A new facility to help improve transport in rural areas has been launched.

Ryedale Community Transport (RCT) has launched of a new Ryedale Rover Service called ‘The Helmsley Hopper.’

This is part of a five-year project to develop Dial and Ride services to villages in the Ryedale area and is supported with funding through the National Lottery Community Fund.

The Helmsley Hopper addresses the needs of residents of Helmsley and surrounding villages who want to travel to Malton for shopping or other appointments.

Until now there has been no direct service available so it was a difficult trip for people who do not have their own transport.

The new service operates on Tuesdays and Fridays, travelling via Nunnington, Harome, Helmsley, Sproxton, Ampleforth and Oswaldkirk to Malton.

It is an on-demand service which requires customers to register in advance to book a seat.

Bus Passes can be used on the service thanks to additional funding from the North Yorkshire County Council locality budget for Helmsley.

RCT is also embracing the nationwide Bus Fare Cap Scheme from January 2023 to March 2023 which means a single fare on this service is £2.

Lynne Hodgson Chief Officer of RCT said: "We are in year two of a five-year funding project with the National Lottery Community Fund and it is exciting to be able to introduce this new service which has been developed by listening to the needs of our passengers.

"We are hoping that more people will use the service and we welcome feedback so we can develop the service and others like it.’

North Yorkshire County Councillor George Jabbour said: "Having worked closely with Ryedale Community Transport since the start of last year on ways to improve public transport in Helmsley and the surrounding villages, I have seen first-hand how committed Lynne and the rest of the team are to designing creative solutions to help as many residents as possible in our beautiful and rural part of the world.

"After months of hard work on the part of everyone, I am delighted that the Helmsley Hopper has started operating in our area.

"It was a real pleasure to recommend funding towards this excellent project from the locality budget of the Helmsley and Sinnington division."

Anyone wishing to use this service should please call Ryedale Community Transport on 01653 699059 to register and book a seat.

The office is open Monday – Friday 9am to 4.30pm.

RCT is a registered charity that has been operating in Ryedale since April 2005.

The services it offers the Ryedale community also include a volunteer car scheme, wheelchair accessible door-to-door transport, a group travel service and a Wheels2Work moped hire scheme for people to access work, training or education.