A MOVE to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport is to be made by the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The authority believes that more effort should be made to get visitors to switch from car to train or bus after a survey revealed most people were driving to the area.

“Whilst the National Park Authority has been doing excellent work, we are still not achieving a high enough number of people who leave their car behind,” said Wilf Fenten, the authority’s Member Champion for Promoting Understand-ing.

"In view of the damage cars do to the environment and our efforts to reduce all carbon footprints, we must find ways of persuading people to switch from car to train or bus”.

Over 500 people visiting Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Bolton Abbey and Grass-ington were interviewed for a survey that showed that walking is the main reason people visit the park It also showed that the majority (59 per cent) were on a day visit compared with a quarter who were on a short break of four nights and under and 16 per cent who were staying for more than four nights.

“Together with service and accommodation pro-viders, we must also find ways of encouraging visitors to stay longer,” said Mr Fenten. “But, all in all, it is looking good."

Catherine Kemp, the YDNPA's Outreach Offi-cer, said: “Many areas have shown marked improvement since the first survey in 2004 but this will help us direct our promotion more effe-ctively to encourage a wider range of visitors.”

“The low use of public transport means there are still opportunities for us to improve provision and to encourage people to leave their cars at home or, if they haven't got one, to help them realise it is quite easy to get to the National Park by bus or train.

“The survey also showed that the vast majority of those quest-ioned were repeat visi-tors, so we need to investigate ways to encourage more first-time visitors.”

The countryside and the scenery were the main features that made the National Park a special place for visitors.