Dr Ben Hanson has submitted a 3,000 word research document to local transport bosses to help make their service more accurate.
There's nothing worse than waiting at the bus stop, watching the clock tick away from the supposed arrival time.
One minute can feel like forever and more often than not, you find yourself beadily watching the road awaiting your golden chariot for a lot more than one minute.
Well, a local Leeds man feels your pain and has taken it upon himself to spend months researching Leeds buses and their timetables to prove why they are late.
Dr Ben Hanson, 31, is a physics lecturer at Leeds University. He decided to study the 'live tracker' displays for two bus routes in the city that he used regularly.
Image: SWNS
Using a computer programmer to precisely measure if the buses were late on these two routes over a period of time, he found that when the buses were due to arrive in five minutes, they were late a whopping eight out of ten times.
He also discovered that buses often take up to a third longer to arrive at their stops than is predicted on the noticeboards.
Using his findings, Dr Ben Hanson has now submitted a hefty 3,000 word research document to local transport bosses in an attempt to help make their system more accurate.
He told SWNS, as reported by Leeds Live, that he was motivated my 'personal grievance' over the transport's inaccuracies and that he is now hoping that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority will use artificial intelligence to make the schedules more accurate.
Ben said “The goal was to get onto the internet and find out where the live timetables are getting their bus data from - which you can actually do quite easily. Once I did that, I created an automated way of doing that by writing a computer programme that checks for you. And I made that computer programme pull down every single minute for two solid weeks."
Image: Yorkshire Bus Spotters
His in-depth research focused on the number 72 bus, that runs between Leeds and Bradford, along with the number six bus, which travels through the city centre.
His overall analysis revealed that the "live tracker" boards, which we all rely on, are systematically incorrect as buses arrived up to 33% later than they were predicted during the course of his research.
Hopefully Ben's research will improve the transport links in and around the city and prevent us from waiting too long at bus stops.
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
Traitors star and comedian Joe Lycett is putting cash behind the bar at a pub in Sheffield
Daisy Jackson
Comedian Joe Lycett is putting money behind the bar at a pub in Sheffield this week, as he continues to encourage people to get out and support their local boozers.
The TV favourite – who is also currently one of the stars on The Traitors – announced the news as he bid farewell to his fictional TV pub The Lycett Arms.
On the show, he said: “There are 45,000 pubs in the UK – go and give them some love.”
Joe Lycett then proceeded to list 30 brilliant pubs up and down the country, including one in Sheffield, and announced that the drinks are on him this week.
He told audiences: “[This] Friday I’ll be putting a little bit of money behind the bar in all the pubs you’ve just seen. I hope you can have a drink on me.”
The chosen pub in Sheffield is The Hallamshire House, a lovely old boozer serving real ale in Crookesmoor.
Announcing the news to social media, Channel 4 and Joe Lycett wrote: "Take this as your excuse to drop what you’re doing, call a mate, and head to your local pub. Even if you see this during the middle of a working day. Go. Be free."
Well, you certainly don't have to tell us twice.
Some pubs have even agreed to match the offer, commenting on the post: “Thank you so much for the shout out. Next time you find yourself nearby, pop in for a pint!”
So this Friday, get your friends together and have a free pint on Joe Lycett himself - you know you want to.
Clementine Hall -
7th September 2022 
