Irshadgul News report,
Liberal Democrat councilors say the hospital bus park and ride service linking Rawcliffe Bar Park and Ride and the hospital will not operate from 1 April, when the current contract expires.
Councilors have hit out at the impact of this decision on vulnerable people who need access to the hospital and have started a petition calling for the service to be maintained.
A spokesman for the Lib Dems said that the bus service to the hospital was operated by First York with the financial support of the hospital.
First York told The Press that it had not made the decision to end the service, adding that the hospital had decided not to maintain its funding.
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “First York has confirmed that the decision to withdraw the service has been taken due to declining passenger numbers, which have prevented the service from going ahead financially.
“Other bus options available locally that stop near the hospital are Rawcliffe Bar P&R (Service 2) which picks up and alights close to Bootham, which takes 10-15 minutes to the hospital site and service 6 Walking distance. , which picks up and drops off on Wigginton Road outside the hospital.”
The press recently reported that bus ridership in York had fallen by more than a third in the past 10 years.
Rawcliffe & Clifton Without Councilor Daryl Smalley said: “The responses to our recent bus survey at Rawcliffe and Clifton Without have highlighted how important this service is to local residents.
“Given that the purpose of the bus is to serve staff, patients and visitors – some of whom will be elderly or ill – this decision will have a major impact on all of them.
“We believe that rather than canceling the service, it should first invest in making it more reliable, while the Hospital Trust should deal with the issues of the multi-storey car park – which will reduce the terrible traffic congestion that occurs on Wigginton Road. will help.
“A park and ride service to the hospital is a sensible measure to reduce congestion locally.”
A plan to install around 200 solar panels on the roof of York Minister has been given the go-ahead.
Fellow councilor Sam Woodby said: “We’ve had hundreds of conversations about bus services locally, and it’s quite clear that the hospital bus is much appreciated, but underused.
“Although the route is not currently explicitly used, a number of operational decisions by FIRST have contributed to this lack of use.
“For the past few months the ‘hospital bus’ has not actually arrived at the hospital – it is not surprising that passenger numbers have dropped. All options must be looked at to ensure that patients, staff and visitors Easy and quick access to the hospital. Possible.”
He said the petition can be found at https://digitallibdems.typeform.com/hospbus.
First York has been contacted for a comment, which will be published when it is received.