Weaver Network

Deregulation

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 (equivalent to £59,737,000 in 2025) 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, with the three largest bus operators in the county being First West Yorkshire, who purchased Yorkshire Rider in 1995, Arriva Yorkshire, who purchased West Riding Buses and Yorkshire Woollen in 1996, and Transdev Blazefield's Keighley Bus Company. A small number of services are run directly by or on contract to West Yorkshire Metro, the direct successor to West Yorkshire PTE.

Public consultations

The Bus Services Act 2017 granted combined authorities such as the West Yorkshire Combined Authority the ability to partially re-regulate their local bus services, permitting them to franchise services to commercial bus operators in a similar system to those operated by Transport for London. A public consultation was held by the Combined Authority between October 2023 and January 2024 into either franchising West Yorkshire's bus services or working with existing operators in an Enhanced Partnership, resulting in 82% of respondents either approving or approving in part of franchising buses.

On 14 March 2024, Tracy 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.

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.

Franchise contracts for these nine zones are to be split into three tiers:

• Tier A: encompasses the whole zone and centred on a 'strategically important' depot
• Tier B: smaller and simpler local routes within a zone
• Tier C: home-to-school transport within a zone

Tier A contracts are aimed towards larger bus operating companies, while contracts under Tiers B and C are aimed towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs) such as local independent bus and coach operators.

As of October 2025, the 25 operators who have joined a dynamic market to bid for Weaver Network service contracts include:

On 19 August 2026, the WYCA announced intentions to award Tier A franchises for services in Huddersfield and parts of Leeds to First West Yorkshire, while a franchise for services in Dewsbury is planned to be also awarded to Transdev Blazefield, each subject to contracts being signed on 29 August. The announcement received criticism from passenger advocacy group Better Buses for West Yorkshire due to First Bus's underperformance in a recent survey, referring to it as one of "Britain's worst bus operators". Local bus operator SquarePeg also criticised the bidding process, sending all 20 of their buses in a convoy to the WYCA's headquarters at Wellington House in Leeds, claiming that the bidding process puts them at risk of going out of business.

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.

Approval was granted by the Combined Authority to acquire Heckmondwike bus station on a long-term lease from Kirklees Council in March 2026. Investments funded by the Combined Authority will include additional bus stops, indoor seating, solar panels and accessible facilities.

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 Tracy 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. As of July 2025, the Combined Authority has declined to declare how much money is to be allocated to the Weaver Network rollout.

£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.