A bus stop in a busy supermarket car park is causing delays elsewhere on the route, bus managers say.
Councillors were told the stop outside Tesco in Catterick Garrison was not suitable for large buses and drivers often faced long delays to get in and out of the car park.
Representatives from Arriva attended a meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond area committee to answer questions from councillors concerned about problems with bus services, particularly in the Catterick Garrison area.
But Gary Hutchinson, Arriva site manager for Darlington and Durham, told councillors the biggest issue affecting the punctuality and reliability of services was the bus stop inside the supermarket car park.
He added: “We should simply not be serving full-length buses into a shopping centre car park the way that it is.
“I do believe we could improve the punctuality of our services by 20 to 30 per cent if we had some stopping arrangements outside Tesco car park. Our buses can get stuck for 15 minutes either just getting into the car park.”
Councillors were also told that while Arriva hoped to bring back a half-hourly service to the area, congestion on the A6136 was causing further delays.
A GPS system used by buses was not always reliable to let customers know on the Arriva app when a bus was due.
However, the meeting heard that the X26 and X27 buses which connect Richmond and Catterick Garrison to Darlington were priority services and would never be cancelled due to staffing issues.
Mr Hutchinson, who attended along with Arriva network manager Neil Wise, told the meeting North Yorkshire Council was the only authority in the region that the company did not have a working relationship with.
He added: “All the other councils, we have regular meetings, we have support, we have help, we have notification of roadworks.
“This is the first (North Yorkshire Council) myself and Neil have been invited to in four years, so I suppose the first thing we’ve got to do is start to build up that relationship.”
Councillor Caroline Dickinson, vice-chair of the committee, said communication between the council and the bus company needed to improve.
“We all need to talk to one another so that we get a good bus service and you get the information that you need in a timely manner,” she said.
Mr Hutchison told the meeting that Arriva had been “asset stripped” ahead of its sale last year by Germany company Deutsche Bahn to US-based investment company I Squared Capital.
But he said the new owners were investing in the company and it was hoped this would lead to improved services.
The investment included 11 electric buses planned for the Darlington depot.
