West Yorkshire Metro
Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. The Metro brand has been used from the outset and, since the formal abolition of the WYPTE on 1 April 2014, it has remained the brand name of public transport in the region, overseen by the combined authority which is also responsible for the delivery of transport policies.
On 7 May 2025, it was announced that the Metro brand would be phased out as the system moves to a franchising model. On 12 May 2025, the new branding was unveiled under the name Weaver Network. The name was chosen for the region's shared industrial heritage surrounding the production of textiles and is likely to emulate the success of the Bee Network, the equivalent transport authority within Greater Manchester.
Governance
Metro is a public transport brand of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which is, through its transport committee, the transport authority for West Yorkshire. It replaced the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority on 1 April 2014. The West Yorkshire County Council was the transport authority from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1986. It was replaced by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority that was made up of elected councillors from the districts of West Yorkshire. The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority was renamed the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority following the Local Transport Act 2008. The Metro brand was adopted in 1988.MetroBus history
Buses are operated by private companies, with early morning, late evening, Sunday and rural services often supported by Metro. There is a special rural bus section, which promotes a combination of minor local links and major long-distance routes.On 1 April 1974, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive was created by merging the municipal bus fleets of Bradford City Transport, Leeds City Transport, Huddersfield Corporation Passenger Transport and Halifax Joint Omnibus Committee, which earlier in the 1970s took over the Todmorden Joint Omnibus Committee. The operation was divided into four districts and a new livery of cream and green, officially termed 'Verona green and buttermilk', was introduced, replacing Bradford's light blue and cream, Huddersfield's red and cream, Leeds' two-tone green and Halifax's orange, green & cream.
Created following the Local Government Act 1972, the Executive had to operate within the policy guidelines of the County Council Public Transport Committee, coordinating the operation of all public transport in the county. The Executive inherited approximately 1,500 buses along with 6,000 staff and the associated garages and street furniture.
The Executive relinquished ownership of local buses following the Transport Act 1985, creating arms-length operating companies. It continued to coordinate public transport as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority when the metropolitan county was abolished in 1986.
New buses were purchased in large numbers at the outset. In 1976 Baddeley Brothers of Holmfirth was purchased providing the PTE with additional coaching and stage-carriage duties. In 1980 the Baddeley Brothers business was also disposed of, although the Metrocoach operation was retained.
Fleet livery
In 1976 modifications were made to the livery. Originally there were three stripes at the sides of the destination box, which wrapped round to the sides and swept down. This took time to apply, and a trial was made with one thin line. In 1977 the lines were removed and the green area at the skirting of was raised up, so there was slightly more green. The other change was the fleet name to MetroBus in 1976, removing the district names.On 25 April 1977, the PTE acquired the old-established Kinsley based United Services from WR & P Bingley. As well as providing the PTE with more coaching operations, this took it into an area of West Yorkshire where it had previously had no presence. United Services was maintained as a separate subsidiary and retained its distinctive blue livery, whilst a new livery of red & ivory was adopted for the PTE's coaches, which operated under the "Metrocoach" banner, with brown added for "Metrocoach Executive". Later Bingley's depot received double-deckers transferred from the Leeds District. In early 1981 a reorganisation of operating districts was implemented with the East District becoming responsible for the Leeds depots and United Services, whilst the West District took control of Bradford, Halifax, Todmorden and Huddersfield.
