Ratio which meets the requirements of the Department for Transport (DfT), which would expect to fund the scheme from its Regional Funding Allocations with a 10% local contribution.

A full business case will be submitted to the Department for Transport later this year. Subject to DfT approval, a Transport and Works Act approval and a successful Inquiry construction work on the scheme could start in 2010, with phased completion in 2011/12.

For more information, contact the Assembly.