Unofficial fan network
WeaverBuses · Trains · Trams

The fan manifesto

Connections by design, not by luck.

The bus that leaves two minutes before the train gets in isn’t bad luck. It’s what you get when nobody is in charge of the whole journey. Here’s how a joined-up network should work, with places that already do it, and a simulator so you can see the difference for yourself.

Jump to the simulator The nine principles
A station clock at 17:58 The clock shows 17:58, when the train arrives. A red wedge marks 17:56, when today's bus left, two minutes earlier. A green arc runs from 17:58 to 18:04, when a timed Weaver bus would leave. :56 bus leaves :04 timed bus trainin :58
Illustrative Two minutes, every evening, somewhere in West Yorkshire.

The problem, named

It isn’t bad luck. It’s bad design.

Fact

Since buses were deregulated in October 1986, private operators outside London have set their own commercial routes, timetables and fares. By May 2025 there were 19 of them running buses in West Yorkshire. Trains are run by separate companies again, to their own timetables.

The bus leaves at :56. The train gets in at :58.

Every day, somewhere, a timetable throws away a connection by two minutes. Nobody chose it. Nobody had the job of noticing.

Timetables planned in isolation

Competing firms plan for their own vehicles, drivers and profits. Fitting around somebody else’s train is nobody’s job.

Different tickets for one trip

Operator tickets, MCard, rail tickets. You shouldn’t need a spreadsheet to get from a village to a hospital appointment.

Nobody owns the whole journey

Bus company, train company, council, Combined Authority: when a connection fails, each can point at another. You’re the one stood in the rain.

Interactive

The two-minute problem

Same station, same train, same bus every 30 minutes. The only thing that changes is when the bus is timetabled to leave, and whether it’s allowed to wait.

Illustrative scenario

Connection simulator

A train is due into a West Yorkshire station at 17:58. It’s a 3-minute walk from the platform to the bus stop, and the bus home runs every 30 minutes. Pick a timetable, make the train late, and see what happens to your evening. Times are invented to show the principle.

The simulator needs JavaScript. In short: if the bus is timetabled for 17:56, you miss it every time and wait 25 minutes for the 18:26. Retime the same bus to 18:04 and you wait 3 minutes. Let it hold for up to 4 minutes when the train is late, and a train up to 7 minutes late still makes the connection.

Bus timetable
Try:
Train arrives
17:58
At the bus stop
18:01
Your bus
18:26
Wait at the stop
25 min

Missed it.

Assumptions: train due 17:58; 3-minute walk; buses every 30 minutes. “Today” buses leave at :26 and :56; “Weaver” buses at :04 and :34, six minutes after the train is due. Protection lets a bus timed to meet the train wait up to 4 minutes. Not a real timetable.

What the simulator shows
  • Timing beats spending. Moving a bus eight minutes costs next to nothing. It turns a 25-minute wait into 3.
  • Protection needs a sane timetable first. A 4-minute hold can’t save a bus timed to leave before the train even arrives.
  • Holds need limits. Every minute a bus waits makes the people already on it late. A clear, published rule is fairer than a driver’s guess.
Why it’s possible now
  • From 2027–28 the Combined Authority sets bus routes, frequencies, timetables and fares for franchised services. Operators run buses to its specification.
  • The 2026 rail agreement commits Network Rail, Northern, TransPennine Express and LNER to work with it on integrating rail with the Weaver Network.

How it should work

Nine principles for a network that actually connects

None of this is new or exotic. Each one is already working somewhere. We’ve labelled what’s fact and what’s our opinion.

  1. Clock-face timetables

    Buses and trains leave at the same minutes past every hour, all day: :04 and :34, say. Learn it once and you hardly need the timetable.

    Where it works

    Dutch Railways introduced a regular-interval timetable with multiple hubs in 1970–71. In 1982 Switzerland brought in a nationwide one that covered all but a few rail and bus lines.

    For West Yorkshire

    Every Weaver bus route on a memorable repeating pattern, with the same minutes on Saturdays as on weekdays wherever possible.

  2. Pulse hubs: everything meets, then everything leaves

    At hub stations, trains and buses arrive just before the hour (or half hour), everyone changes, and they all leave just after. The Swiss call this approach the Taktfahrplan, the regular-interval timetable.

    Where it works

    Switzerland’s Rail 2000 programme, approved in a 1987 referendum, aimed to link the main hubs, such as Zürich, Bern and Lausanne, in under an hour, so trains could arrive before the hour or half hour and leave again shortly after. Its first stage was completed in December 2004.

