Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company is the volunteer-run company that manages DalesBus services into and around the Yorkshire Dales. Wholly owned by charity Friends of the Dales, we help provide and promote public transport to improve people’s lives.

The public are showing that they need our services more than ever and we urgently need more help to rise to the challenge of maintaining and developing our services.

If we can help ensure that more bus services into and around the Dales are well run and marketed, we can connect more people to communities and the countryside without the use of a car. By doing this, we can do more to reduce social isolation, encourage healthy exercise, relieve congestion, reduce pollution and support the local economy, expanding markets for local businesses.

Over 50,000 journeys are made on our DalesBus services each year, and we hope that you can help us to go further. We are particularly keen to find people with interest/knowledge/skills/ideas in:

• Recruiting, managing and supporting volunteers 
• Marketing bus and train services - including tasks such as producing online and printed materials, managing social media, leaflet distribution and keeping bus stop timetables updated
• Engaging with local communities, raising awareness of DalesBus
• Generating new ideas to increase DalesBus’ positive impact
• Leadership, strategy and governance of organisations

If you share our passion for improving lives within and around the Yorkshire Dales by bus and think you may be able to help, we’d love to hear from you. We will offer support to help you settle into any specific roles you take on. We would really appreciate offers of help at all levels.

The Board of Directors meets around four times a year at mutually convenient times and locations, in person or online, with directors and other volunteers carrying out various tasks throughout the year, depending on the responsibilities they agree to take on.

We actively welcome expressions of interest from people from a diverse range of backgrounds. Everyone volunteering with us should be willing to commit to the values set out on our website.

Please email [email protected] as soon as possible to express interest, providing information about the interest/knowledge/skills/ideas and time you might be able to share. Feel free to ask any questions, and please don’t hesitate to promote this opportunity to anyone else you know who might be interested.

We will respond to questions and expressions of interest as quickly as we can on a rolling basis, and look forward to hearing from you shortly.

​Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company's Annual Report for 2024-25 is available to download here (PDF file).

• Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company (D&BCIC) is a not-for-profit social enterprise, owned by charity Friends of the Dales. It aims to improve people’s lives by increasing the availability and use of public transport in and around the Yorkshire Dales. This includes managing much of the weekend DalesBus network and promoting other public transport in the area. 
  
  
• D&BCIC managed two Saturday and eighteen Sunday and Bank Holiday public bus services into and around the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale National Landscape during Summer 2024. Two Saturday and five Sunday bus services continued through the winter period.
  
  
• These services provide access to the Dales for those without a car, relieve social isolation, encourage healthy exercise, reduce congestion and pollution from excessive car transport and expand markets for local businesses. DalesBus serves a wide range of communities across the North of England, including West Yorkshire and the Tees Valley as well as North Yorkshire and the City of York. Although primarily designed to enable urban communities to access the countryside DalesBus also provides a much-valued service for local communities within the Dales who otherwise would have no public transport on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
  
  
• The company has its own independent board of directors who are all unpaid volunteers working alongside commercial bus operators, community transport operators, user groups, local attractions, businesses and local authorities to help improve sustainable transport into and around the Dales.
  
  
• 56,001 passenger journeys were made on DalesBus services managed by D&BCIC in 2024-25, an increase of 5% over the 53,388 journeys made the previous year. 
  
  
• The overall social benefit of services managed by D&BCIC in 2024-25 is estimated at around £4.25 per passenger trip, an overall total benefit of some £238,000, using the standard Department for Transport appraisal guidelines which factor in benefits such as reduced isolation and reduced congestion.
  
  
• Funding from North Yorkshire Council alongside other valuable contributions, enabled the continuation and development of the DalesBus network during 2024-25, and a further substantial grant will support further improvements in 2025-26. A long-term funding commitment is however needed from Central Government and the new Mayor of York and North Yorkshire to secure and develop public transport provision in the Dales, including the DalesBus network.
  
  
• D&BCIC is very grateful to all the passengers, service operators, volunteers, sponsors and donors who make the operation and promotion of DalesBus services possible. Thank you all!
  
  
• D&BCIC is currently seeking additional volunteers to assist with various key tasks to help maintain and develop the DalesBus network. If you might be interested in helping please email [email protected] as soon as possible before 22nd September 2025 to express interest, providing information about how you may be able to help, or to ask any questions.

​Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company's Annual Report for 2023-24 is available to download here (PDF file).
​

• Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company (D&BCIC) manages much of the weekend DalesBus network, comprising during Summer 2023 two Saturday and fourteen Sunday and Bank Holiday public bus services into and around the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale National Landscape. Two Saturday and five Sunday services continued through the winter period, including the first Winter Sunday bus service to Malham for many years.
  
  
• D&BCIC is a volunteer-run not-for-profit social enterprise owned by charity Friends of the Dales.
  ​. 
• DalesBus is not just a local but also a regional transport network. It serves a wide range of catchment communities across the North of England, including West Yorkshire and the Tees Valley as well as North Yorkshire and the City of York. Although primarily designed to meet the needs of urban communities to access the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale National Landscape, DalesBus also provides a much-valued service for local communities within the Dales who otherwise would have no transport on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, thereby further isolating those without access to their own transport. 
  
