Public Transport
Everything in this concern comes under the NYC Portfolio of Highways and Transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan.
Moving to electric vehicles will not resolve problems of personal transportation, since this will result in no fewer vehicles on the road. We need to strongly encourage the use of public transport services, both in getting to/from Whitby, as well as for transport around the Whitby and District area. Sadly the current public transport provided for Whitby doesn’t cover all areas (for residents), is infrequent, and longer distance services are slow.
The map below shows the current local transport bus and rail routes for the immediate area. Bus services are provided by Arriva, and rail services are provided by Northern Rail. Please note that the Park-and-Ride service (every 15-30 mins) is only for visitors (will not stop at normal bus stops) and is not shown by default (you can enable it from the side menu on the map); the frequency of that service demonstrates where residents are placed in terms of priority by the local council(s).
Bus Services
We currently have a very limited local bus service in many areas of Whitby and District. The 95, X4 and X93 services are commercially provided services with no contract with NYC as such. The 96 service is subsidised by NYC with NYC defining the route. The Park-and-Ride bus is contracted with NYC for a particular route and particular stops (and so cannot stop at intermediate places for residents).
With an aging population in the town it is essential that there is a bus service close to all residential areas to avoid isolating parts of the community. Local bus routes should reach close to all residential areas, and should also include essential services like Whitby Hospital and local GPs. Consider having a more eco-friendly approach of a regular electric / hydrogen bus on a circular route. Consider also having separate pricing for residents and for visitors. There is a lack of local bus service for the following areas
- Castle Park / White Leys area – an option would be to extend the 95 service to take this in. The Transport Assessments SBC document requires housing to be within 5 mins walk of a bus service, which this area is certainly not. The Park-and-Ride bus passes on the way to town centre but does not on the return journey, so would be of little use. As of 2 April 2023 there will be a 96 service passing along Stakesby Road and Castle Road, but this will be only once every 2 hours!
- Broomfields Farm development – has no bus service planned currently and is beyond the 5 mins walking distance for the CinderTrack side of the development.
- Revamped hospital – this is up a steep hill from the bus station, however the upgrade to the hospital now means that the entrance is even further up the same hill, with no public transport for elderly / less mobile people. This needs remedying.
- Stainsacre – this village has no bus service at all, and would benefit from the X93/X94 being routed through the village, being a relatively short diversion from the main road, even if it was on every other bus only. The current option is to have to walk alongside Stainsacre Lane (no footpath) and wait on the main road with no bus shelter.
- West Cliff – there is no bus service here (except the Park-and-Ride bus in one direction) and so any Whitby resident who is not able-bodied has no way of getting here on public transport.
- Goathland is dependent on the 840 Coastliner service, which has previously been listed as “under threat”.
- Sneaton has no bus service, and has no footpaths / cycle paths to be able to get safely to Ruswarp to connect with the outside world. See this petition for bringing back a bus service to Sneaton (July 2023).
- Whitby Hospital : no bus service at all.
- Bridlington Hospital : often used for eye treatment. To get there a resident would have to get X93/94 to Scarborough Railway Station, then either East Yorks bus 12/13 or train to Bridlington, followed by East Yorks bus 3 to Bridlington Hospital. Allowing for getting to Whitby bus station this could mean up to 4h 45min on public transport to arrive. Utterly unsatisfactory.
- Scarborough Hospital : for A&E and some treatments. To get there a resident would either have to get X93/94 and get off on Scalby Rd, or if not able to walk far go to Scarborough Railway Station, followed by an East Yorks bus to Scarborough Hospital (bus 10). The order of 2 hours travelling!
- James Cook Hospital : consultations, treatment. The Northern Rail Esk Valley train calls at James Cook except it is a long walk from the railway station (600m, not for those less mobile).
Longer distance bus/coach services haven’t improved over the years. Whitby to York takes 2:25 minimum, and now the 840 Coastliner is “under threat”; removal of that service would mean there is no direct public transport from Leeds/York to Whitby (yet Scarborough has a direct train and direct bus). This would leave NYC’s carbon strategy in tatters and they would never reduce car usage by 48% by 2030 (instead it would be increased!).
Provision of faster, more direct coach services would have the potential to reduce the number of car journeys and the subsequent traffic load on the town. If the county strategy is not to provide Whitby and District with direct longer distance travel options, then the bus service to Scarborough should be upgraded in standard, as it is currently very uncomfortable, should be coordinated with trains (which it often is not), and have a more direct faster service, so then people can take advantage of the train services far easier. Anything less than that and the public transport strategy of NYC would be deemed inadequate for the district.
Funding plays a massive part in what is achievable, see this report on rural bus funding.
In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents declared the bus services inadequate for residents purposes, and that we require a local frequent shuttle bus that covers all areas of town, as well as a bus that connects to local villages.
