Government cash saves city bus station and park and rides
“ESSENTIAL” bus services and park and ride sites have been rescued after Nottingham City Council accepted more than £1.8m from the Government.
The city council accepted £1,840,000 from the Department for Transport on Thursday, which will be used to save three of Nottingham City Transport’s services as well as Victoria Bus Station, and park and ride sites at Queens Drive and Colwick Park.
This Bus Service Improvement Plan Grant is part of the Government’s Network North project, to which it has reallocated money originally meant for the now mostly cancelled HS2. Council documents explained the funds would be used to support public transport infrastructure and services which would otherwise be stopped as part of the cash-strapped city council’s cost cutting in 2024-25.
Victoria Bus Station, Queens Drive and Colwick Park and Ride, Smartticketing and the Linkbus/medilink bus networks will all be propped up by the grant. The contracts of the 50, 53 and 54 bus services will also be extended until March 2026.
A report on the decision, written by the council’s senior public transport officer, said £1,244,717 be used to cover the costs of the bus station, park and rides and ticketing machines, ending the risk of closure or withdrawal. The remaining £595,283 of the funding will be used to continue the 50, 53 and 54 routes.
The 50 was described by council officials as a “key service to the east of the city”, with it serving a number of growing neighbourhoods along Daleside Road and towards Netherfield. The 53 and 54 were labelled “important strategic routes” as they link the city’s hospitals and connect Arnold in the north to Clifton in the south.
The council document explained that rejecting the funding would have resulted in the closure or withdrawal of essential bus services and public transport infrastructure and the end of the Robin Hood Bus and Tram Ticket.
It would also prevent a smooth transition of these public transport functions into the new combined authority and decimate public transport, a council officer added.