Communications

A compact city, Leeds provides ease of commuting with a well connected railway station and international airport. The city is just over two hours by train from London Kings Cross, with rail services to the capital now run every half hour during the peak daytime period.

Alongside established operators such as BMI International and KLM, low cost airlines Jet2.com, Flybe and Ryanair fly from Leeds Bradford International Airport to leading European holiday and business destinations.

Intercontinental travellers can reach the city via short connecting flights from Amsterdam and London Gatwick. Manchester International Airport is only an hour away by road or rail.

Travelling by road, the M62 connects the city to Manchester and Liverpool to the west, while Hull and the Humber ports are only an hour’s drive away to the east.

These serve more than 50 countries and 70 ports worldwide. The M1 provides fast motorway access to London and other UK destinations, north and south.

Leeds City Station is one of the busiest in the country outside of central London, with over 900 trains and 90,000 passengers passing through the station every day. Major refurbishment has seen £245 million invested in new track, platforms and station remodelling.

The city is served by three major freight terminals at Stourton in south Leeds, Wakefield Europort and Doncaster. Bonded warehousing facilities at Stourton allow goods to be stored free of customs duty and VAT. The terminal currently handles some 85,000 containers per year, a significant proportion of the region’s intercontinental imports and exports.

Public transport services include a pioneering guided bus system. The average distance from house to bus route is under 200 metres.

Average travel to work time in the morning peak period in West Yorkshire is 26 minutes compared with 44 minutes in London. Traffic speed averages 25mph in west Yorkshire and 14mph in the capital.

The Free City Bus was launched in January 2006 connecting Leeds City Station to the university precinct, hospital, main shopping area, coach and bus station.

Work has finished on stage seven of the Leeds inner ring road. The £50 million project links the inner ring road to the M621 and the wider motorway network. The £32 million East Leeds Link Road, joining junction 45 of the M1 to the Leeds inner ring road, opened at the beginning of 2009.

The city offers a diverse range of connectivity options, with 100 per cent of exchanges broadband enabled. BT, Cable&Wireless Communications and Kingston Communications all provide a full range of telecommunications applications and services to businesses.

Leeds will be one of the first cities in the UK to receive city-wide wireless broadband, providing instant internet access to anyone using a wi-fi enabled computer or mobile phone.

[Last update 5/7/10]