News

/ / Communications Unit
County Hall, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL7 8AD
Tel: 01609 532448 01609 533109

Little White Bus cuts down college journey time for students

North Yorkshire County Council is backing the Little White Bus, the community transport operator which serves Yorkshire’s Upper Dales, to shorten the journey time for post-16 students in rural areas who travel long distances to further their studies.

Students from the Upper Dales who attend the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington have been suffering 12-14 hour school days due to the fact they had to wait for over an hour in Leyburn for a connecting bus home – until this week.

Now, thanks to the Little White Bus, Queen Elizabeth students are being picked up from Leyburn at 17.20 when they arrive on college transport from Darlington. The community bus then takes them homewards through Wensleydale to Hawes.

This bespoke service means that tired students are saved from waiting an interminable hour in Leyburn for the 18:30 scheduled service; a very long day when they must set out for Darlington at 6.50 every morning

From Monday this week the Little White Bus has been running the special service from Leyburn to Hawes for the students, subsidised by the County Council and Queen Elizabeth college who cover the £30 daily cost of a driver and the fuel,

County Councillor Arthur Barker, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Schools said the authority had a clear commitment to ensuring that young people from very rural areas should not be additionally disadvantaged in accessing programmes of study of their choosing particularly of a vocational nature. He said: “We are committed to equality of access for all Post 16 students where this is possible, given the rural geography of North Yorkshire. In this respect we are happy to support the Little White Bus at a very modest cost to get these students back from Leyburn at an earlier point.”

The first Little White Bus to pick up the ten students on Monday afternoon was driven by County Councillor John Blackie, the company’s volunteer managing director. He came up with the idea after being approached by parents concerned that their sons and daughters had to endure such long days to access their chosen courses.

He said: “Parents and students are absolutely delighted with the arrangements, and very grateful to The Little White Bus, North Yorkshire County Council and Darlington QE College for working so very well together to come up with the solution. It is very important that young people in deeply rural communities do not feel they are losing out educationally because of where they live.”

Picture shows: County Councillor John Blackie and Queen Elizabeth College students with the Little White Bus’s brand new Mercedes Treka 16 seater, brought out especially for the first day of the bespoke Leyburn to Hawes service

05-10-16

Press contact: Elaine Williams, senior press officer, 01609 532448

Executive member: Cllr Arthur Barker, Executive Member for Schools, 01677 988643