Voters in a Guardian Leeds poll have come out overwhelmingly in favour of Metro's plans to introduce Quality Bus Contracts.

Over 95% of voters who responded to the Guardian's question "Should Metro regulate Leeds' buses?" agreed that Metro should be allowed to set the specification for Leeds's buses, and just over 90% said that bus services in Leeds were poor or in need of improvement.

Introducing Quality Contracts would enable Metro to specify local bus routes, frequencies and fares across West Yorkshire. It would also mean a single ticketing system, removing the current confusion over different operators' tickets, and fewer service changes.

"The outcome of this poll shows that passengers are growing more and more frustrated at bus operators making service cuts and price hikes while at the same time maintaining very high profit levels, " said Metro Chairman Cllr Chris Greaves.

"Under a Quality Contract Scheme, bus operators would bid to run services, and would be contracted to provide consistent high standards across the county or face penalties if they failed to do so. We would look to incentivise good service delivery and high standards of customer care. They could still make a profit, but closer to the industry norm of 10% rather than the 20% profits we've seen some companies make locally.

"For the last 25 years, rises in bus fares have been invested in shareholders dividends rather than being ploughed back into local services," continued Cllr Greaves. "We want to see an end to that, and it's pleasing to see that the people of Leeds feel the same way."

Metro will shortly be undertaking an initial consultation on proposals for a Quality Bus Contract Scheme and aims to undertake a full public consultation in 2011. The scheme could be introduced from late 2012, with a phased approach across West Yorkshire until completion by 2017.

The full poll results can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/poll/2010/sep/30/poll-should-metro-regulate-leeds-buses.