The West Yorkshire Mayor has branded Arriva’s service cuts “appalling”, causing “misery” for commuters, as the latest round draws attention back to the problems facing the major bus operator.
Issues with Arriva’s bus services across the West Yorkshire region have been rumbling on for some time, with jobs put in ‘jeopardy’, a driver shortage and services branded “unreliable”. This month the situation was amplified, with cuts made to services across the region.
Setting out these changes which came into effect on January 5 and see some services no longer running and others amended, Arriva said that despite having recruited more than 300 new drivers since the start of 2024, the measures are essential to improve services for customers given the ongoing shortage of drivers.
At the same time, Kim Cain, Area Director for Arriva Yorkshire apologised that services have not been performing at the levels passengers “rightly expect” and said that the operator is “determined” to change this.
Last year, Cleckheaton resident, Connor, told of how his job in Huddersfield had been put in jeopardy as a result of the “unreliable” Arriva buses he was using to get to work.
He said: “I’ve had to have talks with my manager about my punctuality, which I do agree is my responsibility to get to work on time but when stuff that is completely out of my control, it starts to affect this and forces me to get taxis on the nearly daily. It frustrates me something rotten.”
His sister, Sophie, shared similar concerns and also reported feeling unsafe, being left “stranded” in the evenings as her bus hadn’t turned up. In October, she said she had faced four cancellations over the space of two weeks, costing her £48 in taxis.
Despite investment from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to train up over 150 bus drivers through its adult education budget, only a handful went to work for Arriva, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, said in November.
The Combined Authority has also bailed out a Dewsbury bus route to be axed by Arriva – the 212 which runs between Dewsbury and Wakefield. Yorkshire Buses will now run the service, with a revised timetable introduced from Sunday (January 5).
Mayor Brabin said this week: “It’s appalling that Arriva have cut bus services across West Yorkshire – causing misery for commuters.
“We’re doing everything we can to support passengers and find alternative providers where possible, so that people’s lives aren’t disrupted. That’s on top of the work we’ve already done to support cheaper fares and train over 150 new drivers.
“This situation shows why our decision to bring buses back under public control was the right one. Profits should be reinvested into routes that work for our communities, not given to shareholders overseeing a failing company.”
Commenting on the situation, a spokesperson for Arriva Yorkshire said: “We have recently made a number of changes to our services in Yorkshire so that, in normal circumstances, our timetable is better matched to the number of drivers we have available.
“Unfortunately, our depot in Wakefield has been particularly badly impacted by adverse weather causing significant disruption to services.
“We are doing all we can to address the situation. We have moved quickly on this and are bringing vehicles and engineers in from other areas to improve service reliability. We will continue to keep our customers updated as a priority while we work to solve these temporary issues.”
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