Nottingham City Council is a Unitary Authority and joined pteg as an associate member in May 2009.
As a Unitary Authority, their remit covers not only public transport but also roads, highways and pavements as well as walking and cycling measures. Specifically on public transport, the City Council are responsible for:
Public transport policy - including developing the Local Transport Plan and Bus and Accessibility Strategies.
Trams - Nottingham City Council and Nottingham County Council are joint promoters of the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) system. The NET is operated and maintained by Nottingham City Transport and Transdev. The system opened in 2004 and links the area north of the city with the centre using a mixture of segregated alignments and on-street running. The NET carried over 8 million passengers in its first year alone and patronage currently stands at 10 million people per year.
Provision of bus services not provided commercially by local operators - there has been considerable investment by the City Council in bus infrastructure and services over recent years, which has created a positive climate for commercial bus operators. Nottingham is home to 2 multi award winning local bus companies (Nottingham City Transport and trent barton), who have themselves invested heavily in service improvements. Together, the Council and the operators bring a public transport network with the highest levels of accessibility and use per person outside London as well as one of the youngest vehicle fleets in the country.
Bus stop infrastructure - the City Council has invested significantly in roadside infrastructure for a number of years. All bus stops on mainline routes have information poles with coordinated timetable and route information and all key waiting stops have high quality illuminated fully maintained bus shelters complete with route planning maps.
Integrated public transport information - Nottingham City Council produce various journey planning information and travel guides and also commissioned www.triptimes.co.uk – Nottingham’s online journey planner. They are also moving towards provision of real time information via the internet, mobile phones and at bus stops. 8 routes already use real time and over 220 electronic signs are now in operation on street. Coverage across the city is to be expanded in the near future.
The Council are also seeking to provide integrated information through their signing strategy – Park Smart. The strategy will improve wayfinding and signage in the city to allow easy navigation and integrate the car park network with public transport links and pedestrian routes.
Ticketing development and administration of concessionary travel - the UK’s first contactless smartcard ticketing system – the EasyRider card - was launched in Nottingham. The City Council have since created the Citycard which will eventually see all Nottingham City residents able to benefit from having their travel, library card, leisure memberships as well as discounts on goods and services loaded on one smartcard. Currently four variations of the Citycard are available – the Children’s Citycard (for under 11s), Citycard 360 (for 11-17s), Adult Citycard (for 18-59s), Senior Citycard (for 60 and over) and Mobility Citycard (for people with qualifying disabilities).
Respect for Transport initiatives - Nottingham City Council and partners are working together to improve behaviour on and off buses and trams, making public transport feel safer. The Respect for Transport campaign includes more CCTV cameras, on buses, trams and stops, more lighting at bus stops, a bus stop security patrol unit, bus timetables via mobile phones so that people can cut the time they wait, and night public transport leaflets distributed throughout the city.
Updated May 2009.
