Eric
Member
Really? Apart from London (which is of course much bigger and unlike anywhere else) what cities of Bradford's size are there in the south? There are of course smaller cities with excellent links to London, and dependent on geography, to other major centres. But in terms of local and regional transport which city is any better served? Bristol (the only comparable city population-wise – in fact it is larger if you compare the urban city areas; Bradford's population is inflated by many satellite towns which are not part of the city proper) has an equally lamentable local service. If my very limited experience is anything go by, the road system is impossibly congested and bus services rubbish.
I don't have the figures to hand but I'd expect that Bradford has some of the worst congestion in the North of England.
The road systems in Bradford are a complete mess with virtually everything becoming gridlocked after 4.00pm until 7.00pm.
It's actually quicker to walk from the city centre to Clayton (three miles) than be stuck on a 636/637 for 50 minutes as it slowly crawls up into Lidget Green.
First Bradford have attempted to improved their services but problems remain due to buses getting caught in the congestion and this then having a knock-on effect.
It's quite common to be waiting 40 mins+ for a supposedly 10 minute service because all the buses are out of sync - stuck in the congested roads.
I've noticed a lot recently that first have started to terminate buses early and run them empty back to the original destination as service zero, due to services running late by over an hour.