DalesBus is a unique network of volunteer-managed weekend bus services providing access to the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale National Landscape for those thousands of people, especially young people, or those for reasons of age, infirmity or personal choice, do not drive or have access to private cars. It also provides invaluable weekend travel choice for local residents within the National Park and National Landscape. Our buses serve significant catchment communities around the Dales, most notably the great cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire, Skipton (with connections from Keighley and East Lancashire) and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, the city of York, and in the summer months even Teesside.
By giving people a greener travel choice, DalesBus is helping to reduce both traffic congestion and the too often ignored huge carbon footprint of visitor traffic within the Yorkshire Dales.
The Friends of DalesBus was formed in 1996 as the Yorkshire Dales Public Transport Users Group (a name we still retain) to work alongside the charity The Yorkshire Dales Society, now also known as Friends of the Dales to develop and support sustainable and accessible travel for all into and through the Yorkshire Dales.
As a small membership body, in 2007 we worked closely with the Yorkshire Dales Society to establish their not-for profit subsidiary, the Dales & Bowland Community Interest Company, a CIC that manages the DalesBus network. As a membership organisation we support D&B by raising money through subscriptions, donations and fund-raising events through our special DalesBus fund. We also provide essential user feedback on services and suggest improvements and even in some cases new routes such as the summer Sunday 825 from York and Harrogate via Brimham Rocks, Masham and Richmond. We help to distribute publicity to our own members and the general public. Crucially we provide a programme of guided walks from DalesBus services to give people confidence, especially single people, to use DalesBus for point-to-pout and cross dales walks. We also support local businesses in the Dales with our walks and programme of social events.
Friends of DalesBus 