Annual Report 2025-26

Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company's Annual Report for 2025-26 is available to download here (PDF file).
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• 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.

• We achieve this by securing provision of much of the weekend DalesBus network and promoting other public transport options into and around the Yorkshire Dales area. In Summer 2025 we managed three Saturday and eighteen 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.

• 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.

• DalesBus serves a wide range of 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 enable 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 public transport on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

• 61,186 passenger journeys were made on DalesBus services managed by D&BCIC in 2025-26, an increase of 9% over the 56,001 journeys made the previous year. This achieved the objective set in our 2024-2026 Business Plan to facilitate at least 61,100 passenger journeys in the year.

• We very much appreciate the substantial support provided by York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority via North Yorkshire Council which, alongside other valuable contributions, enabled the continuation and development of the DalesBus network during 2025-26.

• With appropriate financial support D&BCIC can help the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority, Yorkshire Dales National Park and neighbouring protected landscapes achieve many of their aims and objectives, and in so doing deliver significant economic, social and environmental benefits.

• Our current business plan includes an objective to increase passenger journeys to 65,600 by 2026-27, and we will shortly be creating a new business plan for the following three years.

• 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] to express interest, providing information about how you may be able to help, or to ask any questions.