She said the move, which was one of her election pledges, will make services across the region more frequent and more reliable while passengers will enjoy cheaper fares.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is expected to press ahead with plans to deliver a franchising scheme at a meeting today, after it conducted an assessment.

The Labour mayor said private operators have overseen a “managed decline” in recent years, as unreliable services and route closures have driven passengers away, but she wants to “turn the tide”.

The number of journeys made in the region fell from around 170m in 2009 to 133m in 2019/20.

"Companies are focused on satisfying shareholders,” said Ms Brabin. “This is the opportunity for us to use the fare box revenue to improve routes and services, to make them more reliable and to put buses where people need them.”

Ms Brabin, who runs WYCA, is aiming to sign off on the franchising plan in March 2024, following an independent audit and a public consultation, so it can then be delivered in phases from 2027.

WYCA said it wants to take full control of the bus network, so it can make decisions about routes, services and fares "in the interests of local bus users" when it award contracts to bus companies.

However, the organisation has stated this move will require “significant” investment and it is only expected to “slow the rate of decline” in passenger numbers and services.

It comes as Ms Brabin has been working to improve services and increase passenger numbers, since securing almost £70m of Government funding for an ambitious bus service improvement plan.

Around £30m is due to be spent on upgrading the bus network and introducing new services on a number of routes, to make them more frequent and more reliable.

WYCA is expected to sign off on £7.3m of spending this week, to ensure passengers can take advantage of extra services in Bradford, Leeds, Calderdale and Kirklees from September.

As part of the bus service improvement plan, operators have also capped single fares at £2 and day passes at £4.50 since September 2022, in exchange for around £1.2m of subsidies each month.

WYCA said passengers made 7.2m journeys using these discounted fares between September and December last year and they saved around £3.4m.

However, overall bus usage in West Yorkshire has returned to just 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Operators across the country claim they have been forced to cut services in recent months, because they have been struggling to cover their costs since passenger numbers plummeted during the pandemic.

But the Government has provided £2bn of support to operators during the pandemic, to help them protect services, and recently announced it will hand out another £300m over the next two years.

“In West Yorkshire, a company can cut a route and then completely isolate a community and people have no option but to use expensive taxis in a cost-of-living crisis,” said Ms Brabin.

“That's not acceptable and my inbox is absolutely rammed with emails from people for whom these cuts to services have been devastating. We've got to turn the tide.”

Tracy Brabin says buses could be brought under public control in four years