NORTON councillors have expressed concerns over proposed changes to a local bus service.

The town council was told that from May 25, the local bus service, operated by Yorkshire Coastliner, will terminate at Rillington, with the bus continuing to Scarborough as an express service which will not stop at any intermediate points – even if someone is stood at the bus stop.

Councillors were told this meant that the communities between Rillington and Scarborough would have a service at 8.47am, with the next journey not until 2.15pm.

Concessionary passengers who board the vehicle prior to Rillington could travel to Scarborough, but would have to pay a fare, possibly £3.

On journeys to Whitby, the local bus service will terminate at Thornton-le-Dale, which means no service for the communities of Lockton Lane End, Saltersgate Inn and Goathland until 2.05pm.

Coun Kevin Anderson said this would be a big blow to local people.

“What happens if you have a hospital appointment at Scarborough – you will have no chance of getting there,” he said.

Coun David Lloyd-Williams said every parish affected along the route needed to be made aware of the changes.

He said: “We need to get someone from Yorkshire Coastliner to the next parish liaison meeting to explain why they are taking these steps.

“If someone is standing at a bus stop, the bus should stop, and if someone wants to get off, again it should stop – this is unbelievable, it’s free business gone mad.”

Coun Marian Hodgson said: “This is not good news for rural areas. If we lose this service we could start losing other services,” she added.

Coastliner managing director Nigel Eggleton said changes to the way North Yorkshire County Council funded the company meant a cut to Coastliner of about 40 per cent.

“We are aware that many senior citizens who are bus pass holders would be prepared to pay a fare, but legally we are prohibited from charging them on a local bus service but we can charge them on an express service that doesn’t stop for a distance of 15 miles.

“That is why we are looking at converting part of the Coastliner route into an express service to try to compensate for the cuts in local authority funding.”

Mr Eggleton said the plan was to charge a fare for the route for three hours between 10am and 1pm every day.

“The revenue we earn through this action will in part off-set the loss incurred following the change to reimbursement levels and inconveniences the smallest number of people,” he said.

“However, until full details of reimbursement levels are known, additional action in the form of increased fares or reduction in services cannot be ruled out. Those passengers who currently board or alight on the affected section of route will still be able to travel in the opposite direction or outside of the proposed fare charging period.”

A spokesperson for the county council said: “In order to be in line with the rest of the country, we are introducing the Department for Transport formula to reimburse operators for concessionary fares and this will mean a lower payment to some operators. The reimbursement is based on the number of journeys claimed for and therefore varies; however, our current estimate of the reduction in payment to Coastliner is nearer 20 per cent.

“We are currently exploring the possibility of running an additional service between Rillington and Scarborough at 9am or 9.30am during the week to meet local demand.”