The City of Ripon needs a proper, regular bus link to allow residents to access London and Manchester express trains.
It lost its own railway back in 1967 but Thirsk Station is only 10 miles away and now has got regular services to York, Manchester and London as well as links to Teesside and Northallerton too.
It’s growing in popularity but Ripon residents currently only see it as viable by car or taxi.
The Skipton and Ripon Area Committee of North Yorkshire Council commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of an enhanced bus service that actually links to the train departures and arrivals.
It’s been recommended by councillors to progress further.
Watch the meeting on Youtube ( Debate about Ripon starts at 1hr 37mins)
Ripon Independent, Cllr Andrew Williams, said it’s vital to improve the connection to make buses reliably meet the various trains with limited waiting time.
“Thirsk station offers the opportunity to connect to the main line (to London) and to pick up the TransPennine services so you can go up to the north east and you can go to the north west.”
He argued that the link that’s available on the 36 Bus to Harrogate simply connects you onto the branch line with another change at York.
He continued: “So this is incredibly important in terms of opening up the ability of residents in Ripon and the surrounding rural hinterland, to actually be able to access proper rail services.
“It’s incredibly important the bus service actually meets the train timetable, because at the moment you could catch the bus and can be waiting nearly as long again for the train to come.
“This could have a real, major economic benefit for the Ripon area, and it could also significantly reduce traffic volumes of people taking their car to go and get the train”
Lib Dem Councillor Felicity Cunliffe-Lister wanted to know about bus services to Masham and said: “With reference to the bus to Thirsk station being improved, which is excellent news, but because you’re not referencing any other routes, that slightly worries me, in the sense that does that preclude any other routes improving.
“For example, will the bus from Masham to Ripon ever be regular and frequent and reliable, are we saying that there wouldn’t be capacity for any other improved routes?”
The officer replied: “So the report recognises all the major bus routes. It looks at all of the travel patterns. I think the issue is that when we come to look at sustainable travel in particular, and we want to get people moving on public transport, the only obvious local regional access is people have to travel to either Thirsk or Harrogate to get a train.
“So I think we wanted to focus on making sure that the connectivity was there so that people could go further and kind of access those wider regional opportunities first.
“But that doesn’t mean that we’re not considering those other options as well.”
Councillors also recommended pushing ahead with a proposal to develop Ripon’s bus station.
That would mean improving the passenger experience and making visitor coaches drop off in the city centre then park up outside at a park and ride site which could be built.
That free the city car parks for shoppers and tourists.
