Kirkburton Councillor John Taylor quizzed West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) officials at Kirklees Council's Economy and Neighborhoods Scrutiny Panel on 18 October.
Receiving a presentation of plans for a new £20 million upgrade of the bus station, Cllr Taylor said;
The objective of the refurbs of Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Heckmondwike bus stations is designed to increase patronage, but they only spoke to existing bus users. If they want to know what was needed to increase the number of people using buses, they should be speaking to those who don’t use buses. This may be a wasted investment if no one is persuaded to start using buses instead of their car as a result of this.
Secondly, the designs have nice green spaces, greenwashing the bus stations, but I was unconvinced that sufficient funds are being ring-fenced to ensure they are well maintained in the future.
Thirdly, what are they doing to improve bus services - it takes nearly an hour by bus for me to get to Huddersfield but only takes 15 minutes by car. Even if they gold-plated the bus station - I’d still use the car, given the time difference!
Further Information
The presentation and full discussion can be found on YouTube, https://youtu.be/dHgKixnKyCo?t=4162
ExaminerLive wrote a follow-up article following the meeting, https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/new-20m-huddersfield-bus-station-25296536
