A BUS service to York Hospital is facing the axe at the end of this month.

Liberal Democrat councillors say the Hospital Bus Park & Ride service, which connects Rawcliffe Bar Park & Ride and the hospital, will no longer operate from April 1, when the current contract ends.

The councillors have hit out at the impact this decision could have on vulnerable people needing to access the hospital and have launched a petition to call for the service to be retained.

A spokesperson for the Lib Dems said the hospital bus service had been operated by First York with financial support from the hospital.

However, the service was said to have faced dwindling passenger figures, which had left it no longer financially viable.

First York told The Press that it had not made the decision to end the service, saying the hospital had decided not to maintain its funding.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: "The other bus options available locally, which have stops near the hospital are the Rawcliffe Bar P&R (Service 2), which picks up and drops off close to Bootham, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the hospital site and the Service 6, which picks up and drops off on Wigginton Road outside the hospital."

Rawcliffe & Clifton Without councillor Darryl Smalley said: "Responses to our recent bus survey across Rawcliffe and Clifton Without have highlighted how important this service is to local residents.

"Given that the bus is intended to serve staff, patients and visitors, some of whom will be older or ill – this decision will have a major impact on all of them.

“We believe that instead of cancelling the service, First should invest in making it more reliable, whilst the Hospital Trust should tackle the multi-storey car park issues - which would help reduce the terrible traffic congestion suffered on Wigginton Road.

"A service from the park and ride to the hospital remains a sensible measure to reduce congestion locally."

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Fellow councillor Sam Waudby said: "We've had hundreds of conversations about bus services locally, and it’s absolutely clear that the Hospital Bus is greatly appreciated, but underused.

"Whilst the route is clearly currently underused, many of First's operational decisions have contributed to this lack of use.

"For the last few months the ‘Hospital Bus’ hasn’t actually reached the hospital – it’s not a surprise passenger numbers have dwindled. All alternatives must be looked at to ensure patients, staff and visitors can access the hospital as easy and quickly as possible.”

A First York spokesperson said: "This is not a decision by First York. The hospital has decided not to maintain the funding for the service."

The Press has asked York Hospital for a comment and will publish its response as soon as we receive it.

When The Press reported the traffic congestion issues in Wigginton Road in January, a hospital trust spokesperson said it was working with City of York Council to ease the pressure on traffic around the multi storey, which was regularly at full capacity, creating a queue to get in.

A spokesperson added: "On our hospital site we are awaiting planning permission to create an extra 57 staff parking spaces to help relieve congestion at the front of the hospital. We continue to work on alternative travel schemes for our staff.” 

The petition can be found at https://digitallibdems.typeform.com/hospbus.