The trams
Leeds is getting a tram. Eventually.
West Yorkshire Mass Transit is funded, planned and, let’s be honest, delayed. Two lines, billions of pounds, a history of false starts, and first trams now expected in the late 2030s. Here’s the straight version.
Phase 1
Two lines to start
Phase 1 of West Yorkshire Mass Transit is a Leeds Line and a Bradford Line. Exact routes haven’t been chosen. This is what was consulted on.
Scroll sideways to see the whole diagram →
Leeds Line
St James’s University Hospital → Leeds city centre → White Rose. In the 2024 consultation the most supported options were a city-centre route past the First Direct Arena, Leeds Beckett University, Millennium Square, City Square and Leeds station, and a south Leeds route via Holbeck, Elland Road and Beeston Ring Road to White Rose.
Bradford Line
Bradford city centre ↔ Leeds city centre. Three corridor options drew similar support: B1 via Armley, Stanningley, Thornbury and Laisterdyke; B2 via Laisterdyke and Wortley; B3 via Laisterdyke and Armley. Pudsey has also been mentioned in coverage of the corridors.
The 2024 consultation ran through the summer and early autumn and drew 4,845 responses. Another public consultation on Phase 1 is promised once the Department for Transport approves the Outline Business Case.
The honest bit
Yes, it’s been pushed back
After an independent review, first trams are now expected in the late 2030s, not the mid-2030s as previously planned.
- The review: carried out in September 2025 by NISTA, the government’s infrastructure authority, with the Department for Transport. In December 2025 the government and Combined Authority set out a “robust, sequential timeline” in response.
- “Spades in the ground by 2028” still stands, but means preparatory works. The Combined Authority says this won’t involve laying tracks.
- The Mayor called the delay a setback, but not a terminal one.
- The business case: in September 2026 the Combined Authority said it was finalising its Strategic Outline Case and would submit it to government later in 2026.
- Tram or bus? The review, which was never officially published but was obtained by The House magazine in April 2026, said bus rapid transit would cost significantly less with a better benefit-to-cost ratio. The government wants the options weighed fairly. The Mayor has told councillors it will be a tram.
Then and now
When things were expected to happen, before and after the review.
Our view
A tram in the late 2030s is still worth having. But a child starting school this year will be a teenager by the time it opens. The buses on these corridors need to be made brilliant now, with priority lanes and timed connections, not left to wait for the tram.
The money
Funded, on paper
How we got here
Third time lucky?
The Combined Authority calls Leeds the largest city in Western Europe without a mass transit network. It hasn’t been for want of trying.
Leeds has seen two big schemes get a long way and then stop: the Supertram in 2005 and the trolleybus in 2016. This time there’s a funding settlement, a political commitment and a brand to join. The risk is the same as ever: delay, cost and changing minds in Whitehall.
- 3 Nov 2005
Supertram cancelled
The government kills off the Leeds Supertram after years of planning.
- 12 May 2016
Trolleybus rejected
The Transport Secretary refuses permission for the New Generation Transport (NGT) trolleybus scheme.
- Summer 2024
Route consultation
4,845 responses on options for the Leeds and Bradford lines.
- June 2025
£2.1bn settlement
West Yorkshire’s transport settlement for 2027–2032 is confirmed.
- Dec 2025
Delay confirmed
After the independent review, opening moves to the late 2030s.
- By 2028
Preparatory works
“Spades in the ground”, subject to approvals.
- Late 2030s
First trams
Under the Weaver brand.
Why bother?
Why Leeds and Bradford need it
- The Combined Authority says that even with planned improvements to trains, buses, walking, cycling and driving, public transport would still be overcrowded and roads very busy at rush hour.
- It says a tram can carry about four times as many passengers as a normal bus.
- The Phase 1 options consulted on link a major hospital, two city centres, universities, Leeds station, Elland Road and the White Rose shopping and business area.
- Same brand, same ticket. One capped fare across tram, bus and train, from day one.
- Buses that feed the tram, not fight it. When a line opens, redesign the bus network around its stops.
- Interchanges that work: Leeds station, St James’s, and White Rose, where a new rail station is also planned.
- Start now on the corridors. Bus priority on the same roads helps today and makes room for trams later.
Sources
Checked on 4 October 2026. The tram drawing and route diagram are our own, and the diagram is indicative only.
- WYCA, Mass Transit (2028 preparatory works; late 2030s; overcrowding; four times a bus; next consultation; funding beyond 2032).
- WYCA news, New partnership to deliver mass transit, 18 December 2025 (sequential timeline; largest city claim; £200m; £2.1bn).
- WYCA news, Support for mass transit as consultation report released, 19 February 2025 (route options; 4,845 responses).
- WYCA news, Major funding boost secured for West Yorkshire trams, June 2025 (£2.1bn; £2.5bn programme).
- Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds trams funding boost.
- Yorkshire Post, West Yorkshire mass transit delayed; TheBusinessDesk, Delay means tram network won’t run until late 2030s.
- PoliticsHome / The House, The NISTA review of West Yorkshire Mass Transit, April 2026.
- Transport Insights, West Yorkshire confirms delay to mass transit business case, 16 September 2026.
- Railway Gazette, Silence of the trams (Supertram, 3 November 2005); Construction Enquirer, Government blocks Leeds trolleybus scheme, 12 May 2016.
- Time Out, Inside plans for a vast new public transport network in Yorkshire (corridors including Pudsey); Wikipedia, West Yorkshire mass transit system.