    For West Yorkshire

    Treat the big interchanges as pulse hubs, with local buses arranged around the main train times rather than in spite of them. Huddersfield, Halifax, Dewsbury and Wakefield are obvious candidates.

A pulse hub, animated Two railway lines and four bus routes meet at a hub. Trains and buses arrive between about :55 and :58, everyone changes at the hub, and everything departs between :00 and :03. The same thing happens again at half past. Train Train Bus Bus Bus Bus 17:58 Change here

Watch the pulse

Each spoke is a route. Watch how the hub sits empty most of the half-hour, then fills up all at once. That’s the trick: because everything is there at the same moment, you can change from any route to any other with a short wait, even when each route only runs every 30 minutes.

  1. :54–:57Trains and buses arrive from every direction.
  2. :58–:59Everyone changes. Platform to bus stop, bus to platform.
  3. :00–:03Everything leaves together.
  4. :04–:53Quiet. The vehicles are out on their routes. (Then it all repeats at half past.)

Illustrative A simplified, generic hub. Times are invented to show the idea.

  1. Timed and protected connections

    If the train is a few minutes late, the connecting bus waits, up to a published limit, and everybody knows the rule. Beyond the limit, the bus goes, because the people on it matter too.

    Where it works

    Real-time “connection protection” systems already exist. They use live vehicle data to spot a connection that’s about to break, and tell the waiting driver to hold.

    For West Yorkshire

    A clear “we’ll wait” rule at key stations, with a longer hold for the last bus of the night, when missing it means no way home.

  2. One ticket, one fare system, capped across modes

    Tap on the bus, change to the train, tap out at the other end, and pay the best fare automatically, capped for the day or week. No homework.

    Where it works

    Greater Manchester’s franchised Bee Network launched tap-on, tap-off contactless with daily and weekly caps on its buses in March 2025, building on Metrolink, with combined bus-and-tram caps. Local rail lines start joining from December 2026, and eight lines (64 stations) are due to be fully integrated from January 2028.

    For West Yorkshire

    Build on MCard rather than starting again. Bus, train and, one day, tram on one capped fare, with the “which ticket?” question abolished.

  3. Feeder buses timed to trains

    In towns and villages with a station nearby, plan the bus as the first and last mile of a train journey, not as a rival to it.

    Where it works

    Research on Switzerland’s rural networks (Petersen, Transport Policy, 2016) found the integrated pulse timetable reaches deep into sparsely populated valleys, with buses and trains timed to meet. It argues this approach should be tried before on-demand services.

    For West Yorkshire

    Hilltop villages above the Calder Valley, the Holme Valley, upper Wharfedale: buses that meet the train at the valley-bottom station, every time.

  4. Turn-up-and-go on the core corridors

    Timed connections matter most where services run every 30 or 60 minutes. On the busiest corridors the answer is simpler: a bus so often you never need to look.

    For West Yorkshire

    Pick the trunk routes into Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax and Wakefield and run them every 10 minutes or better, all day. Then time the less frequent routes around the hubs.

  5. One map, one app, real-time everything

    Bus departures on the station screens. Train times at the bus station. One map with every mode on it, and one app that plans the whole trip.

    What’s announced

    The Weaver website and app are due to launch in 2027 for planning journeys and buying tickets. Huddersfield Bus Station’s £28m revamp includes real-time bus and rail information screens.

    For West Yorkshire

    Live connection info both ways: “Your bus to Holmfirth is waiting at stand C” on the train, and “Train from Leeds running 3 min late” at the bus stop. Our sister site weavernetworkuk.com is having a go at the live tracker side.

  6. Evenings and Sundays are a network decision

    A network you can get to work on but can’t get home from isn’t a network. Late evenings and Sundays should be planned as part of the whole, not left as an afterthought.

    What changes

    Under franchising, the Combined Authority decides frequencies and timetables for the whole network, not route by route.

    For West Yorkshire

    Use that power to plan evening and Sunday services around shift workers, hospital visitors and the last trains, even where a route doesn’t pay on its own.

  7. Plan for journeys, not operators’ patches

    People travel from Dewsbury to Wakefield, or Halifax to Huddersfield, without caring whose depot a bus comes from. The network should be drawn around those trips.

    The starting point

    Nineteen different operators were running buses in West Yorkshire in May 2025.

    For West Yorkshire

    Start from where people need to go, especially across district boundaries, then let the contracts follow the network, not the other way round.

Worked examples

Three journeys: today vs. joined‑up

Illustrative scenarios Real places, but invented times to show the principle. These are not real timetables. For real times, use National Rail Enquiries, WYMetro or our sister site weavernetworkuk.com.

