Update from Cllr John Cattanach on Cawood Folk, July 2021:
The Background to the Parish Council funded 42 services.
I wanted to provide a background to the history of the “Parish” funded 42 service as there has been a lot of questions asked about when the Saturday and Sunday services might be returning.
Before I do, I must state categorically that there are no funds sitting in an account which are designated for the Saturday and Sunday 42 bus services.
Back in 2010, the Government brought in massive austerity measures which led to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) reducing their bus subsidy budget from £6.5m to £1.5m. To do this they decided they would do away with evening and Sunday services on all their subsidised routes and that included the 42, which at that time was just Selby to York.
Certain Parish Councils were not too happy with this and wondered if anything could be done for the 42 route. Cawood Parish Council did say they were willing to put in up to £1000 and I proceeded to see if other PCs (Parish Councils) might be willing to do likewise based on the size of their precept.
They were. Arriva Buses were willing to give me a price to provide a Friday and Saturday night service which the Parish Councils were willing to cover. That meant that Arriva took the risk of passenger usage for the following year.
The figures showed that Friday was not good but Saturday was worth supporting and so the next year Friday evenings were dropped and Sundays brought back.
Passenger Comparison Figures 2012
The next few years were hit and miss as different bus companies took over the “main” 42 service. More recently, the Saturday and Sunday services were brought back but all the bus companies that were willing to quote would only give a price to provide a service and they would then give back all the passenger revenue. This meant that I needed to provided all PCs with a worst-case scenario. This worked well in 2018-19 and 2019-20 even though in early 2020 we had a bridge closure and the coming of Covid.
In 2019-20 the PC supported service (Sat and Sundays) cost £3983.63. I was aware that the Parish Councils funding may not be enough and so sought grants from other councils and organisations. Thankfully I was able to persuade County Councillors and a York City Councillor to give from their “locality” budgets. Other monies came from Selby District Council, Selby Town Council and the Naburn Lock Caravan Park.
To bring the Saturday night and Sunday bus services back these extra services need to see many more folk keen and confident to use these buses. The numbers allowed on our single decker on the 42 route are at 29 when we need 40+ especially leaving York.
Add to that the very worrying increase in COVID numbers and I really am concerned about what might happen on July 19th.
Over the last year I have been in contact with the Dept of Transport, NYCC, our MP and our Parish councils to find out what is going on and if funds might be available for our route. I will continue to do so.
As ever I am happy to answer questions.
John
The Parish Transport Initiative has involved a Parish Council commitment to underwrite a share of costs sustained to enable a Saturday night and Sunday service to run. Arriva have taken over the weekday service, subsidised by N.Y.C.C., as well as the P.T.I. service amalgamating them both into the 42.
In a partnership brokered by District Councillor Jonh Cattanach, between N.Y.C.C. councillors, S.D.C., Selby Town Council, Naburn Lock Caravan Park, a York City Councillor and all the P.C.s along the route, Cawood Parish Council has joined in an agreement to run the service, which is non profit making.
Facilities for contactless payments are available on Arriva buses.
Concessionary bus pass holders’ journeys contribute 97p per journey to the initiative without costing them anything.
Friends of the 42 have their own Face Book page
Sadly until further notice the PTI bus service is not able to run during the current pandemic
