Parts of suburban Leeds with either a poor or no bus service

[joseph]

I did a walk today and walked up Dixon Lane from Whitehall Road, the one thing what struck me was it's quite a long hill up to Upper Wortley with quite a number of streets in the middle a fair walk to the nearest bus, these being the 42 at the top end or 254/5 at the bottom end. Now there are some short cuts to/from these services for some streets, but even with short cuts you still have to do a bit of walking, which in bad weather would put many people off. I don't think Dixon Lane has been served by a City Centre bus, but it did have a fairly regular service with the 38 before that got chopped and changed before totally being axed.

My walk continued on up Green Hill Lane to Leysholme, an area with a number of houses, and of high car ownership, but I can see why. Only served by a currently 2 hourly 81 with no evening/Sunday service and on quite a hill from Lower Wortley Road, and even before the pandemic it was only served hourly.

I then walked through Western Flatts Park to Fawcett Lane and up onto Blue Hill Lane. This again is only served by the 81 every 2 hours currently, with no evening and a really poor Sunday service currently. Before the pandemic, it would have only been served hourly which again is poor for a road with a large number of houses quite a walk from the nearest frequent routes.

I'm not saying that every street should have a regular bus service but if bus companies want to win over car users, they should at least provide a convienient bus service, not one involving a fairly long walk, and especially a long walk up a hill lol.

[Steve Macz403]

The fact that for many years the 38 White Rose - Moortown/Gledhow used to run up and down Dixon Lane.

For green hill Lane, there was the 66, 67 black prince services, that did (66 Tyersal - Pudsey - Troydale and 67 Bramley - spring valley estate - both met in old Farnley - then did blue hill Lane, Leysholme ( green hill lane) round the houses of Armley then to Leeds.

Though from Bottom of Dixon Lane, up Green hill Lane is a one good uphill walk.

[Steve Macz403]

I’d often say East End Park is one area that’s been neglected a decent bus service, ( most people have York Road services within 15 mins walk. Though at the Southern end it can be a further walk. The “Resurrected“ 62 is the main route around the area, but only to the Bus station.

[joseph]

Maybe the 81 around Armley/Wortley could be replaced by a circular running every 20 mins from Leeds direct via Stanningley Road to Armley Town Street, Leysholme, Dixon Lane, Kellet Road back up to Lower Wortley Road then up Fawcett Road and Blue Hill Lane to Tong Road and back to Leeds via Whingate and Armley Town Street. The 81 would keep it's route to Armley Town Street and Whingate, but could then be routed more directly via Tong Road giving a more attractive faster service for Pudsey, Troydale and Old Farnley users. Now that does mean some users in Leysholme etc will loose links to Pudsey town centre, which no doubt is used well, but this route does allow for changing in Armley onto the 4.

[yorkslad]

That's my old stomping ground (stomping, because I'd usually missed the bus or because I was visiting the cemetery and then heading to the family pile in Lower Wortley).

From memory, the only Leeds centre service Dixon Lane had was the post-deregulation CB3. Leysholme used to be the terminus for the 66 pre-deregulation (same route as the 42 out of Leeds, then branch off). It wasn't a 'frequent' service.

Blue Hill Lane was unserved until relatively recently - some time in the 1990s, when the 66 & 67 (now 81 & 81A) were extended out that way; I suspect as a way of making the Leysholme connection worth keeping on (again, going from memory, but the CB3 was later renumbered 66 & 67).

[mk2mcw]

Jul 27, 2020 11:48:30 GMT 1 yorkslad said:

That's my old stomping ground (stomping, because I'd usually missed the bus or because I was visiting the cemetery and then heading to the family pile in Lower Wortley).

From memory, the only Leeds centre service Dixon Lane had was the post-deregulation CB3. Leysholme used to be the terminus for the 66 pre-deregulation (same route as the 42 out of Leeds, then branch off). It wasn't a 'frequent' service.

Blue Hill Lane was unserved until relatively recently - some time in the 1990s, when the 66 & 67 (now 81 & 81A) were extended out that way; I suspect as a way of making the Leysholme connection worth keeping on (again, going from memory, but the CB3 was later renumbered 66 & 67).

during the 90s leysholme was a busy section due to the competition with optional bus the 66B was half hourly