The ongoing absence of Dial & Ride in York is an open wound, the council’s transport spokesperson has said amid calls to bring back the service as soon as possible.
Cllr Kate Ravilious, City of York Council’s Labour transport spokesperson, said the lack of progress on reinstating the service for elderly and disabled people two years after it was axed was frustrating.
Tom Horner, the council’s transport behaviour lead, said a study costing £20,000 needed to be done first to ensure a replacement service would be properly funded and sustainable.
But disability rights campaigner Flick Williams told a council meeting the absence of the service was shameful and an apparent lack of urgency in bringing it back was unforgiveable.
It comes as councillors discussed updates on efforts to relaunch a community transport service for the city at a Place Scrutiny Committee meeting.
Dial & Ride, which took elderly and disabled people unable to transport themselves to places such as shops, was axed in December 2023.
A cross-party council task and finish group set up to look into why it ended recommended reinstating the service in June 2024.
The council’s Labour administration included £20,000 to fund a study into a replacement service as part of the authority’s 2025/6 budget.
A council report to the place scrutiny committee stated options for a replacement service included tendering a contract for a service run by a commercial or community provider.
An existing community transport service could also be funded to operate a service.
Karen Woodward, of York Wheels which ran the service, told the committee any replacement would have to overcome challenges such as timing and planning trips between parts of the city.
She added the service would need to be done differently and it would not be possible to use volunteer drivers, with paid full-time ones needed instead.
Disability rights campaigner Ms Williams told the November meeting she felt there was a distinct lack of interest in bringing the service back.
Ms Williams said: “Pet projects get prioritised and time is wasted while disabled people get left behind, both literally and metaphorically.”
Conservative group leader Cllr Chris Steward, who took part in the task and finish group, said everywhere else had made community transport work but York had failed to.
Cllr Steward said: “There will be people who can’t go out because Dial & Ride was the deal-maker for them going shopping, the loneliness will have gotten too much and and people will have gone into homes because of it.”
Opposition Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Cllr Stephen Fenton, who also sat on the group, said he also felt like replacing the service was not a priority.
Cllr Fenton said: “I’m more concerned about where we go from here, the study moves us forward but there’s a risk it’ll be narrow and miss the more human aspects of the service.”
Council head of transport behaviour Mr Horner said officials would look at ways to bridge the gap left behind by the service while the study is done.
He added he had limited capacity and resources in his team but he would take calls for increased urgency in reinstating the scheme on board.
Labour transport executive member Cllr Ravilious said she wanted to get on with finding a replacement service as quickly as possible but it would have to be viable.
Cllr Ravilious said: “Dial & Ride is an open wound, I want to move forward and I’m frustrated that we haven’t managed to move more quickly but Tom’s team is massively short of capacity.”
