City Zap. York to Leeds.

[johntea]

Be interesting to see how long the journey took at peak times in reality terms.

A slightly different example is I used to work in Saltaire so a 15 minute train from Leeds. On a handful of occassions I was forced to catch the 760 bus to do the same journey (rail problems etc) and it took a minimum of an hour each time which is a huge difference!

Many York workers would also presumably live all over West Yorkshire so making their initial journey to Leeds by train, can't see many approving of a 10-15 minute walk to the bus station each morning! A shame it can't get a stop at the so called 'interchange' outside Leeds station but there you go

 

[Blindtraveler]

Is that City Zap any good? The marketing hype makes it sound very attractive given the alternatives but sometimes looks arnt everything

 

[yorkie]

They'd need an extra bus to get to Leeds rail station. No-one is going to walk between rail & bus stations but anyone arriving by bus would find it more convenient.

City Zap wouldn't exist if it wasnt for the appalling rail fare. I hope it is a success and more people use it, as otherwise TPE will just continue to price York to Leeds at a huge premium.

I have used it a few times, but most of my journeys are beyond Leeds, or I am bringing a bike, or travelling late evening, etc. So it's not always convenient for me.
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Is that City Zap any good? The marketing hype makes it sound very attractive given the alternatives but sometimes looks arnt everything

Yes, for a bus it is good. They are high quality buses.

The turnaround times at York are a little ambitious (well, they shouldn't be in theory, but they seemed to spend ages faffing about... and having to reverse doesn't help) and both times it left a couple of minutes late, and it's also timed very ambitiously to the edge of York.

However going via the motorway minimises traffic into Leeds, and a quick turnaround at Leeds saw it leave for Leeds on time both times I did it.

But there really isn't a lot of slack in the timetable!

 

[Blindtraveler]

I thought all tourist oriented citys had overly optimistic bus timetables as standard?
thanks, must give it a go next time the need arrises although echo others in bemoaning its lack of connectivitty to rail at the Leeds end, a problem which in itself wouldnt exist if Leeds followed Bradford and Manchester in offering a shuttle service between popular transport interchanges.

 

[Deerfold]

I thought all tourist oriented citys had overly optimistic bus timetables as standard?
thanks, must give it a go next time the need arrises although echo others in bemoaning its lack of connectivitty to rail at the Leeds end, a problem which in itself wouldnt exist if Leeds followed Bradford and Manchester in offering a shuttle service between popular transport interchanges.

Leeds has the 5, which recently replaced the Leeds citybus, previously the Leeds freecitybus.

Bradford's citybus is no longer free either, being run commercially by LOT.

This leaves Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Wakefield with free bus links in West Yorkshire between rail and bus stations.

Halifax never had a free service but did have a service every 7/8 minutes in the late 90s, effectively meeting every train at the station in both directions, before the recent crop of services started - this was withdrawn after an argument about the amount the service got from MetroCard users (other operators argued it was too much as it was paid on the basis of number of journeys - a proposed lower payment presumably made the service unviable).

 

[theblackwatch]

According to itravelyork.info...

28/08/16 ZAP CityZap
Friday night trips removed.

And the Friday night Leeds-Harrogate/Starbeck services are also being knocked on the head too - Saturday night remaining though.