Keighley bus station Tour ‘closure’concerns

Several bus services will have to be cancelled or diverted due to road closures up to three hours before the riders arrive in Keighley.

Bus company Transdev is looking at sites for temporary bus stops on the northern and eastern sides of town for services that are still able to run.

Organisers of the tour’s Grand Depart in Yorkshire are expected to release details of local road closures in the next fortnight.

In advance of this, Keighley Town Centre Association has been discussing the potential impact on traffic and public transport.

Chairman Steve Seymour said: “Nobody has categorically said the bus station will be closed, but there is a high likelihood.”

Mr Seymour accepted the exterior of the station, used by the buses, might have to be closed.

But he said: “What we’ve asked for is that the bus station building remains open because it’s got public toilets.”

Mr Seymour suggested the exterior area could be used for activities or facilities for the crowds expected to descend on Keighley.

Mr Seymour, manager of the Airedale Shopping Centre, hopes the adjacent multi-storey car park could remain open if traffic could still get into the town centre.

He added: “We will be offering long-stay car parking for the weekend, for people who will be visiting town for potentially two days. There aren’t that many secure parking spaces available in Keighley.”

Transdev, which operates most of Keighley’s buses, is working closely with public transport body Metro to decide which bus services need to be changed.

A Transdev spokesman said there were likely to be two temporary ‘bus stations’, one in Russell Street for services from Laycock, Braithwaite, Skipton and Ilkley, and the other in Dalton Lane, for Leeds and Bradford services.

He added: “The route will be shut down for two or three hours in advance of the race, and we don’t know for how long afterwards. We know some buses will have to stop, and some other routes will have to be slightly changed.”