X84 Bus Service to Resume After Public Opposition

A bus service that was recently discontinued will be brought back into operation after appeals from passengers, activists, and Members of Parliament. First Bus announced that the X84 route, connecting Otley, Ilkley, and Leeds city centre, is scheduled for reintroduction in February. This route had been withdrawn in October and substituted with different services in December; an online petition opposing this alteration garnered over 3,000 signatures. Sarah Carmody, a resident of Adel and the initiator of the petition, expressed that she was “delighted that the voices of people have been listened to.” Katie White, the MP for Leeds North West, who also advocated against the alteration, stated that she had received “heart-breaking stories and a lot of frustration” from her constituents regarding the consequences of the route’s cancellation. She reported: “People were coming to us saying they were late for school, they were late for hospital appointments, they were struggling to make sure that they got to work in time.” She further commented: “It was completely unreliable and it wasn’t working.” She characterized the announcement of the X84’s reinstatement, which includes extra weekday services during peak hours, as “an early Christmas present”. Nevertheless, these modifications imply that Pool-in-Wharfedale, a location previously served by the replacement routes, will no longer possess a direct connection to Leeds city centre. White remarked: “What we need to do is make sure that we have a bus service that works for people across the whole of Leeds north-west, and we will be working with Tracy Brabin to do that.” She added: “It’s not the end of the bus service story and we will continue to work to make sure that we get the right services for constituents.” A representative for First Bus stated: “This decision is the result of an extensive review and builds on the immediate actions we took to improve journeys on the existing 25/26 service which replaced the X84.” The spokesperson continued: “We will introduce further resources from January 2025 to support reliability on the overall Headingley corridor which should also benefit customers travelling from Otley.” Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.