Residents in west Rushcliffe are now able to travel across their local area without a fixed bus timetable, thanks to the launch of a new Nottsbus On Demand service.
Nottsbus On Demand is currently being piloted in north and south Ollerton and Mansfield and gives passengers the flexibility to travel anywhere between bus stops and designated points in the operating zone where there is not already a scheduled bus service running.
This further pilot for west Rushcliffe covers communities including East Leake, Sutton Bonington, Gotham, Thrumpton, Stanford on Soar and Kegworth, and passengers can travel between 7am and midnight every day of the week.
Clifton NET Park and Ride, East Midlands Parkway railway station, East Midlands Airport, the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus, the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre as well as the Pegasus Business Park, Segro Logistics Park and the DHL depot, are also included within the new zone, spelling good news for local commuters.
Journeys can be booked with just a few taps of a smartphone thanks to an easy-to-use app, but passengers can also book by calling the dedicated Nottsbus On Demand phoneline.
Nottinghamshire County Council will be working in partnership with Kinchbus, who will be operating the new on-demand service in west Rushcliffe.
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “This is great news for residents in West Rushcliffe who now have the freedom and flexibility to travel across their local area for work, education and leisure.
“The key concept behind our ‘Nottsbus On Demand’ service is that our buses will go to where passengers want them, rather than a bus travelling on a fixed route often with no passengers on board. It’s still a bus service – not a door-to-door taxi service – but it is far more efficient, environmentally friendly and responsive to public need.
“This local bus service for local people is also good news for commuters who will now be able to travel by bus to work at places including East Midlands Airport, the Pegasus Business Park, Segro Logistics Park and the DHL depot.
“This service will also link passengers to other bus services including Nottingham City Transport service 1, the tram and the skylink network.
Tom Morgan, Kinchbus Managing Director, said: “Nottsbus On Demand brings with it the opportunity to create and run flexible services which help people in rural locations who do not drive. It can also keep cars off the road and so help decarbonise transport by enabling people to share their rides.
“By connecting with other services and modes of public transport, DRT can help people get where they want to go by bringing them to regular bus routes or railway stations. We look forward to seeing how much the new service is used and valued. The new DRT service will offer a much requested public transport link between East Midlands Parkway station and the villages of Kegworth Sutton Bonington and Zouch.”
Professor Robert Mokaya, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the University of Nottingham’s Sustainability Committee, said: “Over the last decade, the University of Nottingham has demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and has a well-established approach to supporting sustainable travel to and between our UK campuses.
“We welcome the new Nottsbus On Demand service as it expands the public transport options available to our Sutton Bonington students and staff. The new service will connect the campus to local villages and to transport interchanges at East Midlands Parkway, Clifton Tram Stop, and East Midlands Airport. We’re pleased to support the service by providing layover facilities for Nottsbus drivers on our Sutton Bonington Campus.”
Steve Griffiths, Managing Director at East Midlands Airport, said: “We’re delighted with this new service as it will provide direct connectivity between our immediate catchment areas to the east of the airport and our on-site bus terminal.
As well as being the region’s gateway for international and domestic travel, the airport is also a major employment site with 9,000 people working in more than 90 businesses here. It’s critical that access to the airport via public transport is reliable, quick and easy. It also provides an important link to and from East Midlands Parkway railway station linking two critical transport hubs in this part of the region.”
