There are hopes an ‘unreliable’ bus service that serves the south of York and Bishopthorpe could be improved after residents raised their frustrations at a public meeting.
The number 11 bus has been a particular issue for Bishopthorpe and South Bank passengers since the frequency was reduced in February.
The South Bank Loop was removed from route 26, and instead served by the number 11.
The frequency of the number 11 also changed from one every 50 minutes, to an hourly service.
A meeting was held at the Marcia pub in Bishopthorpe on Monday evening (11 November) for residents to discuss their transport concerns.
Hosted by Bishopthorpe ward councillor Michael Nicholls, he was joined by City of York Council transport lead Cllr Kate Ravilious and First Bus representatives to answer questions.
Around 100 people went to the meeting, with those who couldn’t attend sharing their questions and concerns on a dedicated Facebook post.
Many residents said they had encountered problems with the number 11 service. Comments included:
- “Unreliable buses will restrict pensioners and disabled people accessing town and visiting family and friends. This will impact on their overall wellbeing and make them more isolated.”
- “As a parent to a teenager, I would love to allow him to use the bus in and out of town on a weekend. Sadly the few times he has, it is so unreliable when it comes to him getting home that it’s actually verging on being a safeguarding issue to the young users who have purchased a return.”
- “As someone who uses the bus at least 5-6 times a week the new timetable has done nothing to remedy the late running of it. You have to plan for at least 1.5 hours either side of whatever you’re doing and I have quite frequently resorted to ringing a taxi several times as it just doesn’t work.”
Cllr Nicholls said a lot of the questions were put to the First Bus representatives at the meeting.
He said: “We want to use the bus, but it has to be reliable and regular. Every 50 minutes isn’t regular and if it’s cancelled, it’s not reliable either. So we just go and use our cars, don’t we?”
Ideas put forward at the meeting included a shuttle bus service to run between Bishopthorpe, Copmanthorpe, and the park and ride; direct routes from Bishopthorpe to the station; and additional buses introduced into the loop.
“People were whining and moaning, and rightly so, the service isn’t great. But at least there were questions and suggestions,” Cllr Nicholls said.
“The users are the ones with the ideas, they use it every day, so they will have an idea of how it can work.”
The First Bus representatives assured Bishopthorpe residents that their concerns were being taken on board.
They also urged bus users to get in touch if a service is late or cancelled, with specific timings so the company can focus on the issue directly.
Cllr Nicholls said: “They’ve got enough to go away with and make improvements. I’m sure, as a commercial company, they’ll want to make the improvements, because if the bus service gets better, more people use it, they’ll make more money.”
So what’s next? The Number 11 bus service will be monitored and another meeting will be held at the start of 2025.
“We’ll have another meeting in the new year and hopefully there might be less complaints.
“We might only get 50 people next time, but First York have got enough to go away with and make improvements,” Mr Nicholls said.
If you have any queries or suggestions, you can get in touch with Michael Nicholls on [email protected].