Rural Bus Franchising Studies

This corridor connects two large settlements in our area and benefits from a commercial service along the principal A19 route, which is congested and would benefit from bus priority measures. However, the corridor also includes a number of smaller rural settlements that have a poor or no public transport service, where people are dependent on their cars to get around. This pilot study will be an excellent test bed for how rural bus franchising can combine a core commercial bus service with supporting feeder services (fixed route and DRT) and bus priority measures to improve bus access and use.

Scarborough is one of our larger settlements and has decent bus services to nearby residential areas and settlements. It is also a place where there are significant pockets of deprivation and joblessness, where transport connections are a vital part of improving people's life chances. Scarborough has an extensive rural hinterland that extends along the coast towards Whitby and Filey, and inland towards Pickering, Helmsley, the Vale of Pickering and the Howardian Hills. These hinterlands are places where employment opportunities are considerable but options to get there by public transport are either poor or absent. This pilot study will focus on how bus franchising models can enable a better level of bus service to address this deprivation, as well as improve general access for residents and visitors to our coastal holiday destinations.

The National Park is a rural wilderness popular as a place to live, visit, walk and cycle throughout the year, with visitor numbers that grow significantly in the summer months. The National Park has the Esk Valley railway line running along its spine, while most bus services are limited to the main roads. The Moorsbus network provides weekend bus access from May to September, principally for leisure purposes. This pilot study will explore how bus franchising models can enable greater bus access to this sparsely populated area for residents and visitors. We are keen to explore the Buurtbus principles in this area, where bus operators, community transport and local communities can coalesce to provide an improved service.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is largely a pristine deep rural area with pockets of populations in small towns and villages. It has some bus services including Dalesbus that operates during summer weekends. The National Park is bisected by the Settle to Carlisle Railway, which connects Cumbria, Lancashire, Bradford and Leeds with a rail service that is often poorly integrated with local bus services. While primarily an area for tourism, agriculture and small businesses, the National Park is also a place where people live and work, often commuting to the surrounding large surrounding conurbations. This pilot study will therefore examine bus franchising options in a more complex rural environment where several demands on bus services and public transport integration are in play for residents and visitors.

This area covers the Vale of York and the rural hinterland between the two national parks, centred around the market town and rail hub at Northallerton. This is a deep rural area where local stakeholders are already fully engaged in developing plans for improving bus access. We will frame this pilot study on picking up on that work, undertaking further community engagement and testing franchising options against a well-developed plan for improved bus access.