The Outer No-Ring Road

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 2:30 pm

Its no wonder that Metro never made any money, there were too many Phills about.I used to hate Monday mornings on the Moor Grange 74/76 service took bloody ages having to sell all those Kerchings.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 2:49 pm

buffaloskinner wrote: Its no wonder that Metro never made any money, there were too many Phills about.I used to hate Monday mornings on the Moor Grange 74/76 service took bloody ages having to sell all those Kerchings. Newsagents and Post Offices yes, but I don't remember being able to buy them on the bus unlike the green zone/week rider tickets. Though I never did it it was fairly obvious it was easy to cheat. The positioning of the machines, for dual access purposes meant that your body was directly in the drivers eyeline to the machine. Dual access also usually meant that the driver was distracted collecting fares, issuing tickets and bending down to collect any change required. On noisy/busy buses I could hardly hear the kerching myself so the driver had little chance. So the only realistic chance of being caught cheating was by inspection of it being a genuine card and that it was correctly date/time stamped. I felt guilty myself on the couple of occasions that the date/timestamp was wildly inaccurate but then realised it would soon be apparent because all the cards would be inaccurate by the same margin. Similarly when the fare stage I had boarded was wrongly stamped.

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 3:09 pm

We used to store them in a wooden tray/box with all the different values looking at you, they were in packs of 20s I think and we just tore them off, they were more commonly known as the Saverstrip though.And then when the machine broke, we were supposed to use the clippers on them, I used to wave most passengers passed if it was busy.I think we got an extra couple of quid a week to sell them on the bus, but Monday was the busiest day of the week when everyone wanted one. It could take 10 minutes to get down Queenswood Drive.

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 5:28 pm

BLAKEY wrote: My very first One Man Operated journey out of Headingley Depot was on "The Ring Road" on a Saturday lunchtime. In those days it ran as number 9 in both directions from Whitkirk (Skyliner) to Middleton garage. I was very nervous of this maiden voyage and waited anxiously at Lawnswood School at 1134 am. The bus came and one of the most grumpy of the "Ring Road" senior drivers got out, looked at me as if to say "Huh, another young 'un with no idea", and disappeared for his meal.I did my best and arrived at Middleton late, but in time to depart punctually at 1230 after filling in the reams of large yellow waybills (a seperate one for the "Ker Ching" multi journey tickets). Full of mature confidence now I arrived at the Skyliner in good time at 1346 and left "on the dot" at 1405, arriving at Lawnswood School with a flourish on time at 1434.Another grumpy mature senior fellow stepped on and muttered "I 'ope y'uv filled it up at Middleton !!""Filled it up ??" I queried, puzzled."Aye , filled it up at Middleton - don't you lot know 'ow to read a bloody runnin' board ??"Thrusting the board under my nose in full view and hearing of the passengers he snarled "Read that !!"In the right hand margin for special instructions was clearly marked " A - REFUEL AT MIDDLETON GARAGE AT 1221."Totally deflated, I slunk away down Otley Road for my meal, and considered leaving the Country. Oh, message for Stutterdog - the Bramley ReUnion is Thursday 15th April at the Band Club off Town Street as usual - I remember you asked me to let you know. I am much obliged Bakey for the information.I'll be there this year. I owe you a pint!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 10:37 pm

buffaloskinner wrote: We used to store them in a wooden tray/box with all the different values looking at you, they were in packs of 20s I think and we just tore them off, they were more commonly known as the Saverstrip though. It was worse than that !! Originally they were in packs of 100 per value, later slimmed down to 50. Some drivers who were skint would sell them from near the back of the pack, which gave a lower waybill figure for a day or two, thus enabling them to have an interest free loan for a day or two until the "gap" came to light. The black wooden rack, which slotted onto the dash near the windscreen on some buses and under the right hand cab window on others, held eight different values.I was regular on Moor Grange from day 1 of OMO, and what a nightmare the massive roadworks were as Jack Lane was split and Hillidge Road also, and Leek Street Flats were being built, and Dewsbury Road bottom remodelled with the first of many "grass mountains." Then at teatime you might be unlucky and get behind that enormous wide road machine as it trundled along at 1 mph from the Middleton Railway Crossing to its overnight sleeing ground near the "Engine" pub.One of the Middleton drivers, a nice chap by the name of Smith who'd worked at Ledgards with me, lived on Moor Road opposite the Lake..

