The Harrogate Bus Company is preparing to whisk thousands of people to shopping and leisure attractions this Christmas.
Shoppers can head to Harrogate, Leeds, Knaresborough, Wetherby and Ripon on board the firm's various bus services - with one-way fares capped at £3.
Concessionary travel passes will be available to use as normal, with free travel after 9am Monday to Friday in North Yorkshire (9.30am in West Yorkshire) and anytime at weekends and bank holidays.
And with Christmas less than four weeks away, the bus operator is encouraging everyone to hop on board and as well as shopping, enjoy the many festive events planned across our region, or to spend more time with family and friends from town and city to country.
The Harrogate Bus Company’s General Manager Jason Asquith-Thorpe said:
“Congested streets, roadworks and expensive car parking charges – it all adds up to a challenging time for drivers. Anything that avoids stress and saves money at this time of year has to be a good idea, and that’s where we come in.
“We’re releasing details of our seasonal bus services now to make it easier for everyone to make travel plans – and for those who need a break from work or shopping, we’ve come up with some great suggestions for a day out on the ‘things to do’ page of our website, at: transdevbus.co.uk/the-harrogate-bus-company.”
The Harrogate Bus Company’s buses will run as follows over the festive period:
- Monday 22 December and Tuesday 23 December – Saturday service, except route 59 Harrogate – Skipton will not run. Extra commuter buses will run on route 6 via Pannal Ash and Beckwith Knowle Business Park from Harrogate Bus Station at 7.15am and 7.45am.
- Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24 December – Saturday service with last buses around 7pm: no route 59 service and extra route 6 buses at same times as Monday and Tuesday. Last buses: route 1A, 7.40pm from Harrogate, 8.01pm from St James Retail Park: route 1B, 8pm from Harrogate, 8.24pm from Eastfield; route 1C, 7.20pm from Harrogate, 7.42pm from Carmires; route 2, 7.45pm from Harrogate to Bilton: route 3, 8.20pm from Harrogate to Jennyfield; route 7, 6.20pm from Harrogate to Wetherby and Leeds, 7.20pm from Harrogate as far as Wetherby; 6.55pm Leeds to Wetherby and Harrogate: route 36, 7.15pm Leeds to Ripon, 8.15pm Harrogate to Ripon; 7.45pm and 8.15pm Leeds to Harrogate and Starbeck; 6.30pm Ripon to Leeds, 7.10pm Harrogate to Leeds; 7.00pm and 7.40pm Ripon to Harrogate: FLYER A2, 5.15pm Bradford to Harrogate, 6.25pm Bradford to Leeds Bradford Airport, 6.55pm Harrogate to Bradford.
- Christmas Day, Thursday 25 December – buses and drivers take a festive break, so no service on this day
- Boxing Day, Friday 26 December – special Boxing Day timetables on routes 1A, 1C and 36, with full details online at: transdevbus.co.uk/the-harrogate-bus-company
- Saturday, 27 December – Normal Saturday service on all routes
- Sunday, 28 December – Normal Sunday service
- Monday, 29 December and Tuesday, 30 December – as Monday, 22 and Tuesday 23 December
- New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, 31 December – as Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24 December
- New Year’s Day, Thursday 1 January 2025 - no service will operate
- Friday, 2 January 2025 - normal weekday services resume
Full details of all services are available online at: transdevbus.co.uk/the-harrogate-bus-company and via the free Transdev Go mobile app.
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