A MAJOR study has been launched into improving public transport across Yorkshire.

The move follows a survey showing that - outside London - Yorkshire has the second highest proportion of people using public transport to get to work.

About one in 10 people in the region use bus and rail to get to work, with hundreds of millions of bus journeys alone.

The study will examine ways to make it easier for more people to use public transport.

That includes schemes where people to buy tickets allowing them to combine bus and rail journeys.

The study will also look at extending park-and-ride schemes and linking bus and railway stations to create interchanges.

It will also look at ways to extend light rail and conventional rail routes.

The research is being headed by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly and regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

It is hoped the final study will attract millions of pounds of Government money to improve transport.

Assembly chairman Peter Box said: "Hundreds of thousands of people use public transport every day to get to work and to travel around.

"We must do all we can to improve bus and rail links."

The study follows a report last year which highlighted congestion on the region's motorways and main roads, including the M1 and M62 in West Yorkshire.

After the report, business leaders demanded action to ease traffic congestion.

But no decision has been made on easing congestion in West and South Yorkshire, despite a pledge by the Government last July to pump £1.2bn into road improvements in the region.