Weaver Network

Deregulation PTE Daimler Fleetlines on Boar Lane, Leeds in August 1979 Upon the creation of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire on 1 April 1974, West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) was formed to run the bus and rail services of the new county. Urban bus services provided by municipally-owned operators in Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield were brought under the PTE's control, which branded its services as 'Metro' (later rebranded 'MetroBus') and painted buses in a unified 'verona green and buttermilk' livery. From 1977, some regional services operated in co-operation with state-owned National Bus Company subsidiaries West Riding, West Yorkshire and Yorkshire Woollen were branded 'MetroNational' until the scheme's abolition by the PTE in 1984. The Transport Act 1985 ordered the deregulation of bus services across Great Britain, as well as the break-up of the six passenger transport executives and the National Bus Company, all of which began taking effect from 26 October 1986. WYPTE's bus operations were spun off into an 'arm's length' company named Yorkshire Rider, originally ran by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority but sold into privatisation two years later to Yorkshire Rider employees and management in a £20 million () management buyout in October 1988. The newly-privatised Yorkshire Rider later absorbed the operations of the AJS Group's West Yorkshire Road Car Company upon the latter's closure in 1989. As of May 2025, nineteen different bus operators run public bus services in West Yorkshire, resulting in 82% of respondents either approving or approving in part of franchising buses. On 14 March 2024, Tracey Brabin announced that buses within the West Yorkshire Combined Authority would be franchised starting in 2027, with the announcement of a unified Weaver Network brand additionally taking place in May 2025. ==Franchising process==

's metropolitan boroughs where Weaver Network bus services will operate within The rollout of Weaver Network bus service franchising will split West Yorkshire into nine geographic zones, with the City of Leeds being split into two zones to account for its large population. Franchised bus services in the Heavy Woollen District, Kirklees and one of the two Leeds zones will begin in May 2027, with an invitation to tender for operator franchise contracts launched on 20 August 2025, and the Weaver Network rollout is set to be completed by the end of 2028. Depots and bus stations The ownership of bus depots within West Yorkshire is planned to be handed over by commercial operators to the Combined Authority, with options for compulsory purchase orders available if negotiations between an operator and the Combined Authority do not result in ownership being transferred. Vehicles Weaver Network buses are to be painted in a green livery with prominent fleetnames and graphics. The Weaver Network name and branding, announced by Tracey Brabin on 12 May 2025, was chosen as a reference to West Yorkshire's cultural and textile industry heritage with input from local Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, and is set to be gradually rolled out to replace the West Yorkshire Metro brand on buses, bus stops and stations. £39 million of funding for an investment into zero-emissions buses was approved by the Combined Authority in October 2025. It is estimated that the total cost of investing in new fleet vehicles for the first round of Weaver Network franchising will be £100 million. == See also ==