Hambleton & Richmondshire Bus User Group (HarBus)

HarBus Logo

About HarBus

We are ‘HarBus’, the bus user group for Hambleton and Richmondshire, which is hosted by Hambleton Community Action (HCA). 
We communicate regularly with the County Council and the bus operators, who may attend our monthly meetings.  Below is some of what we have accomplished in the past year:

  • Produced and distributed area bus timetable leaflets for Northallerton, Bedale/Leyburn, Thirsk, and Richmond, with support from local Rotary clubs. With more leaflets to come out in the future!
  • Responded to the County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan consultation, by producing a manifesto for bus service improvements.
  • Followed up concerns about bus services, bus stops, timetables and publicity.
  • Distributed publicity for DalesBus Sunday bus services, and maintained roadside timetables for these in Wensleydale and Swaledale.

HarBus Aims:

HarBus aims to support and promote the development of effective and sustainable public transport in and around the Hambleton and Richmondshire areas. HarBus aims to accomplish this by working alongside agencies and public transport providers to help people to get where they want to be, when they want to be there, and to: 

  1. Represent the interests of current and potential bus users in and around Hambleton and Richmondshire.
  2. Encourage residents and visitors to use buses.
  3. Campaign for the enhancement of bus services and public transport information.
  4. Act as a focal point between bus users, bus operators and local authorities.

HarBus Meetings:

HarBus also holds regular meetings during the year in Northallerton (currently on Zoom due to Covid-19). These are the 4th Monday, every alternate month. (unless there is a public holiday, in which case the meeting will be held on the third Monday).
The months HarBus meets are as follows: January/March/May/July/September/November.
Meeting times alternate every other meeting, starting at 10am or 6:30pm.

For more details, please contact us

HarBus Membership

We have an open membership where anyone living and/or working in Hambleton and/or Richmondshire who travels, or would like to travel by bus is welcome to join. Do you have a professional interest in bus travel? If you do, join us!

The Future of HarBus

We have many plans for the future, in the coming year we plan to focus on:-

  • Developing proposals for bus service improvements, including low-cost quick wins as well as more significant improvements which we feel are needed in the area for many social, economic, health and well-being reasons
  • Updating our area bus timetables
  • Monitoring the Council’s review of the YorBus trial, and the retendering of existing bus services.
  • Supporting the continuation and development of scheduled bus services, particularly our only all-year round Sunday service 856 from Northallerton through to Hawes, which the Council refuses to fund.

Latest News:

Bus Service Improvement Plan/Enhanced Partnership Consultation

Please find the response HarBus have created to the Bus Service Improvement Plan/Enhanced Partnership Consultation here.

Bus Back Better – the National Bus Strategy

To fulfil the requirements of the National Bus Strategy, North Yorkshire County Council is preparing to submit a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to central government by the end of October 2021. The strategy requires that councils engage with communities and other stakeholders to create the BSIP. You can read HARBUS’s submission for the consultation here.