The
business started in 1987 as Horseless Carriage Services providing a
taxi service in the local area and I am a sole trader, for 6 years prior
to this my wife and I traded as M and J Stewart-Clarke, involved in
all aspects of haulage of goods. so far the only advantage of changing
from haulage to passengers is that the 'load' gets on and off by itself!
In 92 we moved in to buses, or more correctly one bus, providing services
in Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales National
Park
where we live. After 18 months of struggle and near collapse we tendered
for some work from North Yorkshire C.C., to provide local bus routes
from Grassington to Skipton and several school routes, much to are surprise
we won the contracts. Over the years the routes have been expanded and
while we were running eight buses, seven midi buses and one eight seater,
a new 4 year contract stating 5th of January 2004 saw us
able to reduce the buses to 5 but new Optare Solos all low floored and
wheel chair accessible.
So
what does the future hold for us as a business and the services in our
beautiful Dales. The answer to that lies mostly with the County Council,
the Government and to some degree, you the general public.
From
the Government we need greater funding for rural services, be they for
tourists or local people. From the Councils we need a change in attitudes
that cheapest is not always best and small can be efficient, longer
contracts allowing operators, particularly small ones, to invest in
better equipment. from the public we need greater use of public transport
and less use of the car. From the operators we need changes in attitude
in working together instead of constant competition. If profit is the
main goal we will never achieve an integrated transport system the public
will use willingly. Our aim should be to have a system that would allow
a passenger to travel on pleasant up to date rolling stock, from their
preferred departure point to arrival point, with one return ticket,
offering unlimited travel on any service, for the duration of the ticket,
at a reasonable cost. These sorts of services are available in many
European countries, why not here?
If
you have any comments or ideas please contact us (home page) or
Integrated Passenger Transport at North Yorkshire
County Council or 01609 785785 or email passenger.transport@northyorks.gov.uk
