Yorkshire route hailed as ‘pocket of hope’ for £3bn bus revolution

A PREMIUM bus route connecting Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds has been highlighted as one of the “pockets of hope” in the country’s struggling bus sector as Boris Johnson unveiled a £3bn overhaul of the system.

The Prime Minister yesterday unveiled a shake-up of the sector aimed at bringing in lower, simpler flat fares in towns and cities, turn-up-and-go services on main routes, and new flexible services to reconnect communities.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the strategy will see passengers across England benefit from more frequent, more reliable, easier to use, better co-ordinated and cheaper bus services.

Changes include hundreds of miles of new bus lanes, fares with daily price caps so people can use the bus as many times a day as they need, more services in the evenings and at weekends, and all buses will accept contactless payments.

To help people easily move from bus to train, there will be integrated services and ticketing across all transport modes, the DfT said.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said bus services across England are “patchy, and it’s frankly not good enough”, adding: “The quality of bus service you receive shouldn’t be dependent on where you live.”

But the 84-page Bus Strategy published yesterday included several examples of success, described as “pockets of hope” and “places where significant growth has been seen despite the national trends”. Among them was the 36, a premium bus route linking Ripon and Harrogate with Leeds which is run by the Harrogate Bus Company.

The report says it “offers a sophisticated and comfortable service which has transformed the passenger experience and encouraged people to make the switch to bus”.

It adds: “Achieving consistent growth, the number of passengers using the 36 has nearly doubled over 15 years.

“Along with a high-frequency timetable, the spacious and comfortable buses, which include USB power outlets, superfast wifi and a glazed panoramic roof, have earned the route 36 service a customer satisfaction score of 97 per cent and more than 50 per cent of customers, who have a car available, choose to use the 36 instead.”

The report adds: “We know what can work and how the cycle can be broken. It needs local transport authorities (LTAs) and bus operators to work together to put passengers first. Where operators understand their passengers, offer great customer service and have clean, modern fleets; and LTAs invest to give buses priority on busy roads and junctions, and put buses at the heart of their local transport planning.”

The DfT said it expects to see local authorities and operators working together to deliver bus services that are so frequent that passengers can just “turn up and go” without needing a timetable.

Outside London, the number of people using buses has been declining for years but the trend has been much more pronounced during the pandemic because of the number of people working from home.

Kim Groves, who chairs the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said: “It is now widely accepted that deregulation has not delivered the bus service our region needs.”

First West Yorkshire Managing Director Paul Matthews said: “Delivered through effective partnerships, the strategy should present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve bus services for customers.”

The quality of service shouldn’t be dependent on where you live. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.