Reliability
For some time the Arriva bus services for the Whitby and District area have been unreliable, and breakdowns are frequent. In June 2023 the company was reported to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). This resulted in 2 visits by DVSA to Whitby bus station, and 8 buses being taken out of service, with 3 having to be towed away (as undriveable). This is the standard of bus public transport being provided for residents. We encourage all residents to report any breakdown to the DVSA (csccomplaints@dvsa.gov.uk) and to our MP.
Bus Stops and Information Screens
An unreliable bus service requires, as a minimum, a level of information for the bus user so that they know with more certainty when the next bus will arrive. Solar powered real time info boards should be provided at key bus stops throughout the district.
Bus stops are often in remote locations, and additionally the unreliable service means that people may need to stand for long periods. Elderly people simply cannot stand for long periods and so require bus stops with simple seating as a minimum.
Rail Services
Rail services to / from Whitby have been eroded since the 1950s, with the sole external service going via Teesside. Take the sample journey of Whitby to York; this takes a minimum of 3 hours to cover 47 miles whereas Scarborough rail services reach York in 50 minutes. The current service is still having cut backs, see this notification from April 2022 where Northern Rail cut a service. As part of the agreement for the Sirius Minerals (now AngloAmerican) potash mine, an amount of S106 money was paid to fund an extra 3 trains per day, making it 8 trains per day on this line. Sadly the reality is somewhat different, and Northern Rail have cut this back contrary to the agreement due to operational / capacity factors. It is hoped (by AngloAmerican and NYC) that this would return to 8 services per day (from the current 5) in the (near) future. Please see below for details of the agreement.
Having a connection to Pickering/Malton would allow connecting to York and onwards, providing substantially reduced journey times. Provision of faster, more direct and more frequent rail services would have the potential to reduce the number of car journeys and the subsequent traffic load on the town. As mentioned above, if the strategy is not to provide Whitby with faster more direct services then a fast direct bus service to Scarborough needs to be provided so that train connections from there can be utilised.
Woodsmith Mine S106 related rail improvements
The approval of the Woodsmith mine, near Sneaton, in 2015 contained an S106 agreement between North Yorkshire Council, North Yorkshire Moors National Park and York Potash. To quote some sections of the agreement.
Rail Services Contribution
To pay the Rail Service Contribution to the County Council as set out in paragraphs 1.2 and 1.3 below for the purposes of establishing a new train service to increase the existing services between Middlesbrough and Whitby accepting always that the County Council has no obligation to deliver such a service and delivery can only be achieved on the basis that the service is fully funded by YPL or sources other than the County Council.
Five hundred thousand pounds (£500,000) Index Linked payable 12 months after the Commencement of Construction and five hundred thousand pounds (£500,000) Index Linked on the first and second anniversary of the first operation of the Rail Services (comprising £1,500,000 in total plus indexation).
Up to a maximum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds (£250,000) Index Linked per annum for three years upon receipt of a written demand from the County Council pursuant to paragraph 3 of Schedule 2
Rail Infrastructure Contribution
To pay the Rail Infrastructure Contribution being a maximum sum of four million five hundred thousand pounds (£4,550,000) Index Linked towards the cost of infrastructure upgrades required to facilitate the Rail Services on the Middlesbrough to Whitby rail line in a manner which will avoid a negative impact on the core five train per day services of the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust (NYMR) between Pickering and Whitby such money to be paid as set out in paragraphs 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 below.
Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds (£750,000) Index Linked on the Commencement of Construction Up to a maximum of Fifty Thousand Pounds (£50,000) Index Linked six months from the date of the Planning Permission granted by the NYMNPA to reimburse the County Council for the cost of work carried out or procured by it in the appraisal of options such payment to be made within 28 days of a written demand from the County Council setting out the option appraisal carried out and itemising the monies expended on such appraisal.
Up to three million seven hundred and fifty thousand (£3,750,000) Index Linked following the expiry of a period of 12 months from the Commencement of Construction and within 28 days of a written demand from the County Council setting out the infrastructure works involved and the cost of those works accepting always that the County Council has no obligation to deliver such infrastructure upgrades and delivery can only be achieved on the basis that the infrastructure upgrades are fully funded by YPL or sources other than the County Council.
In the event that the Rail Infrastructure Contribution provides insufficient funds to procure an additional four services between Middlesbrough and Whitby to use its reasonable endeavours to investigate and apply for all alternative sources of funding (such as grant aid) as may be available to supplement the Rail Infrastructure Contribution.
In June 2024 (8+ years on from the agreement) we now have 5 slow trains between Whitby and Middlesbrough on arguably the worst rail line in the country. We await to hear what happened to the money for this “improvement”. Needless to say that, without any further info, to have 8 years and deliver nothing tangible can only be viewed as pathetic.
Note : the S106 agreement with NYC is distinct from the other S106 with the NYMNP.
Please note that the Esk Valley Railway group have also published an excellent description of the situation with this line – HERE.
Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Services
Based on current figures, in North Yorkshire the percentage of wheelchair accessible registered taxis is just 45 out of 696 (6.5%) registered taxis. In terms of private hire vehicles (PHVs) it is 45 out of 784 (5.7%). The table below is taken from Dept for Transport data for 2023 (select TAXI0104 for the dataset), and selects representative local and national councils to aid comparison. As shown in the table, there are many local authorities that have all of their taxis as wheelchair accessible eg Bradford & Kirklees (more than 100 in this category), with many others, like Leeds (52%), insisting that all new/replacement vehicles are accessible. Cornwall is included as an example of a primarily rural area, similar to North Yorkshire in that regard, yet they are providing better accessible taxi facilities than NYC.
| Local authority | Total Taxis | Wheelchair accessible Taxis | %Wheelchair Accessible Taxis | Total PHVs | Wheelchair Accessible PHVs | %Wheelchair Accessible PHVs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 15,120 | 15,120 | 100.0 | 89,575 | 451 | 0.5 |
| Bradford | 213 | 213 | 100.0 | 4,078 | 134 | 3.3 |
| South Yorkshire | 807 | 694 | 86.0 | 3,806 | 14 | 0.4 |
| Calderdale | 117 | 79 | 67.5 | 1,575 | 2 | 0.1 |
| West Yorkshire | 1,159 | 635 | 54.8 | 12,630 | 291 | 2.3 |
| Leeds | 514 | 275 | 53.5 | 3,914 | 74 | 1.9 |
| York | 181 | 45 | 24.9 | 428 | 45 | 10.5 |
| Middlesbrough | 235 | 49 | 20.9 | 553 | 1 | 0.2 |
| Cornwall | 618 | 119 | 19.3 | 451 | 32 | 7.1 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 90 | 12 | 13.3 | 153 | 2 | 1.3 |
| North Yorkshire | 696 | 45 | 6.5 | 784 | 45 | 5.7 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 79 | 4 | 5.1 | 247 | 14 | 5.7 |
In accordance with our transparency policy, this table is downloadable in spreadsheet format.
Focussing on the Whitby area, from NYC’s own website there is a single wheelchair accessible taxi in the town (Abbey Taxis), whilst Scarborough has 28. The sole wheelchair taxi in Whitby, operated by Abbey Taxis, is virtually impossible to obtain by phone or pre-booking for a hospital or dental appointment for example. Whilst the DfT data above does not define the divide between boroughs of North Yorkshire for 2023, the data for 2022 does give the split, as follows, for a total of 57 : Craven (2), Hambleton (5), Harrogate (18), Richmondshire (15), Ryedale (2), Scarborough (7), and Selby (8). It should be noted that there is significant disagreement between the numbers provided by the Dept for Transport (from NYC) and those that NYC are providing (either via FOI or their website). Resolving these differences remains a priority.
A member of the North Yorkshire Disability Forum was advised by SBC in February 2022 that NYC would increase the number of wheelchair taxis across North Yorkshire. Yet NYC have since adopted a new 5-year Policy without requiring an increase! The North Yorkshire Disability Forum have obtained a commitment from the NYC Executive for an Inclusive Service Plan or survey to assess the unmet needs of wheelchair users, then make recommendations to the Executive to require more wheelchair taxis to be provided.
The following table is the result of an FOI, showing how NYC taxi levels have changed between end of March 2023 and end of September 2023. As shown, the percentage of wheelchair accessible taxis is actually decreasing. 5 of the former boroughs (licensing authorities) have shown an increase in actual number of wheelchair accessible taxis.
| Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craven | 1 | 3 | 100 | 105 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Hambleton | 7 | 9 | 89 | 88 | 7.3 | 9.3 |
| Harrogate | 15 | 15 | 132 | 186 | 10.2 | 7.5 |
| Richmondshire | 12 | 12 | 69 | 74 | 14.8 | 14.0 |
| Ryedale | 3 | 4 | 38 | 44 | 7.3 | 8.3 |
| Scarborough | 12 | 13 | 95 | 110 | 11.2 | 10.6 |
| Selby | 17 | 18 | 38 | 43 | 30.9 | 29.5 |
| Total | 67 | 74 | 561 | 650 | 10.7 | 10.2 |
The following table is the result of an FOI, showing how NYC PHV levels have changed between end of March 2023 and end of September 2023. As shown, the percentage of wheelchair accessible PHV is actually decreasing.
| Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craven | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 8.3 | 16.7 |
| Hambleton | 0 | 0 | 22 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Harrogate | 4 | 0 | 174 | 136 | 2.2 | 0.0 |
| Richmondshire | 2 | 2 | 313 | 376 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Ryedale | 4 | 3 | 50 | 52 | 7.4 | 5.5 |
| Scarborough | 18 | 17 | 147 | 142 | 10.9 | 10.7 |
| Selby | 0 | 3 | 81 | 77 | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| Total | 29 | 27 | 798 | 814 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
These two tables highlight how the current NYC 5 year licensing policy is not making a positive change to overcome the significant problem of lack of wheelchair accessible vehicles. We can only hope that the ongoing “inclusive service plan” will give the NYC Executive the chance to make a change to this policy.
Whitby DAG will continue to gather feedback from wheelchair users on their experiences of being unable to get a taxi.