A HUGE growth in bus travel by young people and the formation of Dales 'bus hubs' are a major part of the legacy of a group created to help bring a 'joined up' approach to rural transport.

The Dales Integrated Transport Alliance (DITA), a consortium of public and private sector transport operators, has just come to an end after four years.

But many of the ideas it has helped to put forward and the 'seed corn' cash it has brought in should continue to have an effect on the transport needs of relatively isolated communities, says the group's finance director, David Portlock.

“In an environment when all you hear about is cuts in rural transport it is heartening to see how communities have responded to the ideas we have developed over the last four years.

"The bottom-up approach of galvanising local people to provide cars, volunteer drivers for other community transport vehicles and bringing together health services and age- related services has proven an enormous success."

DITA was started in 2011 by a group of people concerned about the decline of public transport services in the Dales and other Yorkshire communities.

After extensive lobbying, DITA volunteers succeeded in getting a grant of £1.1m from the Department of Transport's 'local sustainable transport fund'.

In partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the strategic body with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration, DITA was asked to come up with new transport ideas, with an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions and bringing in economic benefits.

The group has helped a wide range of initiatives to get off the ground, including Sunday and bank holiday bus services, as well as helping the Wensleydale Railway open a new platform.

Dales folk have much higher transport costs because of longer than average car journeys and the higher cost of fuel in rural areas.

And among DITA's greatest successes has been the introduction of one-way bus tickets for £1 for under-19s throughout the area.

The scheme has proved predictably popular with its target group, especially as before its introduction it was found that young people were finding themselves 'stranded' without easy access to higher education, part-time jobs and recreational activities.

DITA paid for the promotional costs of the scheme and subsidised bus operators to participate in it - resulting in a 50 per cent increase in bus usage by young people.

Another success has been the start-up of 'hubs', a network of transport information points with all the details of every type of transport available in the area, and located in Grassington and Settle within Craven, and in six other North Yorkshire locations. This information included up-to-date bus and train travel, local taxi companies, community transport information including community-run or private buses, car sharing and hospital transport.

Locations where pedal and electric cycles could be hired were also included, making it a pioneering 'one-stop shop' for travel information in the region, with the aim of helping visitors and residents alike.

David Portlock says: "Many hubs now operate either their own community minibus services or community car, organising hospital and doctor visits and even shopping or recreational expeditions, linking with mainstream bus and rail services where these still exist. These services are becoming part of the established community in isolated rural communities.

“Communities all over the Dales are crying out for transport help that is reliable and has surety of continuity. We have been encouraged by the whole-hearted support given to many of the new DITA initiatives introduced.

"Whilst communities have embraced more community involvement with self-help it would be unwise to assume that they can be left to fend for themselves without some form of funding and assistance from the centre.”

Since 2011 there have been substantial cuts to rural transport budgets, which led DITA to put part of its focus on the development and upgrading of cycling routes and cycle parking.

A grant from DITA paid for the creation of a crucial off-road link on the long-distance Way of the Roses cycleway between Morecambe on the west coast and Bridlington on the East.

This link runs between Clapham and Austwick and allows cyclists to avoid a busy and potentially dangerous stretch of the A65.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority's assistant director of transport services, Dave Pearson, said: “I am very pleased that the partnership between the Combined Authority and DITA has been able to make a difference for so many people living, working and visiting the Yorkshire Dales.

“Last week’s Transport Committee meeting agreed to continue the Combined Authority’s support for DalesBus services, which will help extend this successful partnership.”