Volunteer Dales bus service is lifeline for district

Ian Woolley, 76, a volunteer driver for the Little White Bus parked up outside Hawes in Upper Wensleydale.

The frequency of bus services has already been affected by subsidy cuts, with North Yorkshire County Council alone having reduced what it pays to companies to run bus services in the county from £4.4m to £2.4m per year.

More cuts are expected with the council only part way through a four-year programme to save £94m.

By 2019, the authority’s budget will have been reduced by 34 per cent (£168m) in eight years.

To find innovative new ways to deliver services with less money, a Rural Exodus summit will be held by Richmondshire District Council and The Yorkshire Post at Tennants Auction Centre in Leyburn on Wednesday, bringing together key decision makers.

And community-run bus services can be part of those innovative solutions, said Richmondshire District Council leader Councillor John Blackie.

He secured a £25,000 subsidy in May 2011 to set up Little White Bus, a not-for-profit, community-run bus service which operates out of the Upper Wensleydale Community Office in Hawes.

It is a model which may be replicated elsewhere, according to North Yorkshire County Councillor Robert Heseltine. As chairman of a task force set up to examine the access needs of communities, a recent report of his findings warned.

He said: “With the recent reduction in the bus subsidy and the likelihood that a further reduction will be made we must try to support passenger transport services in areas that currently have less than a three day a week bus service.

“This is so that people living or working here do not lose out in the future when further reductions in the bus subsidy are made.

“For this to happen though we do recognise that other forms of passenger transport – including community-led schemes – need to be part of the mix.”

The Little White Bus has exceeded expectations. Coun Heseltine said: “The operation was expected to raise £6,000 in fares from 2,000 passengers during its first two years, but it has achieved far greater results, raising £27,000 from transporting 7,000 passengers in that period.

Impressed by its success, the county council awarded Little White Bus contracts to serve two more routes.

“It now has four buses and 27 drivers – most of whom are volunteers – and is on course to transport more than 20,000 passengers a year on routes between Garsdale Station and Gayle, Keld and Reeth, and Askrigg and Leyburn.

Coun Blackie said: “Part of the ‘rural offer’ is communities helping themselves, but without the subsidy and bus this wonderful success story would not have happened.”

A great grandfather, Stanley Roocroft, 76, is one of the volunteer drivers.

He lives in Gayle and has been involved in community work since moving to the Dales, being awarded an MBE for services to the community in 2005.

He said he was delighted to help. “I got involved because I’m the chair of the Dalesplay trustees and they were wanting to use the bus to bring the children from outlying villages to the play centre, and because I enjoy driving.”