A NEW timetable should improve the reliability of a bus that serves communities in Whafedale.

That is the claim being made by First West Yorkshire in response to complaints about missed and late X84 Leeds to Skipton services.

Burley-in-Wharfedale resident Peter Holmes flagged up the issue with this newspaper after experiencing problems trying to catch the bus on Wednesday, September 20.

Mr Holmes said he and a group of Otley-bound passengers ended up waiting more than an hour in Headingley for the 5.40pm service, only for it never to show.

Instead, at 6.45pm, two other X84 buses - which were supposed to be the 6.05pm and the 6.25pm services - showed up at the same time.

Mr Holmes said: "We expect late buses and a crawl through the sets of Headingley area traffic lights during 'rush hour', which was what many other local buses were doing, but at least they turned up.

"Times shown on the screen at the bus stop were fiction.

"And traffic volume was worsened by the large number of First buses travelling in both directions, empty and not in service - why?"

A First West Yorkshire spokesman said: "We're sorry to hear this feedback from one of our customers, but we'd like to reassure readers that we take all comments seriously and we investigate all complaints.

"In response to the query about the X84 service on September 20, unfortunately our Leeds bus services were affected by an incident in Leeds city centre which resulted in some roads being closed.

"As many customers will be aware, our Headingley bus services do suffer from congestion at peak times.

"But we are introducing a new timetable for the X84 from October 22 to improve reliability."

The X84 service's stops include Bramhope, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Ilkley and Addingham.