Friends of the X112 Coniston to Barrow celebrates 10 years

Friends of the X112 started in 2014 when Cumbria County Council announced it would be withdrawing subsidies to rural bus operators. The council at the time blamed this on funding cuts because of the Government's austerity programme. 

Since then, it has been left to operator Blueworks Taxis, and concerned bus users from Coniston to Barrow, to come together to save the service. The previous 11 and X12 services came together to form the X112, and the Friends have since kept the service going by finding ways to fund the route after an initial meeting in September 2014 at Rampside Parish Hall.

In 2018, Barbara Harris, a founder of the group, said: “If we lost this bus route completely it would be devastating for the community.

Barbara Harris, pictured in 2018, is a founder of the group (Image: Lindsey Dickings)

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“It combats isolation. A lot of older people who want to stay independent use the buses.” This was in response to the then-news that the service would lose the school bus contracts, a major source of funding, which meant that the group had to rely on fundraising.

“We’ve had hard times, we’ve had good times,” owner of Blueworks Taxis Phil Halliwell said. “A lot of people became long-term friends. We’ve had tough times having to fund it ourselves.”

One of the bus stops the service uses in Newbiggin (Image: Lindsey Dickings)

He said the benefits of running the service had not been ‘financial,’ and that it had extended his working life. “Working that extra 10 years keeps you active – it keeps you busy,” he said. “It’s nice to sit back sometimes and think what we have achieved.”

He said he could not think of another example in the country where the operator and a campaign group had worked so closely ‘hand in hand’ to run the service. The group suffered tragedy last year when long-term member and former Ulverston Victoria High School teacher John Eyre died aged 73.

John Eyre was given this tribute after he died (Image: Submitted)

His last journey before his death was out to the Lake District on an X112 bus. One of the fleet had a sticker paying tribute to him put next to the door.

The local authority in charge of the peninsula's bus services moved from Cumbria County Council to Westmorland and Furness Council last year.

Phil said the new council, and the new Labour Government, may usher in a change for at-risk rural bus services.