A LIFELINE bus service which runs on Sundays and Bank Holidays has started a campaign to raise the £13,500 needed to keep it in action.

The DalesBus 856, known as the Wensleydale Flyer, connects market towns Northallerton, Bedale, Leyburn and Hawes, as well as the many villages in between – but unless it can raise the cash to keep it going it will end in October.

Ruth Annison, Dales resident and transport campaigner, said for many people it was the only way they could make the 40 mile journey from Hawes to Northallerton, and that the three-times daily route was used by tourists and locals alike.

She said: “The 856 is used by passengers to go to Northallerton for shopping; to and from the railway station and to visit patients at the Friarage hospital.

"Local residents are able to make social visits to family and friends on a non-working day and everyone can reach attractions or enjoy meals and days out along the full length of Wensleydale.

“The 856 service is also used by people going to and from work – especially in Northallerton and at Leeming Bar but also in tourism businesses further up the dale such as Bedale, Leyburn and Hawes.”

Currently, the service is partly paid for by passengers’ fares; concessionary passes are valid but more than half the people who use this service pay their own way.

The difference has been made up by Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company from funds raised from local councils, businesses and individuals. Earlier this year several Upper Wensleydale family businesses made substantial donations so the service was guaranteed until the end of October.

Mrs Annison said: “However it is now urgent to ensure funding for the 12 months ahead. Year-round funding is essential and a direct appeal for help is being made to a wider audience, to ensure this popular and essential service survives for another year.”

First to respond to this appeal for help were Jane and Neil McNair, owners of the award-winning Low Mill Guest House in Bainbridge, Upper Wensleydale. This week they offered to donate £1 to DalesBus 856 for every set of guests who book with them for the year from September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017 – and to encourage their guests to do the same.

“The McNair’s offer is a beacon of encouragement in the long-running saga of ‘cuts to North Yorkshire’s rural bus services, Mrs Annison said.

“We hope it will encourage other businesses along the route of the A684 – or perhaps community organisations and motorists who are not themselves dependent on public transport - to make a contribution to help save this vital bus service. The 856 has significant environmental, social and economic benefits for the county town, three more market towns and 10 villages.”

Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company (D&BCIC), a subsidiary of the Yorkshire Dales Society, a registered charity, is run entirely by volunteers and has been managing the DalesBus network of bus services in the Yorkshire Dales area since 2007.

Email offers of support should be sent to Jan Stallworthy, a Director of D&BCIC, at companysecretary@dalesandbowland.com.