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 15 Mar, 2010 10:39 pm

[quotenick="stutterdogOh, message for Stutterdog - the Bramley ReUnion is Thursday 15th April at the Band Club off Town Street as usual - I remember you asked me to let you know.I am much obliged Bakey for the information.I'll be there this year. I owe you a pint! No problem - looking forward to seeing you !!

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Tue 16 Mar, 2010 11:03 pm

BLAKEY wrote: [quotenick="stutterdogOh, message for Stutterdog - the Bramley ReUnion is Thursday 15th April at the Band Club off Town Street as usual - I remember you asked me to let you know. I am much obliged Bakey for the information.I'll be there this year. I owe you a pint! No problem - looking forward to seeing you !!How will I recognise you?Will you be wearing your Inspectors Cap?LOL

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 17 Mar, 2010 8:18 pm

stutterdog wrote: [How will I recognise you?Will you be wearing your Inspectors Cap?LOL Definitely not - I always try to avoid making the same mistake twice in life, especially a king size mistake like that was I'll think of an aid to recognition soon and let you know - but it won't be any inspector's cap and that's for sure

Tingley · Post by **Tingley** » Wed 14 Jul, 2010 1:24 am

raveydavey wrote: Everyone knows it as the Leeds Outer Ring Road, but it doesn't actually meet up to form a ring, does it?According to Wikipedia, it goes from Colton (following the redesignation of the A63 to the A6120) all the way round to Belle Isle, or vice versa, if you prefer. Can anyone shed any light on why it doesn't meet up? I guess it was meant to when it was first planned, but that it has just never happened (what did someone say on another thread about Leeds not doing things by halves, just by two-thirds?). If you look on an old map you will see that City and County Borough of Leeds had quite a restricted boundary in the Aire Valley where Rothwell cuts in. The Ring Road ran through Middleton and stopped literally on the City limit along with the housing.Jump forward a few years and look at a modern map. Follow the line of the Ring Road round through Middleton and project it forward. You will find it flows onto the line of the new M1 Motorway. The M1 crosses the River Aire, skirts round Temple Newsam and links into the other end of the Ring Road at Colton.I can only assume in the past either the City Council was unable to build into Rothwell/West Riding or could not afford to build across the River on their own account. The land looks to have been protected and I assume that the M1 is built on the line of what would have been the Ring Road.There was land at the side of the Ring Road in Middleton [and still is] for a second carriageway. After the roundabout with Belle Isle Road there was also a tract of land that was vacant until the late '70's. After Leeds grew in 1974 the Ring Road was extended down towards Pepper Road and the housing was extended beyond what was the old Leeds Boundary.So in answer to your question, basically the missing bit was outside the Leeds City Boundary in Rothwell Urban District.Iain

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 14 Jul, 2010 9:40 am

I don't suppose the purpose of any ring road is to ring a city, but to stop traffic coming in on major routes to the city only for them to go out again.The ring road must have been to keep people who were not from Leeds and not going into Leeds, going into Leeds and out again adding the the congestion. It linked the major routes in and out of Leeds outside of Leeds itself except between the selby road, the wakefield/Cas road and the dewsbury road, and has been said the new m1-a1 link now links two of those.Instead of completing the ring road it seems the selby road and the york road part completed the link enough to keep traffic out of the city. That leaves the bit between the wakey and Dewsbury road, but who would ever travel from one to the other by coming into leeds and out againSo the ring road was probably planned on the basis of who was going in and out of leeds but not stopping.....