IN just more than a week, a Pride of the Dales bus will make the final journey from Skipton to Upper Wharfedale. Here, Colin Speakman looks at what the company achieved over the last 26 years, pays tribute to the couple who set it up - and looks ahead to what is coming next.

IN 1992, when Horseless Carriage Services first began to operate a network of what was a highly innovative bus services in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, they had every reason to optimistic about the future.

With grants from Craven District Council and the long-vanished Rural Development Commission, owners Mark Stewart-Clarke and Joanna Clarke were able to offer an amazingly comprehensive rural bus service, branded Pride of the Dales, between Grassington and Kettlewell.

Depending on which day of the week, people could journey through Littondale as far as Litton, Arncliffe and Foxup, Langstrothdale as far as Cray, Hubberholme, Yockenthwaite and in mid-Wharfedale to Thorpe, Skyreholme and Parcival Hall – hamlets which mostly never had a bus service before.

As Mark was soon to realise, he was ahead of his time. With high car ownership and low expectations of what a bus service could do, there were insufficient passenger numbers. As funding ran out things might have been tough.

However, Pride of the Dales was now an established operator, and when in 1994 several key contracts came up with North Yorkshire County Council to operate the main bus service 72 between Skipton to Grassington, Pride of the Dales was able to put in a competitive tender to operate the route, as well as important contracts to transport local children to and from primary and secondary schools.

From that time onwards, Pride of the Dales began to enjoy increasing success. In the late 1990s the Government saw bus services as essential for rural communities. The Rural Bus Grant provided extra funding to support new and better services.

Passenger numbers grew steadily, boosted by Craven District Council’s pioneering 50 per cent senior citizens’ discount fare scheme, and by gradual addition of services, including the Skipton town services and the popular service 74 between Ilkley and Grassington.

By 1999, there were more than 50,000 passengers annually using the Pride of the Dales network. Numbers continued to grow through the early 2000s, receiving a significant boost in 2004 with a fleet of new low floored wheel chair accessible buses and again in 2008 when free travel was made available for all people with Senior Passes.

Annual passenger numbers soon passed the 100,000 mark, peaking around 129,000 in 2010/11. By now Pride of the Dales was operating a fleet of eight buses and employing 10 drivers.

Then came a total change of government policy. It was decided that rural communities were no longer a priority. The Rural Bus Grant was axed; North Yorkshire County Council also lost massive amounts of its core government funding and transport budgets were slashed. As services were cut, Pride of the Dales saw its passenger numbers decline to barely 45,000 in 2017, making it increasingly difficult to keep the business going.

Sadly, the writing was now on the wall. With only three buses and three drivers, it was clear to Joanna and Mark that Pride of the Dales could no longer continue as a viable operation, and with Mark nearing retirement age, it was time to call it a day. After almost exactly 26 years of service to local communities and visitors to the Dales, on Saturday, April 14 Pride of the Dales buses will stop running.

But it has been a massive achievement. Over that 26 years an amazing total of almost two million passengers has been carried. The company has in that time provided jobs for no less than 78 drivers and brought hundreds of thousands of pounds into the Dales through visitor spend.

Running a rural bus service in the Yorkshire Dales might seem a dream job. Reality is different. Keeping a fleet of buses working reliably and efficiently through some of the most demanding country for bus services in England, along narrow roads through steep and often difficult terrain, in all weathers and with heavy summer weekend traffic, is a huge challenge. Looking after a team of drivers, dealing with endless paperwork, balancing the finances has been a constant strain. Apart from brief holidays, Mark and Joanna have never been off duty over all these years, always there to deal with breakdowns, driver problems and unforeseen emergencies to support a business which in later years had to struggle to survive in an increasingly hostile financial climate.

Transport is vital service for all rural communities, especially for younger people, older people and those without cars, but in a National Park, also making a massive contribution to the visitor economy.

From April 16, service 72 between Skipton and Grassington will be taken over by Keighley Bus, part of the Transdev Group, who have the skills and resources to build on the strong customer base Pride of the Dales will hand over. Service 74 continues three days a week by a well-run North Yorkshire County Council minibus, but the good news is that the popular Saturday 74 will now become a DalesBus from Wakefield and Ilkley operated by Arriva, with three return trips a day from Ilkley.

It is sad the blue and cream Pride of the Dales buses, so long a familiar part of life in Upper Wharfedale, will soon be no more. Mark and Joanna will hopefully enjoy a richly deserved retirement, with time to travel themselves. But their service to the community – in every sense - has helped a whole generation of people to both live in and enjoy the Yorkshire Dales.

For that reason we must always be grateful for their decision, in 1992, to establish a bus service which has truly lived up to its name - “Pride of the Dales”.