Trains on the
Leeds to Northallerton Railway had provided the main service between
Leeds and
Ripon between 1848 and 1967, until passenger services were cut back to
Harrogate, following the infamous
Beeching cuts. Since then,
Ripon has only been served by bus services, with
Harrogate and
Knaresborough being the nearest rail stations to the city. The 36 was originally operated by the
West Yorkshire Road Car Company from the mid-1960s, with the route running between
Vicar Lane in
Leeds and
Ripon Railway Station. However, most journeys only operated between
Leeds and
Harrogate. Route 36 began operating using a fleet of
Leyland Lynxes. In the 1990s, they were replaced by a fleet of
Alexander Strider and
Wright Endurance bodied
Volvo B10Bs,
Wright Renown bodied
Volvo B10BLEs and
Alexander Royale bodied
Volvo Olympians. In October 2003,
Harrogate & District relaunched route 36 with fourteen
Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied
Volvo B7TLs with leather seats. In 2011, the 36 fleet underwent a refurbishment program. The route received a new identity – named ‘36 City Connect’ – and a new red and black livery was introduced, alongside the addition of new leather coach-style seats, and the introduction of a 2+1 seating arrangement behind the staircase upstairs. The buses were also fitted with new front fascias, as seen on their facelifted
second generation model, and new powertrains. In January 2016, route 36 was again relaunched with fourteen new
Wright Gemini 3 bodied
Volvo B5TLs, fitted with coach-style leather seating and passenger amenities such as WiFi connectivity, USB charging points, an on-board library and audio-visual next stop information. In October 2017, a new timetable for route 36 was introduced, increasing the frequency from every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes between Leeds and Harrogate. To accommodate the increased service, three additional Wright Gemini 3 buses were added to the fleet. In September 2021, a
night service was reintroduced on Saturdays. Funding from the UK Government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme was secured in May 2022 to aid Transdev Blazefield and
North Yorkshire County Council in the electrification of the 36, which will see nineteen
Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV battery electric double-decker buses with
pantograph chargers delivered to replace the existing diesel Volvo B5TLs on the service. The first Enviro400EV was revealed at an unveiling event in June. They were announced to be expected to start entering service from early September. ==References==