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Major changes will be made to bus services between Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Bentham and Ingleton from 4th April 2022, following Stagecoach's decision to withdraw routes 80 and 81.
New services 81 and 82 will operate between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale on Monday to Saturday, with services generally every hour during the day between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale via Halton, Caton, Brookhouse and Hornby. Alternate journeys every two hours will operate via Wray, Wennington, Melling and Tunstall (as Service 81) or via Gressingham, Arkholme & Whittington (as Service 82). These services will be operated by Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire in partnership with Lancashire County Council, also replacing service 582. Sunday and Bank Holiday Lune Valley services 81A and 81B between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale will be renumbered 81 and 82, to tie in with the Monday to Saturday services and simplify the numbering on the routes. These journeys will continue to serve the Beaumont area of Lancaster between the city centre and Halton and run every hour between Lancaster and Hornby extending two-hourly on either side of the River Lune. Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire will continue to operate their existing Craven Connection through buses from the Lune Valley services for onward travel to Ingleton, Settle and Skipton, which operate in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council. The times will be revised to fit around the revised Lune Valley services. As part of their partnership with North Yorkshire County Council, Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire will introduce service 583 running on Monday to Saturday between Kirkby Lonsdale, Ingleton, Burton-in-Lonsdale, High Bentham and Low Bentham. Bus passes will be available to purchase for children attending schools on the expanded Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire network - please complete this enquiry form for details. North Yorkshire County Council is currently (until Monday 7th February) consulting on an Enhanced Partnership Plan which aims to deliver a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) for the county, subject to the allocation of funding from central government.
Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company are strongly supportive of the vision and objectives stated in the plan to create a high quality coordinated and integrated bus network, which is urgently needed in North Yorkshire for numerous economic, social and environmental reasons. A significant modal shift away from private cars to the use of public transport and active travel is vital to help tackle the climate emergency. We are however concerned that the proposed actions within the Enhanced Partnership Approach will not deliver this vision and objectives, and in particular offer little for the more rural districts of the county, including the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which are our particular areas of interest. NYCC now spends £1.5m supporting bus services, down from around £6m ten years ago – a drop of 75% which has caused a serious drop in bus services and usage, particularly in more rural areas. Despite the stated aims of the National Bus Strategy to reverse recent declines in bus services, restore evening and Sunday services, the plan does not include any proposals or funding to restore any of the lost bus services, nor to change the policy of not supporting services on evenings and Sundays on an ongoing basis (despite the fact that such services were identified as a high priority by residents in the engagement exercise referred to in section 9 of the plan). North Yorkshire's Bus Service Improvement Plan highlights the fact that the area is one of England’s most popular tourist destinations, with two national parks, presents an area of opportunity for development of the bus network. However there are no proposals to improve the limited service offering in the national parks. Most Sunday and Bank Holiday buses in each area are dependent on short-term fundraising by the Moorsbus and Dales & Bowland CICs, which is not an appropriate or sustainable basis for these important services. The BSIP will do nothing to help maintain and develop these services, except perhaps for some marketing activity. This will be of little benefit if there isn’t a good network of buses available with sufficient capacity for people to use. The climate emergency means that modal shift to public transport is becoming increasingly urgent in all areas, including the Dales, but it appears that North Yorkshire’s plans will not help facilitate this. We are also concerned that the overall plan is lacking in ambition, with a targeted increase in passenger journeys to just 13.2m journeys in 2025, which is significantly less than the over 14m journeys recorded only a few years ago in 2016-17, a long way short of the objective in the York and North Yorkshire LEP Carbon Abatement Pathway to increase bus km by 30% by 2027, as a step towards increasing bus use by 50-100% by 2038. You can provide your views on the plan via North Yorkshire County Council's consultation website until Monday 7th February. As a result of traincrew shortages Northern Trains will introduce amended reduced timetables on several routes from 4th January 2022.
The changes will affect the Airedale, Wharfedale and Harrogate lines amongst others, but no changes are expected on the Leeds - Settle Carlisle or Leeds - Lancaster - Morecambe lines. The new timetables will be available shortly at: www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables A revised timetable will be introduced on Saturdays on Craven Connection services 75 and 580 from 4th December 2021 for the winter season.
Train operator LNER is currently providing a subsidy for the popular Northallerton-Bedale-Leyburn-Aysgarth-Bainbridge-Hawes Sunday and Bank Holiday DalesBus 856 service from its Customer and Community Investment Fund. This is because the company recognises the great value of the service to local people and visitors to the area, with connections provided at Northallerton station for passengers boarding and alighting from trains.
In recent years, a number of local and regional businesses, local councillors and other donors have also generously provided funding for this service. The 'Wensleydale Flyer' 856 runs all year round, through wonderful scenery and into the National Park.. Valid passes for free travel are accepted - but unfortunately the service doesn't qualify for support from NYCC's transport budget. Although there is much talk of possible government funding for future bus services, at present no reassurance can be given about the continuation of the DalesBus 856 beyond Easter 2022 when the LNER funding ends. A written approach is therefore being made to all the 19 town and parish councils along the 40 mile route between Northallerton and Hawes (and other parish councils close enough to it for their residents and visitors to use the service). The aim of the volunteers making this appeal is to raise a substantial proportion of the subsidy required for the financial year 2022-2023 for formal approaches to be made to external bodies for match-funding. Today's motorists may feel that bus services have nothing to do with them (except during snowy conditions or when the car is being serviced or repaired!). However the pressures and impact of rising fuel prices and climate change may bring a dependency on public transport that most people can barely imagine as yet, Donations or sponsorship from individuals, local businesses and organisations, would also be very welcome. Donations can be made online via Local Giving, and if you would like to discuss sponsorship opportunities or payment via bank transfer please get in touch with us here. We hope local support will help secure the future of this remarkable through service, which connects four market towns and all the villages between them with three return services every Sunday and Bank Holiday. A new national rail timetable will start on 12th December 2021.
Most services will continue unchanged, but a full service will resume on the Bentham Line between Leeds, Skipton, Lancaster and Morecambe. Timetables for all services operated by Northern, including the Bentham Line and Leeds - Settle - Carlisle line (route 7) can be downloaded in PDF format from the Northern website. Most bus services in the Yorkshire Dales operate the same timetables all-year round, but many weekend DalesBus services only operate during the summer months.
The last days of operation of summer-only services for the 2021 season are as follows:
Winter timetables will be introduced on Sunday DalesBus services 873, 874 and 884 from Sunday 24th October. DalesBus services 24, 59, 72 and 856 will continue unchanged for the winter period. Minor changes will be made to some morning journeys on the Pendle Wizz service between Burnley, Colne, Barnoldswick and Skipton on Mondays to Fridays from 4th October 2021:
The new timetable can be downloaded here (PDF file). Bus and train services are mainly running full timetables again. If you are using the bus or train you are still recommended to wear a face covering and wash/sanitise your hands before and after travel. Bus windows should be kept open to maximise ventilation. The wearing of a face covering is compulsory under the operators' conditions of carriage on some bus services, including Wharfedale Venturer service 72B and all Western Dales Bus services. Full timetables are running on most bus routes, except on Woofs of Sedbergh services W2 and W3 which remain suspended.  Minor changes will be made to the route and timetable of Little White Bus Wensleydale Voyager service 156 between Leyburn and Hawes from 26th July 2021. Most journeys will now serve Sycamore Hall in Bainbridge.
The new timetable can be downloaded here (PDF file). |