Dial & Ride bus service is a lifeline on the doorstep

IT’S just gone 10am on the Thursday Dial & Ride bus from Huntington to Monks Cross. The conversation, and the laughter, are flowing freely. Agnes Branscombe, who is 93, is being teased about her Scottish accent. “When she gets excited, I still don’t know what she’s saying!” says her 85-year-old friend Ursula Jepson, who’s sitting in the next seat.

Agnes looks pleased. She’s been in York for 67 years, she says – and if anything, her Scottish accent is stronger now than when she first came. “When I first came, nobody understood me, so I used to speak very posh!” she says.

Dial & Ride bus driver Kevin Hagen finished picking up his passengers in Huntington and Earswick a few minutes earlier, after stopping at seven front doors to pick up seven people. First was 66-year-old Rosamund Euden, the only one of the seven going to Sainsbury’s – everyone else is heading for Asda.

Rosamund was followed by Audrey Morton, a spry 91 and still doing her own weekly shop; Cora Wheadon, a larger-than-life 79-year-old who soon had everyone laughing; Ursula; 89-year-old Jean Kilvington; Agnes (“here comes Queen Agnes!” boomed Cora, to delighted chuckles) and Lilian Holt, 87.

Now the bus is well on the way to Monks Cross. The conversation has quickly turned to the sumptuous Christmas dinner Ursula and Agnes had at the New Earswick Folk Hall the night before.

“I’m still full!” says Ursula. Then everyone is riveted by Agnes’s stories about her husband Leslie, who was a commando in the Second World War.

“We married in 1942, then he was away for three years,” she says.

Someone mentions that a photographer will be coming to take a picture of the passengers.

“Does my hair look all right?” asks Agnes.

“We’re all single! We’re all available!” says Ursula.

“You are one!” says Cora.

Then, just for a moment, the conversation turns serious.

The Press has come along because Dial & Ride organisers are keen for more people to use the bus. Suddenly, everyone is chipping in to say what a fantastic service it is.

Carol Hargreaves, the office administrator who handles Dial & Ride bookings, is lovely, everyone agrees.

“And the drivers are wonderful,” says Cora. “They help with the bags. It’s such a good service. They never let you down, rain or shine.”

“It’s a blessing to us,” says Agnes.

“I hope they don’t ever take it away, because we’d be stuck,” says Ursula. “There are lots of old people who would never get out.”

There’s no regular bus to Asda from near where she lives, Audrey points out. And even if there was, it wouldn’t be the same. The Dial & Ride picks her up from home, takes her straight to Asda, and drops her back at her own doorstep. And because the drivers will help with bags, she can buy things she couldn’t manage any other way. “It’s very good,” she says. She usually gets about one and a half hours between being dropped off at Asda and picked up again. “That’s ample time to get what you want.”

Apart from anything else, taking the bus is fun, all agree. Everyone knows each other. Often, after doing their shopping, they’ll have a coffee together while they wait for the bus to come to pick them up for the journey home.

“We have a good laugh!” Agnes says.

Given the enthusiasm that all the passengers using the bus feel, it’s a shame more people aren’t using the service.

Dial & Ride is operated by charity York Wheels, and funded by City of York Council.

It has four 12-seater minibuses – three of which are running at any one time – which offer a door-to-door “taxi bus” service for elderly passengers and those who are registered disabled.

Each bus operates from different areas of York – at different times Acomb, Bishopthorpe, Dringhouses, Fishergate, Haxby and Wigginton, Strensall, Huntington, Osbaldwick and Wheldrake among them – picking passengers up outside their homes, then bringing them in to Monks Cross (Sainsbury or Asda), Morrisons, or the city centre. Passengers are later picked up again and delivered back to their own doorstep.

The cost for a return journey is £4 – or just £2 if you have a concessionary bus pass. That’s great value – especially considering that drivers like 42-year-old Kevin are more than willing to help passengers on and off the bus, or to give them a hand with carrying their shopping.

And yet often buses are scarcely half full. There is no question of the council stopping its subsidy, says Ruth Potter, the city councillor who in her day job is the operations manager of York Wheels. “The council is continuing to provide the service,” she says firmly.

But it would be great to have more people using it.

“There are still people that don’t seem to have heard of the service,” she says. “There are some runs that aren’t full. And if we have space on buses… well, we want to let people know”

Back at Monks Cross, passengers are getting off the bus.

“I’ll give you a hand”, Kevin says, as Agnes comes down the steps.

“These lads, these drivers,” Agnes says. “They’re marvellous.”

And so is this bus.

Just phone to book shop trip

The Dial & Ride buses provide a door-to-door service for people who have difficulty getting around; including those over 60, and people who are registered disabled. The buses are equipped for those who have difficulty walking and for those who use wheelchairs.

There are a range of different set routes five days a week, with passengers being picked up from different areas of York and taken to Monks Cross, Morrisons and Waitrose on Foss Bank, or the city centre (where passengers are dropped off and picked up at the St Sampson’s Centre).

Fares are £4 return – or £2 with a concessionary bus pass.

You need to book your ride at least a day in advance: phone 01904 551441 between 8am and noon.