Back when I were a lad (‘ee), round the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I lived at home in the family pile near Ringways, just off the Outer Ring Road in Lower Wortley, our weekday daytime bus services into Leeds were plentiful.
There was the half-hourly service 31 from Old Farnley; service 47 from Old Farnley every hour; service 78 (later renumbered 88) paired with the 92 which came from Bradford. The 47 became the 22, the 88 became the 90 to Greengates, supplemented with the 89 to Tyersal every other hour on Sundays. But it was still five or six buses per hour, run by Leeds City Transport and then by West Yorkshire PTE. These were supplemented by three buses per hour on National Express services 223, 224 and 225 which ran between Leeds and foreign parts beyond Gildersome.
As of Sunday’s changes there’s now only services 209, 254 and 255, Arriva’s successors to the 223, 224 and 225. Fewer buses to fewer destinations and none of them run by First, the successor to the former municipal undertakings. I wonder if we’re the only arterial route out of the city to have lost those services?