  
• 53,388 passenger journeys were made on bus services managed by D&BCIC in 2023-24, an increase of 28% over the 41,731 journeys made the previous year.  This exceeds the objective set in our 2021-2024 Business Plan to facilitate at least 50,000 passenger journeys in 2023-24.
  
  
• The overall social benefit of services managed by D&BCIC in 2023-24 is estimated at around £5 per passenger trip, an overall total benefit of over £250,000, using the standard Department for Transport appraisal guidelines which factor in benefits such as reduced isolation, reduced congestion and environmental impacts.
  
  
• DalesBus provides access to the Dales for those without a car available, relieves social isolation, encourages healthy exercise, relieves congestion and pollution from excessive car transport and expands markets for local businesses. But for many years now it has survived hand to mouth with little long-term funding.
  
  
• We welcome the substantial contribution offered via North Yorkshire Council from BSIP Phase 3 Network North funding, which will help the continuation and development of the DalesBus network during 2024-25. Nevertheless, a long-term funding commitment is urgently needed from the new Mayor of York and North Yorkshire to secure and develop public transport provision in the area, including the DalesBus network.
  
  
• We very much hope that North Yorkshire Council’s new Local Transport Plan will recognise the importance of Sunday bus services to the physical and mental health of the residents of North Yorkshire and to the promotion of sustainable tourism, and include financial support for the DalesBus network.

D&BCIC, together with our partner organisations Friends of the Dales and the Friends of DalesBus, is now seeking funding for the 2025-26 financial year.  We would be delighted to hear (via [email protected]) from any individuals, organisations or companies who might be interested in providing financial support, sponsorship or assistance with fundraising. Donations can also be made on our Local Giving page.

In the meantime, we’d like to thank everyone who helped support the DalesBus network in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company has recently published it's Business Plan for 2024-2026.

The overall aim of the company is to help create the Friends of the Dales’ vision of a “Sustainable Future for the Dales” by working with partner organisations to support and develop sustainable transport into and around the Yorkshire Dales area.

Specifically, in the next three years we aim to:

• Grow passenger journeys on the weekend DalesBus network to at least 65,000 per year, filling the significant gaps in the public transport network which would otherwise be available
• Secure long-term funding to enable the reliance on short-term charitable donations and fundraising to be reduced to less than 15% of gross operating costs
• Continue to promote and help drive increased awareness and usage of the wider public transport network in the area
• Support a move towards net zero carbon emissions by 2030

Charity Friends of the Dales has recently welcomed the 500,000th passenger onto the weekend DalesBus services provided by its wholly owned subsidiary Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company (D&BCIC).

D&BCIC was established back in 2007 to help keep buses running between Ilkley and Skipton on Sundays and Bank Holidays, following withdrawal of the service contracted by North Yorkshire County Council.  D&BCIC has managed that service ever since, and has expanded to manage most bus services in the Yorkshire Dales area on Sundays and Bank Holidays with a network of around a dozen routes during the summer months, with some routes continuing all year round.  Two services are now provided on Saturdays as well, including popular double-decker DalesBus 59 linking Skipton, Bolton Bridge, Blubberhouses and Harrogate.  This year has seen the launch of an improved Sunday bus service into the Washburn Valley supported by Yorkshire Water, as well as the introduction of an extra double-decker journey between Leeds and Grassington, continuing to Upper Wharfedale and Hawes.

An increased service for Winter 2023-24 has just been announced, with the continuation of Saturday DalesBus service 74 between York, Harrogate, Ilkley and Grassington, and Sunday Cravenlink service 864 between Bradford, Ilkley, Skipton and Malham through the winter months on a trial basis.

Passenger numbers are growing too, with over 40,000 journeys made in the last year, and are now higher than in 2019 before the pandemic. Many people are taking advantage of the current £2 cap on single bus fares which continues until the end of October.  Elderly and disabled bus passes are valid on most DalesBus services too.

The company is entirely run by volunteers and operates on a not-for-profit basis with all income used to provide and publicise local bus services.

Bruce Macleod, Chair of Friends of the Dales, said “We’re delighted to have been able to help so many people to travel more sustainably into and around the Yorkshire Dales area over the last 16 years and the 500,000 passenger is testament to that. We are however very dependent on one-off short-term grants and donations, so are calling on North Yorkshire Council to recognise the importance of Sunday bus services to the physical and mental health of the residents of North Yorkshire, especially young people for whom buses are often the sole means of rural transport, and to therefore include financial support for a good daily bus service across the area in its new Local Transport Plan.” 

“We would also like to thank the many businesses, organisations and individuals who have helped to support D&BCIC’s DalesBus services over the last sixteen years. We’re now urgently looking for funding to help maintain and develop our services next year so please get in touch via [email protected] if you might be interested in helping by sponsoring a service. Without additional funding these popular services are under threat.“ 

Local transport campaigner and Vice President of Friends of the Dales, Colin Speakman, said  “At a time of environmental crisis, DalesBus has never been so important by offering an attractive alternative to congestion and pollution in the National Park.  Equally important DalesBus offers local residents and visitors equality of opportunity to access the countryside.  It is now high time for both the new North Yorkshire Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to put their money where their mouths are, to ensure DalesBus is put on a sustainable basis, by prioritising support for what is a huge success story in the Yorkshire Dales”.  

