The 36 is a bus service operated by The Harrogate Bus Company, which links

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, Harewood and

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa wate ...

with

Ripley Ripley may refer to: People and characters * Ripley (name) * ''Ripley'', the test mannequin aboard the first International Space Station space station Dragon 2 space test flight Crew Dragon Demo-1 * Ellen Ripley, a fictional character from the Ali ...

and

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the cit ...

. It is operated by a fleet of high-specification Wright Gemini 3 bodied

Volvo B5TL The Volvo B5TL is a 2-axle low-floor double decker built by Volvo. It replaced the B9TL as Volvo's Euro 6 2-axle double decker product for the UK and Irish markets. Design The B5TL is powered by Volvo's new 5.1 litre D5K-240 engine, which is r ...

double-deck vehicles, branded in a red and black livery. The service is an example of a premium service characterised by more luxurious vehicles compared to those used on other commuter lines, which in combination with a high service frequency has significantly increased ridership and influenced the modal split in favour of public transport.

History

Trains on the Leeds to Northallerton Railway had provided the main service between

and

between 1848 and 1967, until passenger services were cut back to

, following the infamous

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...

. Since then,

has only been served by bus services, with

and

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is east of Harrogate. History Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Chenar ...

being the nearest rail stations to the city. The 36 was originally operated by the

West Yorkshire Road Car Company The West Yorkshire Road Car Company was a major bus operator operating in North and West Yorkshire between 1906 and 1987. History West Yorkshire The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed in 1906, running at first steam buses in Harrogate, then ...

from the mid 1960s, with the route running between Vicar Lane in

and

Ripon Railway Station Ripon railway station was a railway station that served Ripon, North Yorkshire, England on the Leeds-Northallerton Line that ran between Harrogate and Northallerton. History Opened by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway on 1 June 1848. The foundatio ...

. However, most journeys only operated between

and

. Route 36 began operating using a fleet of

Leyland Lynx The Leyland Lynx was a stepped-entrance single-decker bus manufactured by Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo Buses, Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B. Background The Leyland Lynx (B60) ...

es. In the 1990s, they were replaced by a fleet of

Wright Endurance The Wright Endurance was a step-entrance single-decker bus body on Mercedes-Benz, Scania N113 and on Volvo B10B chassis by Wrightbus between 1993 and 1997. The Endurance was built on 26 Scania N113 chassis for Midland Bluebird. Of the 292 Endur ...

bodied Volvo B10Bs,

Wright Renown The Wright Renown was a low entry single-decker bus body built on Volvo B10BLE chassis by Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Over 800 Renowns were built between 1997 and 2002, making it somewhat more successful than the B10L-based Lib ...

bodied

Volvo B10BLE The Volvo B10BLE was a rear-engined low-entry single-decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo in Sweden between 1993 and 2004. The first prototypes were built in 1992, but mass production started in 1993, only a year after the high-floor B10B. It ...

s and

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Royale bodied

Volvo Olympian The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engined 2-axle and 3-axle double decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo at its Irvine, Scotland factory. The first was built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian. History ...

s. In October 2003, Harrogate & District relaunched route 36 with fourteen

Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generat ...

bodied

Volvo B7TL The Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian (its 3-axle version was replaced by the Volvo Super Olympian). It was built as the British bus operators seem ...

s with leather seats. The improvements lead to an increase in patronage by 18% in 2006 alone. In 2010, the fleet was refurbished and remodelled with a new livery and 2+1 seating on the upper deck, as well as launching under a new brand name – "36 City Connect".Transdev Harrogate redefines the 36
''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 26 January 2016£3m touch of luxury for Harrogate-Leeds no 36 rock star of buses
''Harrogate Advertiser'' 29 January 2016 In January 2016, route 36 was again relaunched with fourteen new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied

s, fitted with coach-style leather seating, WiFi, USB charging points, an on-board library and audio-visual next stop information. To coincide with this, it also launched under a new brand name – "The 36: Riding Redefined". In September 2021, a night service was reintroduced on Saturdays. Funding from the UK Government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) fund was secured in May 2022 to aid Transdev Blazefield and

North Yorkshire County Council North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is the county council governing the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire; an area composing most of North Yorkshire in England. The council currently consists of 90 councillors. The council is current ...

in the electrification of the 36, which will see nineteen battery electric double-decker buses with pantograph chargers delivered to replace the existing diesel Volvo B5TLs on the service. These are expected to enter service in 2024.

Notes

References

External links

*{{Commons-inline
The Harrogate Bus Company
website
Timetable and route map
36 Harrogate Transport in Harrogate Transport in Leeds Ripon