TARGET Project

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority was a partner in the TARGET project from 2002 to 2005. During this time the project was instrumental in achieving a huge range of achievements in sustainable tourism and outreach work across the Yorkshire Dales.

Cyclists lunching at a Yorkshire Dales pub TARGET itself is a Europe-wide project involving five countries and looking at many different aspects of sustainable tourism and travel, from car clubs to tourist smartcards. The Authority was involved with the Transport and Leisure strand, alongside Bremen in Germany, Bruges in Belgium and Schouwen-Duiveland and Sluis in the Netherlands. Locally, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Leeds City Council, Metro, North Yorkshire County Council and the Yorkshire Dales Passenger Transport Users Group all provided match funding for the project as well as a great deal of practical assistance.

The main aim of TARGET was to offer visitors to the Yorkshire Dales a car-free alternative for travel to and throughout the area by promoting cycling, walking and public transport and as such it made a huge contribution to the Authority’s sustainable tourism product. By providing visitors with the information to make informed decisions about travelling to the Dales in a sustainable way, offering walking and cycling routes which do not require car use and engaging with local businesses, the project has shown that the Yorkshire Dales can offer real car-free travel choices and so contribute to the overall enjoyment as well as the “peace and tranquillity” that the eight million people who come to the Yorkshire Dales each year value so much.

Although the project has now finished, much of the work started by TARGET will continue either through the Authority’s mainstream outreach work or through the sub-regional cycle tourism project which started in 2005.

Below is a summary of some of the main achievements of TARGET:

Cycling

Cycling research – publication of pre-feasibility studies on potential traffic-free cycle routes in the area.
Cycle tourism strategy – publication of the report Unlocking the Potential: Delivering Sustainable Tourism through Cycling in the Yorkshire Dales. Thanks to this study, Yorkshire Forward have awarded the YDNPA a £238,000 grant to continue to develop a cycle tourism strategy for the sub-region, and to initiate pilot cycling projects in the Dales such as developing cycle friendly accommodation and creating a cycling website.

Travel information and advice

Providing information and advice on car-free leisure travel was a key part of the project.

TARGET funded and produced the National Park’s transport website, www.traveldales.org.uk, which provides visitors with a one-stop online website offering sustainable tourism and travel advice. The website gives information on walking, cycling, buses, trains, taxis and horse-riding as well as providing links to electronic journey planners.
Guided walks booklets were produced, with the Yorkshire Dales Passenger Transport Users Group. All of the advertised walks were accessible by bus and full details of the bus journey were provided for each walk. This proved to be a very popular formula with attendance on the walks growing each year.
TARGET also worked with Harvey Maps to produce a “Walks map following the Settle - Carlisle railway line”, which shows linear walks between the stations allowing people to go on self-guided linear walks from the train.

Marketing and promotion

Design and promotion of the Dales Bus logo which was an important part of a major advertising campaign for the summer 2004 leisure bus services
Introduction of the Dales Bus Discount Scheme which offers discounts to people who have travelled to or though the Dales using public transport at a range of local businesses eg. in cafes, B&B accommodation, tourist attractions etc
Production of two ‘tourism and travel’ leaflets for Malham and Swaledale with details of attractions, suggestions for walks and full public travel information.
Introduction of an integrated cross-boundary ticket for travel by rail and bus from the Leeds and Bradford rail corridors to Wharfedale to encourage people to use public transport to access the Dales.

Outreach work

Taster days and residential weekends were organised for a range of communities from urban areas surrounding the National Park. Participants used public transport to access the area before taking part in a range of activities to introduce them to the opportunities offered by the National Park.

Sustainable travel research

During each summer over the past three years TARGET was involved in a bus survey, which clearly demonstrated the importance of bus passengers to the Dales economy. In 2004 the estimated spend by leisure bus passengers was £140,000. Only 37% of these people had access to a car, meaning that £88,000 would not have been spent in the local area if the Dales Bus services did not exist.