Leeds to Holmfirth, weekday evening

Scenario 1

Train to Huddersfield, then a bus up the Holme Valley. The classic: you get off the train just as the bus leaves the bus station.

Today 80 min
Joined-up 60 min

What changed: the bus is timed to leave a few minutes after the train arrives, allowing for the walk between the railway station and the bus station.

What it cost: nothing extra. Same train, same bus, same frequency. Twenty minutes back, every evening.

Ilkley to St James’s Hospital, Leeds

Scenario 2

A morning appointment. Train into Leeds, then a bus out to the hospital, and a ticketing puzzle to go with it.

Today 64 min
Joined-up 55 min

What changed: a turn-up-and-go bus on the corridor to the hospital, and one tap-in, tap-out fare across train and bus, capped for the day.

And later: the planned Leeds tram line would serve St James’s University Hospital directly. That’s the late 2030s, so buses need to do the job well until then.

Last train home: Leeds to Wakefield, then a bus to Horbury

Scenario 3

A late train after an evening out. The train is 6 minutes late, and it’s the last bus of the night.

Today stuck
Joined-up 40 min

What changed: connection protection. The last bus is told the train is running late and holds for it, within a published limit.

Why it matters: the last bus is the one connection where a miss isn’t a wait, it’s a taxi fare or a long walk home. That’s where the rule should be most generous.

Reality check

What Weaver can do, and what it can’t (yet)

Fair’s fair: a joined-up network needs more than a brand. Here’s who controls what.

Buses: in its hands

From 2027–28

  • Routes, frequencies, timetables and fares for franchised buses.
  • Most buses and depots for the larger contracts will be owned by the Combined Authority.
  • Bus stations and interchanges, such as Huddersfield’s £28m revamp.
Rail: a partnership

Influence, not control

  • Trains stay with their operators: Northern, TransPennine Express, LNER and others.
  • The 2026 agreement covers integration, station upgrades and new stations.
  • A joint “Weaver Network Rail vision” is due by 2028, ahead of Great British Railways.
Trams: the future

Late 2030s

  • The Leeds Line and Bradford Line will join the Weaver brand when they open.
  • Until then, buses and trains have to carry the load, which is all the more reason to join them up properly.

Our ask

Judge Weaver by the connections, not the colour of the buses.

When the first franchised buses arrive in 2027, here’s the test we’ll be applying, and we reckon you should too:

  1. Are buses at the big stations timed to meet the trains?
  2. Is there a published rule for when a bus will wait for a late train?
  3. Can you make a bus-and-train trip on one fare, capped for the day?
  4. Can you see your connection, live, before you get off?
  5. Can you still get home at 11pm on a Sunday?
Have your say on Your Voice Check live times

Your Voice is the Combined Authority’s official consultation site.

Why “Weaver”? weaver-network.uk: why the name changed from Metro. Live tracker & timetables weavernetworkuk.com: where the buses are right now.
Next · across the fan network Why “Weaver”? You’ve had the buses, trains, trams and the manifesto. Now the story behind the name, at weaver-network.uk.

Back to the start

Sources

Checked on 4 October 2026. The simulator, pulse animation and worked journeys are illustrative and use invented times. Opinions are labelled “Our view” or “For West Yorkshire”.

  1. Wikipedia, Weaver Network (West Yorkshire) (deregulation 1986; 19 operators by May 2025).
  2. WYCA news, First franchising contracts signed, 1 September 2026 (Combined Authority sets routes, frequencies, timetables and fares; ownership of buses and depots).
  3. WYCA news, Rail agreement to deliver better journeys, 30 June 2026.
  4. Wikipedia, Clock-face scheduling (Netherlands 1970–71; Switzerland 1982).
  5. Wikipedia, Rail 2000 (1987 referendum; hubs connected in under an hour; stage 1 completed 12 December 2004).
  6. T. Petersen (2016), “Watching the Swiss: A network approach to rural and exurban public transport”, Transport Policy 52, 175–185.
  7. FARA, Connection Assurance (how real-time connection protection works).
  8. Marketing Stockport, Tap and go contactless payments launch on Bee Network buses (March 2025, caps).
  9. Marketing Stockport, Step-by-step plans set out for Bee Network rail integration, 16 December 2025.
  10. WYCA, Weaver Network (website and app in 2027).
  11. WYCA news, Work starts on Huddersfield Bus Station revamp, 29 May 2026 (real-time bus and rail screens).
  12. WYCA, Mass Transit (Leeds Line to St James’s; late 2030s).