The mayor of West Yorkshire has announced the use of face coverings must be worn across indoor West Yorkshire bus stations, where the West Yorkshire Combined Authority operates continuing after Freedom Day on 19 July, where the remaining lockdown measures including the use of face coverings in public, will ease.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “The past 18 months has been incredibly hard for our West Yorkshire communities, no more so than for the vulnerable and for people who have tragically lost loved ones. This is why, today I am urging people across the region to wear a face mask on all of our public transport networks. I hope this will give encouragement to those who are vulnerable, such as those using public transport to attended chemotherapy appointments, to continue to travel on public transport.”
The news comes after London Mayor Sadiq Khan asked Transport for London (TfL) to enforce the use of mask-wearing on buses and trains as a “condition of carriage”, even after legal restrictions have been lifted.
Ms Brabin is also calling on the Government to mandate the use of face masks across all public transport networks, including bus and rail services. She will join Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham and Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham, for a press conference to discuss the issue this afternoon.
Local Democracy services said the stations covered by the mayor’s order include Batley, Bradford Interchange, Brighouse, Castleford, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Leeds, Ossett, Pudsey and Pontefract.
Ms Brabin went on to say: “With that in mind, and with 71% of the public supportive of the continued use of face coverings, I am today mandating the use of face coverings across bus stations in West Yorkshire. Whilst I would like to go further to include buses and trains, we are doing what is in our power.
“I have been consistently clear with Government – they have the power to mandate face masks across all transport networks and I would support them to make that decision as restrictions lift. While the vaccination roll out is impressive, we still have further to go with infections across West Yorkshire still high.
“We have come so far. Let’s stick together, support each other so places like West Yorkshire can recover and thrive.”
