York council urged to set up new Dial and Ride service

That’s the key recommendation of a cross-party council working group set up to look into why the service run by charity York Wheels closed last year.

Members of the council’s ‘task and finish’ group consulted with a host of transport user groups, and also received more than 40 representations by phone and email.

One person who responded said they would be happy to pay more if the service could be resumed; another, whose partner had dementia, said their partner ‘can’t understand what has happened to the Dial and Ride service’.

Other comments included: ‘Living alone, nobody to do the shopping for me, miss the service so much’ and ‘Have lost my freedom – Dial and Ride provided a chance to get out and shop.”

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Cllr Stephen Fenton, who was a member of the task and finish group which drew up the report recommending that a replacement Dial and Ride service be commissioned, said: “We have identified a clear need for a service to replace what the Dial and Ride had to offer.”

His task and finish group has made a series of six recommendations to the city council’s Economy, Place, Access and Transport scrutiny committee which meets next week, on June 25.

They include:

• The council should take steps ‘as soon as possible’ to provide a Dial and Ride-style community transport service to replace that which has been lost
• The council could consider using some Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding – but should also seek other sources of funding, such as from supermarkets which benefit from Dial and Ride customers
• The authority should work with neighbouring councils and the new York and North Yorkshire Combine Authority to look at the possibility of jointly commissioning a region-wide community transport service.

As reported in The Press, the Dial and Ride service – a popular door-to-door bus service for elderly or disabled passengers who have no other means of getting about – came to an end on December 31.

Rob Atkinson of York Wheels said the decision had been taken with ‘deep regret’.

But he added that problems with bus maintenance and third-party suppliers meant the Dial and Ride fleet was ‘not up to the standards required to maintain …quality or reliability’ and that continuing to run the service was ‘unsustainable’.

The decision came as a particular shock because it came less than a year after York Wheels had bought two new Dial and Ride buses, with the help of a £190,000 city council grant.

Council and York Wheels representatives with the new Dial & Ride buses in front of Clifford’s Tower (Image: City of York Council)

It has never been made clear precisely what the problems were – but the report by Cllr Fenton’s task and finish group confirms that ‘mechanical issues arose with the two new vehicles’. The problem then became worse when the coachbuilding company which had built them went into administration.

The ending of the Dial and Ride service prompted widespread dismay amongst members of York’s older and disabled population. York disability rights activist Flick Williams described it at the time as ‘devastating’.

Today, she welcomed the news that the council may look to recommission a service.

“That’s a very positive step,” she said. “There’s no doubt that the loss of the service has had a massive negative impact on people’s lives.”

It is far from a done deal yet, however.

Scrutiny committee members will discuss the recommendations next week – and then, if they think they have merit, will pass them on to the council’s Executive for further debate.

• York Wheels continues to operate the York volunteer driver scheme. To book a car, call York Wheels on 01904 630080.