A decline in use means the once-popular express inter-city route is no longer viable, says Transdev
Transdev’s York-Leeds Cityzap express service is set to be stood down later this year as the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt, alongside the increase in working from home, reports York Mix. In a statement, Transdev said: “It captured the imagination of car users, rail travellers and more as it reinvented travel between Leeds and York. In that time we’ve carried over a million customer journeys. So confident in its future, we made the decision at the start of 2020 to invest over £1.4million in our new SkyClass fleet.
“Then, Covid-19 happened. None of us could predict the scale in which our lives changed. Working from home has severely impacted the demand for commuting into cities regularly, and many concessionary customers are still yet to return to bus travel as often as they used to.
“This has had a profound impact on Cityzap. Customer recovery on many routes is as much as 110% compared to 2019 where we have encouraged people back to bus – and new users too – but on Cityzap it has been as low as 50% in recent months. As you can imagine, this trend can’t continue and is unsustainable to manage.
“This all means – sadly – that Cityzap will no longer run after 19 November. The SkyClass fleet will begin to disappear from Cityzap after 25 September to prepare them for use elsewhere.
“Comfortable buses will replace them for now until 19 November. Our investment will not be wasted and will see use elsewhere within West Yorkshire as we make the most of our investment in public transport and seek to keep elements of our vision alive that the demand for fast travel into our key cities is there.
“We thank our colleagues for making Cityzap an award winning pioneer and delivering for each day. They will all continue to have secure jobs with us. And, most of all, we thank you – our amazing customers – for zapping with us. It’s been a great journey – and we hope we’ll continue to see you on Coastliner which will serve Leeds and York as normal.”
Local MP for Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ashley Mason told York Mix he was concerned at the potential impact of the decision to withdraw the service which he said has proved very popular with residents in Dringhouses who live along the route and commute to Leeds to work. He said that Cityzap has provided a convenient, affordable and sustainable transport offer for residents. Fellow local councillor Ashley Mason added: “I appreciate the challenges that Transdev and other bus operators are facing, but it is very disappointing that a way could not be found to retain this direct service in some shape or form.
“Councillors would have been happy to invite users of the services to sit down with us and Transdev representatives to discuss this. With this unfortunate decision, users of the Cityzap will be faced with more expensive and less convenient train journeys, or using a car, which from an environmental perspective is the worst possible outcome.
“The Coastliner service will remain, but is less attractive as the morning journey from York Railway Station to Leeds takes an hour and a half, compared to an hour on the Cityzap. I fear that unless the Government takes seriously the warnings about ‘cliff-edge’ cuts to services when current funding streams run out, and provides investment that allows operators to plan ahead, there may be more bad news coming.”
