A couple of years ago I did a Menston-Leeds-Bradford triangular journey on New Year's Day- quite a strange atmosphere (not least having to leave Bradford Interchange by the side exit because the whole of the bus station was closed).
Having grown up on Merseyside where Boxing Day buses and New Year's Day buses and trains were an established fact of life, the situation in West Yorkshire came as something of a surprise, but a weekday service probably makes a certain amount of sense because the county is more diffuse- you could live and work in Huddersfield or Bradford and never have to go into Leeds for anything, but it'd be more difficult to live in Merseyside and avoid Liverpool or GM and avoid Manchester city centre.
I'm just about old enough to remember when the sales started on 2nd January at the earliest, then moved to 27th December and then Boxing Day as the retailers blinked and realised that shoppers were holding off in the period between Christmas and New Year. It probably works better in that a large number of people can do their sales shopping before going back to work rather than doing it all in the first week back at the office. While I'm not sure that we're any happier for it, physical shops never used to be competing in a world where you can buy someone an Amazon or iTunes gift card and have them shopping and downloading stuff on Christmas morning.
Having grown up on Merseyside where Boxing Day buses and New Year's Day buses and trains were an established fact of life, the situation in West Yorkshire came as something of a surprise, but a weekday service probably makes a certain amount of sense because the county is more diffuse- you could live and work in Huddersfield or Bradford and never have to go into Leeds for anything, but it'd be more difficult to live in Merseyside and avoid Liverpool or GM and avoid Manchester city centre.
I'm just about old enough to remember when the sales started on 2nd January at the earliest, then moved to 27th December and then Boxing Day as the retailers blinked and realised that shoppers were holding off in the period between Christmas and New Year. It probably works better in that a large number of people can do their sales shopping before going back to work rather than doing it all in the first week back at the office. While I'm not sure that we're any happier for it, physical shops never used to be competing in a world where you can buy someone an Amazon or iTunes gift card and have them shopping and downloading stuff on Christmas morning.
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