Volunteers provide driving force for remote Dales residents

So when North Yorkshire County Council indicated it was cutting funding for the only bus service connecting the picturesque village of Hawes – home of Wensleydale cheese – with the nearest railway station at Garsdale, local people decided it was time to step in.

A team of seven volunteer drivers put themselves forward, and now the council has provided them with a minibus to ferry passengers around the Dales.

“There are a lot of people that live out in these villages that don’t have their own transport – elderly people who use these buses to get to the doctors, for example,” said Abbie Rhodes, who works at the Hawes Community Office, where the bookings and administration for the service are handled.

“People work in Leeds and need the bus to get to the station. And it’s important for tourism too.”

Having branded the service the “Little White Bus”, the volunteer drivers operate a Monday-to-Saturday service to Garsdale, calling at villages along the way. There is even an “on-demand” service for people to ring and request.

Almost 1,000 passengers used the service in its first three months of operation.

The Little White Bus represents just one more example of communities bonding together to fight back against the continuing council cuts, following cases of volunteers running libraries and hot meals services for the elderly.

County councillor Chris Metcalfe, the executive member in charge of public transport, said: “Funding for community-based solutions is the way ahead for our rural areas, and the solution for Hawes is transferable to other areas of the county.”

Plans for a network of seven community transport hubs stretching across the Dales are now moving forward. The Dales Integrated Transport Alliance (DITA) scheme recently received £1.1m in Government support, and this month began its first pilot schemes in Nidderdale and Craven.