'It's a lifeline' - Whitby reacts as Coastliner 840 Whitby to Leeds service saved

The future of the servicehad come under threat last year following concerns over low passenger numbers and its removal would have left villagers isolated, with no rail link from the town to either city.

But the Government has now extended the Coastliner’s £2 fare cap from the end of March to the end of June, meaning more people can take advantage of the cheap fares.

The Coastliner’s parent company Transdev is stepping up plans to attract more people to travel on its buses, including beyond the revised ending of the £2 fare cap on June 30.

Cecily Fearnley, who runs the Homestead Kitchen restaurant in her home village of Goathland, with partner Peter Neville, has welcomed the news – she spent many hours on the Coastliner as a youngster, to get to and from school – and hailed the service as “a lifeline”.

“I always think personally it’s better to have something than nothing and it’s great that they are going to continue servicing the village in one way or another,” she said.

"My mum doesn’t drive and as long as she can get out the village, she can access the country under her own steam.

"It’s also fantastic for the tourism industry to be able to have people using the bus to get to the villages, rather than clogging up the road with cars.

"I’m delighted and I hope people will take the chance to use it.

"It gets people thinking ‘I can drive but I can go to Whitby by bus rather than take the car’ to maintain the service.

"The take home message from me is that we need to look after these things and push to keep them going for the people who need to use it.”

The Homestead Kitchen had stepped in to support the Coastliner 840 service with a special offer to diners who had used the bus to get to the village.

Cllr Phil Trumper, who represents Esk Valley ward on the borough council, said he also thought the service was a lifeline, illustrated when Cow Wath Railway Bridge in Goathland, which crosses the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, was struck by a vehicle in 2020 and was closed for four weeks, leaving villagers without public transport.

He also believes that connectivity for people in Whitby and the Esk Valley villages needs looking at again.

"We need to start revisiting looking at the train lines and reconnecting the line between Pickering and Malton, connecting Whitby up to York,” he said.

"If you look around the country there are other lines axed by Beeching [in the 1960s] which are being connected.

“That had a real profound effect on a lot of coastal villages and communities.

"Having an effective train line would make a huge difference.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, was also pleased to see the Coastliner fare cap extended and said: “We are pleased to see an increase in passenger numbers for this route.

"We will work with Transdev and other operators over the coming months to promote services and encourage more people to choose the bus.”