Full details of the DalesBus network are available online at www.dalesbus.org, with timetable booklets available from many local outlets.

​Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company's Annual Report for 2022-23 is available to download here (PDF file).
​

• Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company (D&BCIC) manages much of the weekend DalesBus network, comprising during Summer 2022 two Saturday and twelve Sunday and Bank Holiday public bus services into and around the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. One Saturday and four Sunday services continued through the winter period.
  
  
• D&BCIC is a volunteer-run not-for-profit social enterprise whose single member is a charity, Friends of the Dales. D&BCIC has its own independent board of directors who are all unpaid volunteers working alongside commercial bus operators, community transport operators, user groups, local attractions and other businesses and local authorities.
  ​
  
• DalesBus is not just a local but also a regional transport network. It serves a wide range of catchment communities across the North of England, including West Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Tees Valley as well as North Yorkshire and the City of York. Although primarily designed to meet the needs of urban communities to access the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale AONB, DalesBus also provides a much-valued service for local communities within the Dales who otherwise would have no transport on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, thereby further isolating those without access to their own transport.
  
  
• 41,731 passenger journeys were made on services managed by D&BCIC in 2022-23, an increase of 45% compared with 28,797 the previous year when services were still recovering from the Coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• The overall social benefit of services managed by D&BCIC in 2022-23 is estimated at around £5 per passenger trip, an overall total benefit of over £200,000, using the standard Department for Transport appraisal guidelines which factor in benefits such as reduced isolation, reduced congestion and environmental impacts.
  
  
• DalesBus provides access to the Dales for those without a car available, relieves social isolation, encourages healthy exercise, relieves congestion and pollution from excessive car transport and expands markets for local businesses. But for many years now it has survived hand to mouth with little long-term funding.
  
  
• We very much hope that North Yorkshire Council’s new Local Transport Plan will recognise the importance of Sunday bus services to the physical and mental health of the residents of North Yorkshire and to the promotion of sustainable tourism, and include financial support for the DalesBus network. 
  
  
• We welcome the National Park’s recently agreed Statement on Public Transport, but more than words are needed, and positive action is needed by both the National Park Authority, North Yorkshire Council and surrounding local authorities to ensure that long term funding is provided to secure and develop public transport provision in the area, including the DalesBus network. 
  
  

D&BCIC, together with our partner organisations Friends of the Dales and the Friends of DalesBus, is already seeking funding for the 2024-25 financial year.  We would be delighted to hear (via [email protected]) from any individuals, organisations or companies who might be interested in providing financial support, sponsorship or assistance with fundraising. Donations can also be made on our Local Giving page.

In the meantime, we’d like to thank everyone who helped support the DalesBus network in 2022-23.

North Yorkshire County Council, along with other Transport Authorities in England are required to produce a Bus Service Improvement Plan following the Government’s publication of its National Bus Strategy. North Yorkshire have gone out to consultation and we have contributed to a joint response with other local organisations.

The response is a joint report produced by Action for Yorkshire Transport and CPRE North Yorkshire with support from Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company, Friends of DalesBus, Friends of Moorsbus, Friends of the Dales, Moorsbus Community Interest Company and North Yorkshire Moors Association.

​A copy of the report can be downloaded here (PDF file).

Action for Yorkshire Transport, Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company, Friends of DalesBus and Friends of the Settle Carlisle Line have recently undertaken a study on the potential for improved integrated transport in the Craven area on behalf of Craven District Council.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here (PDF file).

The future of Wensleydale Flyer bus service 856 has been secured for the next six months, thanks to local donations and contributions from the Locality Fund by six local North Yorkshire county councillors.

The service runs every Sunday between Northallerton, Bedale, Leyburn and Hawes, and has been supported for the last year by TransPennine Express. 

Following an appeal by local bus users to North Yorkshire County Council's Richmondshire Area Constituency Committee Northallerton councillor Caroline Dickinson said she and five other members who lived along the bus route had noted how valued the service was and had agreed DalesBus should be given time to find a funding solution.

The councillors (David Blades (Romanby and Broomfield); Caroline Dickinson (Northallerton); Yvonne Peacock (Upper Dales);
Karin Sedgewick (Middle Dales); John Weighell OBE (Bedale) and Annabel Wilkinson (Swale)) will provide £500 from each of their Locality Budgets in the hope that further funding for the service can be found to enable the service to continue beyond Easter.

D&BCIC are seeking a new sponsor for the service from April 2021 onwards, and would like to hear from any businesses who might be interested in helping to support this valuable community service. We can be contacted by email here.

Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company recently made a submission to the UK Parliament Transport Committee's investigation into Coronavirus: Implications for Transport.

The submission can be viewed here (PDF file).