New integrated bus system
In July 1981, MetroBus and the National Bus Company formed a new integrated transport system known as the "Metro-National Transport Company Limited". All PTE and NBC buses began to appear with a new emblem, which consisted of the MetroBus WY's in one box and the NBC "double N" or "N-blem" appearing in another to the right of the PTE emblem, and slightly lower. The boxes were linked to show the integration. They also appeared with MetroBus fleetnames with "The easy way from here to there in West Yorkshire". The new "Metrobus" fleetname being applied not only to PTE owned vehicles on which WYPTE lettering was carried beneath the fleet name, but also buses of NBC subsidiaries West Yorkshire Road Car Company, West Riding Automobile Company, Yorkshire Woollen Transport Company and Yorkshire Traction, carrying "West Yorkshire", "West Riding", "Yorkshire" and "Yorkshire Traction" names below the Metrobus name. Some years later some of those buses were repainted into the PTEs verona cream and buttermilk livery so as to present a corporate image. From this date the "WY" logo on the front of buses was replaced by the "Metro-National" emblem in mid-1983, to celebrate 100 years of public transport in Huddersfield, MetroBus paint two vehicles in old liveries: Leyland Atlanteans carried Huddersfield Corporation red livery and Huddersfield Corporation Tramways livery. They became "Building on a Great Tradition" vehicles and were in those liveries until the late 1990s.Deregulation
occurred on 26 October 1986. The WYPTE bus division was renamed Yorkshire Rider and with it a new livery of dark olive green and cream and a stylised "YR" emblem. Five double-decker buses were operated in each of the municipal council's colours, with words on the sides between the decks saying "Building on a Great Tradition". The bus services and fare/bus pass/timetables division was renamed Metro.'My bus' school bus services
My bus is a school bus service launched in November 2004 by West Yorkshire Metro with certain features which set it apart from normal school transport services in the United Kingdom:- A dedicated fleet of school buses ; additional use of these vehicles is limited to school and young-person focused activities and all have low floors and seat belts
- Drivers with enhanced DBS checks, who permanently assigned to each route, assisted on some routes by volunteer escorts
- A bus seat is permanently assigned to each student
- In-school education campaigns to support the service
As of August 2009, My bus contractors included City Travel, First Student UK, Halifax Joint Committee, HCT Group, Keighley & District, Rollinson Safeway, Tiger Blue and TLC Travel. Withdrawals of the BMC school buses began in May 2018 as they began to reach the end of their service lives, and reviews undertaken by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority saw 'My bus' services to primary schools in Ilkley and Bradford withdrawn between 2023 and 2025.
Current operators
As of 2012 the following companies are owned by WYPTE, subject to Metro conditions and ticketing:- Metroconnect Accessbus in WYPTE Area.
Rail service
Routes
There are 12 commuter and inter-city railway lines serving West Yorkshire: Airedale, Calder Valley Line, Dearne Valley, Hallam, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Leeds-Bradford, Penistone, Pontefract, Wakefield, Wharfedale and York & Selby.The majority of these lines run into Leeds and most continue into neighbouring areas, serving towns and cities such as Barnsley, Blackpool, Doncaster, Harrogate, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Preston, Sheffield and York. Some lines overlap each other, which means that stations such as Castleford, Huddersfield and Wakefield Westgate are served by more than one line.
Most lines have frequent services, but the Dearne Valley line has a limited service of two trains a day in each direction.
In the following list of routes in West Yorkshire, places shown in bold are where services terminate, places shown in italics are stations located outside of West Yorkshire.
| Airedale Line | Calder Valley Main Line | Dearne Valley Line | Hallam Line | Harrogate Line | Huddersfield Line |
Operators: Northern, LNER
| Operators: Northern, Grand Central
| Operator: Northern
| Operator: Northern
| Operators: Northern, LNER
| Operators: Northern, TransPennine Express
|
| Leeds/Bradford Line | Penistone Line | Pontefract Line | Wakefield Line | Wharfedale Line | York & Selby Line |
Operators: Northern, LNER
| Operators: Northern
| Operators: Northern, Grand Central
| Operators: Northern, LNER, CrossCountry
| Operator: Northern
| Operators: Northern, TransPennine Express, CrossCountry
|
Notes:
| 1 | Although stations are in North Yorkshire, MetroCards are valid at these stations |
| 2 | Limited Service only |
| 3 | Service continues along Caldervale Line to Manchester Victoria via Hebden Bridge |