Whitby Goth Weekend: Coastliner reports 'unprecedented demand' for bus travel from Leeds to Whitby after deploying all vehicles available

Bus company Transdev were approached by the Yorkshire Post after large queues of passengers travelling to Whitby were seen at Leeds Bus Station last weekend.

The 840 runs to Whitby via York and Malton, and the journey of over three hours to the coast currently costs just £2 due to a government fares initiative.

The Whitby Goth Weekend now draws large crowds to the town, which lost its rail links to York, Malton and Scarborough in the 1960s.

Transdev deployed every available double-decker and driver onto the 840 route last weekend, running some ‘duplicate’ services to cater for demand.

A Coastliner spokesman said: "We were absolutely aware of Whitby Goth Weekend taking place, and placed every available bus and driver into service, including running additional buses on both days, to cater as far as possible for the unprecedented demand for travel on our buses.

"We also ran duplicate buses on our 840 route to and from Whitby over the weekend, to provide extra capacity and ensure as many customers as possible were able to travel within the resources available to us.

"The government-supported £2 fare cap has been an enormously popular initiative, especially on longer routes serving popular visitor destinations, including York and the North Yorkshire coast. We estimate that demand for travel with us to the coast over the weekend was considerably higher than we normally see on an average Saturday at this time of year."