Coronavirus: West Yorkshire key workers 'could be stranded'

Limiting passenger numbers on trains and buses could see people, including key workers, left at bus stops, a transport director has said.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been warned the public transport network faces a "painful couple of weeks" as more people return to work.

One bus company said social distancing rules could see only 19 people on a double-decker bus.

Rail and bus companies are currently operating at lower than normal levels.

The authority's transport committee was told as lockdown restrictions were eased, and more people returned to work, demand would increase, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Dave Pearson, director of transport services, said the number of services provided by Northern Rail would rise from 45% of normal to 63% from Monday and bus numbers would increase from 50% of normal services to 70 or 80% in early June.

Mr Pearson said: "That creates challenges and real risks that people could be left at bus stops or at rail stations."

First Bus warned the committee that keeping passengers at a safe distance from each other posed problems.

"That really does run the risk of buses going past critical workers going to where they need to go," the company's Paul Matthews said.

"I think we are in for a painful couple of weeks until the service is restored to some sort of normality."

He said the company was looking at putting more vehicles on "high frequency corridors" to try to address the issue.

Northern Rail, which runs many commuter routes in the county, warned capacity would be considerably reduced and it was difficult for staff to police social distancing on its services.

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