Scholes villagers' world set to ‘shrink’ due to Arriva’s upcoming bus timetable changes
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The amendments will see services to Scholes from Leeds via Cleckheaton reduce from two journeys per hour to one.
The last bus to leave Leeds directly to Scholes on a weekday is scheduled at 16:44, which will arrive in the village at 17:54 to continue onto Halifax.
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Hide AdThe last journey on the return trip will be 18:33 from Halifax, arriving in Scholes at 19:02. This will be the last bus villagers can take to reach Cleckheaton and Leeds.
On Sundays, villagers will only have five opportunities to travel to Halifax and Cleckheaton, with only four of these going on to Leeds.
In contrast, the current weekday timetable sees the last bus from Leeds to Scholes depart the city at 22:30. Current Sunday services are also more frequent.
Chloe Craven, 23, from Scholes, who uses the service to get to work as a PA, says that the cuts to the 255 route are “terrible.”
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Hide AdShe said: “I have been late to work before due to the buses and now this. It’s unacceptable. They shouldn’t be doing this.
“People will be out of money because they will be having to pay for taxis. It’s terrible.”
Another disgruntled resident said: “I think it’s awful. People who work in Leeds aren’t going to be able to get home."
Kirklees councillor John Lawson (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton) urged Arriva “to reverse these decisions.”
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Hide AdHe said: “Of the people I have talked to in the village, the elderly are the most affected by these cuts and to see their world shrink is very frustrating.
“It brings an element of inflexibility to their lives, they are then governed by the available buses and that makes life difficult when they have to keep to appointments.
“We will be making representations to Arriva. At the earliest possible opportunity we will be trying to reverse these decisions.”
A statement from Arriva said: “Since the pandemic, travel patterns have changed. We have altered the routing and timetable of our 254/255 services to more closely reflect how passengers are using them.”
For all the changes to services across Yorkshire, visit https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/changes-to-services-across-yorkshire