Lib Dems Slam Labour Block On Dial & Ride Funding
York Liberal Democrat councillors have slammed the council’s Labour administration for voting down a £150,000 funding boost designed to help restore the city’s Dial & Ride community transport service.
Before it folded in December 2023, Dial & Ride minibuses provided a lifeline for older and disabled people enabling them to get into the city centre and out of town shopping parks such as Monks Cross. The service was run by local charity York Wheels, but unreliable minibuses meant that the service could not be sustained.
In early 2024 a cross-party group of councillors gathered feedback from former users of the service and produced a report which recommended that a replacement service should be commissioned. Then in February 2025 City of York Council allocated £20,000 for a study to help identify options for a new service. But one year on, there is no sign of any progress having been made.
At the Council Budget meeting on 12th February the Lib Dem group proposed a budget amendment which would see £150,000 allocated to help get a new service off the ground, but this was voted down by Labour councillors.
Cllr Stephen Fenton, who was a member of the cross-party group in 2024 which recommended that a replacement service be established, spoke at the budget meeting to urge the Labour administration to take action.
“Older and disabled people should be supported to live fulfilled and independent lives, but the experience of the past two years suggests that Dial & Ride is not a priority for this Labour administration. Their actions – or inaction – speak far more loudly than their words. So once again it falls to the Liberal Democrats to stand up for residents whose needs are being ignored.”
Cllr Fenton also questioned what has happened to the £100,000 income that the council received from the sale of the former Dial & Ride minibuses.
“Has that money been ringfenced to support the establishment of a replacement service? If not, why not? Surely it would make sense to use this money to help get a service back up and running.”
