80 bus services in North Yorkshire under threat, says Harrogate district MP

A Conservative MP whose constituency includes parts of the Harrogate district has said 80 bus services in North Yorkshire are under threat.

Nigel Adams, who represents Selby and Ainsty, revealed the number during Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament today.

Mr Adams, whose constituency includes Spofforth and Follifoot, told Rishi Sunak that last month bus operator Arriva stopped the only bus between Selby and Doncaster, leaving 40 Selby College students having to find alternative transport at short notice.

He added:

“Additionally across North Yorkshire about 80 other bus services are now under threat.

“Can he advise what action he will take to ensure that essential bus services are not withdrawn at short notice and ensure that these continue to be operated across Selby district and wider North Yorkshire?”.

Mr Adams said fellow North Yorkshire MP Mr Sunak, who represents Richmond, knew how “crucial” bus services were.

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The Prime Minister replied:

“I’m pleased that the Chancellor has allocated funding for extra bus services across the country and I look forward to working with him (Mr Adams) to ensure that the money finds its way to rural areas like North Yorkshire to provide the connectivity that’s so important for people to have opportunity and get access to public services.”

Buses on a cliff edge?

Today’s comments by Mr Adams will fuel concerns about the future of many rural bus services in the Harrogate district.

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”.

He added:

“The message across the county is use it or lose it. We need people to support these services.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Pateley Bridge, Andrew Murday, said residents of his division faced having just two services a day to Harrogate.

He said:

“We just have to do something about bus services, and encourage more people onto buses. We need to know how we are going to go about discouraging people from driving and encouraging people on to buses, so bus services can thrive.”

Seven months ago the government rejected the council’s bid for a £116m share of Boris Johnson’s high-profile Bus Back Better initiative, saying the local authority’s plans lacked ambition.

 

 

North Yorkshire transport boss warns bus network faces ‘really grave situation’

North Yorkshire County Council’s transport boss has issued the stark warning that the county’s bus network is “facing a really grave situation”.

Councillor Keane Duncan, executive member for highways and transportation, made his remarks after a meeting where members representing communities across North Yorkshire heard many commerically-run services were in peril or being downgraded.

Seven months ago the government rejected North Yorkshire County Council’s bid for a £116m share of Boris Johnson’s high-profile Bus Back Better initiative, saying the local authority’s plans lacked ambition.

The council has been trialling Yorbus, a demand-responsive transport scheme around Ripon and Masham in the hope of finding a sustainable public transport solution for rural areas. It is yet to announce any alternative public transport proposals to its rejected plans.

A meeting of the authority heard opposition members highlight the importance of public transport as a means of cutting carbon emissions and question the authority’s intentions over investing in the area.

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Liberal Democrat councillor for Pateley Bridge, Andrew Murday, said residents of his division faced having just two services a day to Harrogate.

He said:

“We just have to do something about bus services, and encourage more people onto buses. We need to know how we are going to go about discouraging people from driving and encouraging people on to buses, so bus services can thrive.”

The meeting heard a call from Scarborough Labour councillor Tony Randerson for a “nationalised bus service”.

Cllr Duncan responded saying bus services in the county were facing unprecedented pressure due to higher costs and passenger numbers had fallen to just 80 per cent of pre-covid levels.

He said:

“For many of the routes that represents the difference between profitability and not profitable services.

“It is important to point out that the bus network is North Yorkshire is facing a really grave situation. I think unprecedented pressure as a result of reduced passenger numbers, as a result of higher costs.”

He added: “The message across the county is use it or lose it. We need people to support these services.”

He said the authority subsidised routes to the tune of £1.6m annually, but the situation in the county would “outstrip that many times over”, adding:

“That subsidy is not at a level that which we would be able to support those 79 routes, so it is a very grave situation.”

He added:

“Creating a nationalised service would not solve those fundamental issues if those operators are not there to deliver those services.”

“There may be is more that we could do to become more interventionist in terms of the bus network, but at the moment the backbone of the county’s bus service is the commercial operators.”

YorBus: On-demand service’s running costs are twice as much as regular buses

More questions have been raised over whether North Yorkshire’s on-demand bus scheme is value for taxpayers’ money after it was revealed it costs twice as much to run than regular services.

A North Yorkshire County Council meeting heard YorBus costs the authority around £18 per passenger journey, while normal timetabled services cost £9 on average.

The pilot scheme was recently extended for another year in the Ripon, Masham and Bedale areas, and allows passengers to book services via an app.

In total, YorBus cost the council £229,000 last year, and another £230,000 has been set aside for the remainder of the trial until June 2023.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Skipton and Ripon Area Constituency Committee, Settle councillor David Staveley said he was concerned about the costs and that taxpayers outside the trial area were not seeing any benefits.

He said:

“There are 850 active riders for YorBus in a population of several hundred thousand and I’m sure the rest of us who aren’t benefiting from this service might not think it is the best use of taxpayers’ money.

“I’m just a bit worried that it sounds like a blank cheque.”

The council launched YorBus to provide public transport in poorly-served areas and has repeatedly stated its ambition to roll-out the scheme across the county.

YorBus

A total of 13,426 passenger journeys were completed in the first year which transport officer Andy Clarke said went “beyond our hopes”.

However, campaigners have previously argued that the council should be setting much higher ambitions.

Mr Clarke told Thursday’s meeting that passenger numbers were increasing and that the costs of running the service were “coming down all the time”.

He added:

“YorBus is attracting a different customer base. This is not just people transferring off existing local bus services – it seems to be new customers coming along as it definitely offers something different.

“What we will be looking to do is reduce the cost figure for YorBus and then make some more detailed comparisons with other lower density rural services.

“We very much need to understand what we can get out of YorBus and how well it can perform.”

YorBus uses two 14-seater buses which are wheelchair accessible.

Its fares were recently increased in August with a single journey costing £2 for adults and £1 for a child, while under-fives travel free and concessionary bus passes can also be used.

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