Council steps in to provide support for local bus services

Key bus routes that serve local communities in York have received support to continue short term, thanks to City of York Council and funding from the Department for Transport [DfT].

Services 1, 2A, 4, 6 and 10 which serve areas including Wigginton to Chapelfields, Rawcliffe, Gate Helmsley in North Yorkshire and Stamford Bridge in the East Riding -  will now continue for 3 months.

The only exception is route 11, The Monday to Saturday evening journeys on service 11 between Stonebow and Ashley Park (which have only operated since 23rd Jan) will cease as of 2 July.

The support is thanks to an open tender procurement exercise that has been carried out by the council, in order to find longer-term replacement operators for the services. For all of the lots tendered, First York bid the lowest price and has been awarded the contract.

The new contract will run from 2 July 2023 and will maintain the current service frequency and times.

It's also supported by - and in line with  - the Bus Service Improvement Plan [BSIP] funding, awarded by the DfT.

But this comes with a stark warning that if the government does not provide longer term funding support, or bus usage doesn’t increase – further services may be impacted. The BSIP funding will only provide short term relief to the immediate pressure facing the bus network. 

The council has been successful in securing an additional £1 million of funding to support bus services through part of its wider Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

This funding has already enabled the 12, 13 and 412 services to be safeguarded in the short term, as well as the recommissioning of the Poppleton Bar Park and Ride Site which reopened on 1 April 2023.

The council strategy to safeguard the local bus network is to encourage users to return to using buses, and the key to ensure this happens is to maintain the existing services.

Routes affected to-date have all been run commercially by bus operators and not financially supported by the council. We are in a position where if people don’t use the bus services, they could lose them.

Through the Enhanced Bus Partnership the council is working closely with bus operators on how the BSIP funding should be invested to support the bus network in the short and long term. The Partnership will also be crucial in proactively promoting public transport use across the city to help cut congestion and provide access to jobs and services. Funding approval for these will be sought from the EP Operational Delivery Group