A new campaign group has warned that axing 80 bus services in North Yorkshire would be “devastating”, as fears of a cull grow.
Conservative MP Nigel Adams, whose Selby and Ainsty constituency includes parts of the Harrogate district, told Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday about 80 bus services in North Yorkshire were under threat.
Last week Cllr Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation at North Yorkshire County Council, said the county’s bus network was “facing a really grave situation”.
Today Matthew Topham, a campaigner at Better Buses for North Yorkshire, said the loss of buses would have wide implications. He said:
“These cuts would be devastating. Folks might have to get into debt to buy cars, uproot their families to move closer to work, or risk assault walking home with no buses in some areas after 7pm.”
Better Buses for North Yorkshire was founded last month to campaign for reform of how the bus network is run.
Mr Topham said North Yorkshire devolution presented an opportunity to overhaul the system. North Yorkshire County Council and seven district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, will be abolished on April 1 and replaced by the new North Yorkshire Council.
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An elected mayor for North Yorkshire and York, with new powers that could include transport, is also set to be appointed.
Mr Topham said:
“The crisis in North Yorkshire’s buses stem from the awful system we use to run them — a patchwork of private companies prevented from integrating their services by competition law. No other European country has such a ridiculous system.“Compare this to networks in local control where the council coordinates services to maximise the public benefits — for instance, the locally controlled networks in London and Jersey are much more efficient with public subsidy and deliver more frequent and reliable services.“If we want to protect our services from cuts, our local leaders must seize the opportunity presented by the new devolution deal to bring buses into local control here too.”
Better Buses for North Yorkshire is running a petition calling on buses to be brought under local authority control.