Latest News

The Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company was established in February 2007.

News about our initiatives to benefit local residents and visitors to the Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland appears below.

 

New Sunday Bus Links to Ingleton and the Ingleborough Area

 

The Ingleborough Pony is an experimental new Sunday bus service, linking rail stations and car parks along the south of the National Park along the A65, to provide a service especially for walkers to and around Ingleborough National Nature Reserve. Ingleborough Pony service 888 will run every Sunday and Bank Holiday from 27th July to 28th September 2008.

Named in tribute to the traditional breed of pony that once worked in the lead mines of the Northern Dales and in packhorse trains to provide essential goods and services to Dales communities, the Ingleborough Pony is an environmentally efficient bus service which connects car parks, rail stations and walking routes.

 

The Pony will give superb new opportunities for linear walks across Yorkshire’s most famous mountain. It is also planned to encourage walkers to leave their cars at home, by providing a direct link with the famous scenic Settle-Carlisle railway line at Ribblehead to give car-free access to the heart of the National Park - and equality of opportunity for visitors, young and old, without access to a car. There’s also a direct link from Clapham Station on the Morecambe Line as well as from Ribblehead to Ingleton with its famous Waterfalls Walk and White Scar Caves.
 

The bus also connects at Ribblehead Station with Wensleydale Explorer Bus 807 to/from Aysgarth and Hawes. Any single journey on the Ingleborough Pony is just £1, children half price.
 

The Ingleborough Pony bus service has been devised by the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company with funding from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund and Natural England.

 

Summer DalesBus

The Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company has taken over the planning and organisation of many of the Summer Sunday DalesBus routes for the 2008 season. The company has combined funding from North Yorkshire County Council with contributions from other organisations to allow the majority of Summer Sunday and Bank Holiday DalesBus services to continue. There are even some new services for Summer 2008, including the Ingleborough Pony service, the Wensleydale Explorer Bus service from Ribblehead Station to Hawes, Aysgarth and Buckden and the Nidderdale Rambler service from Pateley Bridge to Brimham Rocks.

The company would like to thank the following organisations for their help in funding the new network: North Yorkshire County Council, Metro, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Friends of the Settle Carlisle Line, the Yorkshire Dales Public Transport Users Group, the National Trust, How Stean Gorge, Natural England, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

The services being provided through this new partnership are:

 

Fountains Shuttle

An improved bus link from Ripon to Fountains Abbey is being provided on Sundays and Bank Holidays from 11th May 2008. The Fountains Shuttle service is funded by the National Trust, with support from the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company.

 

Getting Around the Dales

The Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company is promoting sustainable travel in the Yorkshire Dales in 2008 with an information leaflet in the bedroom browser brochures in hundreds of hotels and B&Bs in the Dales and surrounding areas. The leaflet contains a map of the main bus and rail routes, together with details of how to obtain further information on public transport in the area. You can download a copy as a PDF file by clicking here.

This initiative was funded by North Yorkshire County Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

 

Cravenlink

Cravenlink is a Sunday bus service linking Ilkley and Skipton with Addingham, Bolton Abbey, Draughton and Embsay.

 

The Cravenlink service was created by the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company in April 2007 with funding from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund. It has proved very popular, and in March 2008 its future was secured for another year with funding from North Yorkshire County Council and Metro.

 

A revised route was introduced in December 2007, with most journeys now serving Bolton Abbey, The Strid and Eastby en route between Ilkley and Skipton. Click here for full details of the service.

 

 

Bus Links from Wharfedale to Nidderdale

In January 2008 the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company helped to design and launch two new bus services providing weekday links between Wharfedale and Nidderdale.

 

The new services link Long Ashes Park, Grassington and Hebden with Harrogate and Ripon, running via Stump Cross, Greenhow Hill and Bewerley. The buses will initially run on Mondays to Fridays during School Terms only, but if they prove popular they may be extended to also run during the school holidays. The services, numbered 11 and 12, are operated by Little Red Bus of Harrogate. Click here for timetable details.

 

Latest news is that the Tuesday and Thursday buses will now run during the school holidays as well, with immediate effect.

 

 

The Bowland Transit Club

The Bowland Transit Club is a new informal network of people, hosted by the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company, who care about the Bowland Transit bus service and believe it should continue for the benefit of the local community, the local economy and visitors to the area.

 

As individuals, we believe we can make a difference – by helping to promote and publicise the service to local people and to visitors, by distributing literature, by organising walks and other events to help both the County Councils and the bus operator to retain and develop the network for local communities and visitors alike. 

 

Please join The Bowland Transit Club to help our campaign to ensure that this valuable service prospers in the future; further details of the club and how to join appear here. 

 

Note that major changes were made to the Bowland Transit bus service from 31st March 2008. Click here for details.

 

Sharing the Dales

The Sharing the Dales Project is designed to encourage people who have not recently visited the Yorkshire Dales to get out to explore the area in a healthy and sustainable way – using public transport and walking.

As part of the project during Summer 2007 the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company organised the Cravenlink and Dales Experience buses, together with a varied programme of guided walks and events accessible from the buses. The project was managed by the Dales & Bowland CIC on behalf of the Yorkshire Dales Society and the Yorkshire Dales Public Transport Users Group, and was funded by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund.               

 

Bowland Transit Walks and Events

The Dales & Bowland CIC is supporting the Bowland Transit bus service from Clitheroe to Slaidburn and Settle through the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a programme of walks and events. These have been arranged in association with Lancashire County Council and Dalesbus Ramblers. Click here for the latest news.

Click here to download details of Bowland Transit guided walks as a PDF file.