North Yorkshire County Council has finalised permanent transport contracts for bus services formerly operated by Stephensons of Easingwold.
Temporary emergency arrangements were put in place when Stephensons suddenly ceased trading in January. The company operated both school and local bus services under contract to the county council as well as providing a commercial bus network that was not subsidised by the council.
The integrated passenger transport team has now arranged permanent alternative services for school transport and county council-contracted local bus services from February 19.
One key change is to the Malton and Norton town service, which will now be run with an amended timetable on a commercial basis using a county council fleet vehicle, as no commercial operator has come forward. The service has not operated since 19 January.
County Councillor Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Integrated Passenger Transport, said:
We know how vital these bus services are to people’s daily lives and our staff have pulled out all the stops to get alternative providers to operate the services.
We are now delighted that all of our county council-supported contracted local bus services are permanently up and we have taken over the Malton and Norton town bus service which residents value highly.
Full service details can be found at www.northyorks.gov.uk/bus-timetables
