A NEW service is to be launched by the volunteer-run Western Dales Bus on Friday (May 6).
It will run from Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen via Ravenstonedale, re-instating the much-missed 564 service which was axed as part of the Cumbria County Council cut backs in 2014.
The Western Dales Bus is an entirely volunteer run operation having a pool of 12 drivers who commit their free-time to serving their locality.
The organisation was recently successful in applying for lottery funding to assist in purchasing a new vehicle as well as operating bus services in the area where subsidy has been withdrawn or where routes are commercially unviable to normal operators.
Western Dales Bus chairman Jock Cairns said: "Our bus fulfils a real need of those without a car to access nearby towns and facilities, whether for business or leisure. Where subsidies for rural bus routes have been removed, bus services like ours are helping to prevent people who don’t have their own transport from becoming increasingly isolated."
The group currently operates routes connecting Dent Station, Sedbergh, Kendal and Hawes as well as Cautley on a Sunday. Full timetables for all these services, including the new one to Kirkby Stephen, can be found on the company’s website at www.westerndalesbus.co.uk.
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