Taxi firm in Leeds could scrap electric car plans over bus lanes row

Taxi firms in Leeds are urging the council to let them use bus lanes in exchange for more electric cars on our roads.

Arrow Cars was set to sign a deal to use 30 fully-electric Tesla as Leeds City Council try to cut out diesel vehicles here, but that could be put in jeopardy if they can't use bus lanes.

Earlier this month the council announced plans to introduce "clean air zones" in the city by 2020, which would see taxis, lorries and buses charged for entering the outer ring road if they're not electric.

David Richmond is the owner of the firm and told Radio Aire: "There needs to be an edge. Anyone investing that level of money, there needs to be an edge to make it worthwhile.

"It's not good being stuck in a traffic jam for hours on end- we need to be able to go down the bus lanes, but not just us, anybody who buys electric taxis.

"It would revolutionise the whole industry, it would make the air breathable, it would just alter the whole feel, the whole look- it would put Leeds at the forefront of technology in this country."

Leeds City Council have told us though that letting taxis in bus lanes will congest the city further, as three quarters of a million people travel by bus in Leeds everyday.

James Lewis is Deputy Leader of the organisation and says it could be a real issue: "Allowing private hire vehicles into bus lanes is really problematic because it's opening it up to thousands and thousands of vehicles in our bus lanes at a time when our city can often be congested.

"Bus lanes carry 250,000 a day, and letting in the four and a half thousand private hire vehicles licensed in Leeds, plus the countless hundreds that we know come from outside to work in the city, would just add further problems.

"The area we need to make a change in is getting as many low emissions vehicles, and zero emission vehicles working as both taxi and private hire in the city int he next couple of years as we work towards a clean air zone."