Written evidence from Carperby-cum-Thoresby
Parish Council (BUS 107)
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Carperby-cum-Thoresby is a small parish in on
the northern slopes of Wensleydale. The village of Carperby is
located between two small market towns - Leyburn, seven miles
to the east, and Hawes, nine miles to the west. There are direct
buses to both these towns but little else. Current bus service
provision through the parish is poor and seems to be deliberately
designed to discourage customer use. There are three different
service providers who run buses through Carperby but there is
little co-ordination between them. Most local usage would appear
to be for journeys into and out of Leyburn, but the timings of
the services make it difficult for passengers to make the most
of the different services.
B. THE PROVIDERS
2. Until recently Dales and District provided the
157 service bus four times a day in both directions, Monday to
Saturday and twice on Sunday, Arriva provided a through service
to Richmond & Darlington once a day, Monday to Friday and
the Royal Mail Post Bus went through the village, in one direction
only, once a day, Monday to Friday.
C. THE SERVICES
3. Eastbound to Leyburn - The first service
of the day is Arriva's X59 at 07.24. This is the through service
to Darlington. It arrives in Leyburn at 07.47, 17 minutes after
the Dales & District service to Bedale has departed. Passengers
wishing to travel to Northallerton need to catch the Dales &
District service to connect with the Northallerton bus in Bedale.
In fact, it is impossible to reach Northallerton, via Bedale,
before 13.00
4. The first Dales & District service at 08.16
does not connect with a Bedale/Northallerton service. This is
followed by further Dales & District services at 10.56 and
12.56
5. The only through service to Northallerton was
provided by the Royal Mail Post Bus at 17.17. This will be withdrawn
shortly.
6. The final service of the day, eastbound, was the
Dales & District service at 18.26. This was withdrawn on 17
April.
7. On Sunday there were only two eastbound buses,
the first at 15.02 and the last at 19.02. It was, therefore, impossible
to make any eastbound journey until half way through the afternoon.
It is now completely impossible as the Sunday and Bank Holiday
services were withdrawn on 10 April. This
service is being replaced by the Wensleydale Flyer 856 from 17
April but, if you are a non-driver you would have to walk for
25 minutes to board it as it runs on the other side of the dale.
8. Thus, the recent and post-cuts service east bound
to Leyburn is as follows:
| Service | Arrive in Carperby
| Waiting time for next service |
| Arriva X59 | 07.24 * | 52 minutes
|
| Dales & District | 08.16
| 2 hrs. 40 mins. |
| Dales & District | 10.56
| 2 hrs. |
| Dales & District | 12.56
| 4 hrs. 21 mins.(1) |
| Post Bus | 17.17* | 1 hr. 09 mins. NOW WITHDRAWN
|
| Dales & District | 18.26
| 12 hrs. 58 mins.(2) NOW WITHDRAWN |
* Monday to Friday only
(1) 5 hrs. 30 mins. on Saturday
(2) 13 hrs. 50 mins. on Saturday
9. Westbound from Leyburn - The services provided by Dales
and District arrived in the village at 10.02, 12.02, 16.22 and
19.07. The westbound service at 19.07 was withdrawn on 17 April.
Additionally there is an X59 service that arrives in the village
at 18.55.
10. There is no through service from Northallerton and there is
no westbound service of any kind after 18.55.
11. On Sunday there were only two westbound buses, the first at
11.58 and the last at 15.58. It was, therefore, impossible to
make any westbound journey in the morning or at any time after
late afternoon. It is now completely impossible as the Sunday
and Bank Holiday services were withdrawn on 10 April .
12. The major inconvenience arises when passengers are attempting
to shop in Leyburn and return home within a reasonable time. The
time available in Leyburn between each eastbound and westbound
journey, from and to Carperby is shown below. (Monday to Saturday
service)
| Arrive in Leyburn (Service) | Depart Leyburn (Service)
| Time available in Leyburn |
| 07.47 (X59)* | 09.40 (157) |
1 hr. 53 mins |
| 08.38 (157) | 09.40 (157) |
1 hr. 02 mins. |
| 11.18 (157) | 11.40 (157) |
22 mins. |
| 13.18 (157) | 16.00 (157) |
2 hrs. 42 mins. |
| 17.45 (157) | 18.25 (X59)* |
40 mins. |
| 17.45 (157) | 18.48 (157) |
1 hr. 3 mins. |
| 18.45 (157) | No service available
| |
* Not Saturday
13. The two highlighted services are both inconvenient lengths
of time, the first being too short and the second too long. The
other services seem to provide a better interval but a significant
proportion of each interval is outside normal shop hours.
D. IMPACT
— Royal
Mail is withdrawing the only through service to Northallerton
and two daily services and all Sunday and Bank Holiday services
have been lost. This represents a 27% loss of service on weekdays
and a 100% loss on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
— The
Dales & District services are poorly scheduled.
— Dales
& District provide no through route to or from Northallerton.
The nearest hospital and major railway station are both located
in Northallerton.
— Although
there are regular connections to Richmond from Leyburn, there
are no direct connecting services from Leyburn to Catterick, where
major supermarkets are located.
— There
are long gaps between services.
— Weekend
services are negligible.
— Settlements
on the north side of the dale are poorly served compared with
the south side. One side of the dale should not suffer as a result
of services being provided for the other side.
— The
village of Carperby has an ageing population. Of 174 full time
residents 28% are over the age of 60, 15% are over the age of
70. Many of these people are forced to continue driving as public
transport services shrink.
— 13%
of the population are of school age and rely on school transport.
— 5%
of the population are non-drivers.
— Car
journeys will increase and family incomes will be reduced by the
spiralling cost of fuel.
— Rural
communities will be unfairly penalised. A 25% loss of service
in York, Harrogate or Leeds does not have same effect as in rural
community.
It should be noted that a County Council consultation
exercise on public transport provision was undertaken in summer
2010. This parish council submitted an analysis of local needs
and suggested methods by which the problems could be alleviated.
No acknowledgement was forthcoming.
April 2011
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