The cancellation of a 'lifeline' bus route has been met with anger from a local councillor. The 18 bus route is currently operated by trentbarton on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays between Nottingham and Stapleford via Beeston, but will end on April 2.
The service was supported by Nottinghamshire County Council, who are now withdrawing the funding. The announcement comes months after trentbarton's route 21 service, which ran from Heanor to Nottingham through Stapleford, stopped on October 2, 2022.
The service withdrawal was another blow for Stapleford, a local councillor has argued. Councillor Richard MacRae, Independent councillor for Stapleford North on Broxtowe Borough Council, said: "The reason it is being stopped is that the county council has withdrawn funding for it, which is really annoying.
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"It is the only bus that goes through the Melton Road estate - people from Stapleford need to go shopping or to hospital. People also need a way to come here too.
"These services are lifelines for people. The people living in Stapleford feel like they do not matter. One of the really annoying things is that it is not long since we lost the 21 route. It feels like it is not being taken seriously."
Mr MacRae thought the cuts were detrimental to greener travel and the growing number of new homes being planned and built in the area. "We're trying to be greener and reduce car use and buses are a part of that, not everyone wants to or can cycle. They are building a lot of houses, at Field Farm and off Coventry Lane, but there aren't any bus services for them," he added.
The 18 route service will still run from Monday to Saturday, operated by CT4N. Some passengers also have the option to use the alternative indigo or i4 services on Sundays.
Councillor Neil Clarke, cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Decisions on services no longer operating have been taken by the bus operators and have recently been communicated to us.
“Operators across Nottinghamshire have told us that once the Government’s Bus Recovery Grant ends in April, they will no longer be able to operate or will need to reduce some services.
“This grant was put in place by the Government to help operators cope with the fall in passenger numbers due to the pandemic and the rise in operating costs.
“We intend to step in to support 11 bus services across Nottinghamshire which would otherwise have been withdrawn when this Government funding runs out in April.
“We have prioritised supporting services in areas where there would be no alternatives for residents if we did not take action and our priority is making sure that communities have access to health, employment and essential shopping facilities.
“Nottinghamshire County Council currently supports 80 bus services at a cost of £4.1million per year. We intend to carry out a full review of all services supported through the local bus budget and will look at any gaps in service provision across the county, which will include the impact of these withdrawals by operators, including the Trent Barton 18 service.”
Jeff Counsell, trentbarton’s managing director, said: “The services seeing reductions have been receiving local authority support for the past six months. We all hoped that post-pandemic the customer numbers would return to sustainable levels.
“Unfortunately the numbers have not sufficiently recovered and the local authority support is not being continued for those parts of the services affected. For any customers who are inconvenienced by the changes, we are sorry.
“The adjustments will improve the reliability and sustainability of services. By running more predictable services we will continue to serve the greatest number of people in the most reliable way.”
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