Bus passengers have spoken of their relief after ‘God send’ Nottinghamshire bus services were saved from being axed. The NCT 46 and 47 buses to Woodborough and Lambley have been saved by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Many people have said that the 46 and 47, part of the NCT light blue line are the only buses that they can take into Nottingham city otherwise they would have to get a bus or taxi. In total, there were eleven buses at risk of being terminated.
If the county council hadn’t stepped in and saved services, they would have been axed completely or run on a reduced service.
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Oliver Smith, 65, who lives near Woodborough and is now retired, said: “It’s a very handy bus service, the 46 is the bus I use the most. It’s frequent, it comes about every half an hour to an hour and it saves people money, especially for older folk.”
Oliver continued and said: “I’ve never had a problem with the bus service, NCT are usually very good in general so if we were left without these buses, it wouldn’t be good and I’m glad the council thought so too.”
Others services that were risk of being reduced or withdrawn before the council stepped in to keep them running include the Stagecoach 6 & 7 to Worksop, Gateford, Shireoaks, Rhodesia; the Marshalls 90 to Newark, Radcliffe, Nottingham; and the Trentbarton Rushcliffe Villager to Bingham, Newton, East Bridgford, Shelford, Gunthorpe, Radcliffe/ More information on other services that had been at risk can be found here.
Graham Pope, 77, who lives in Woodborough and is retired, said he does use the service at times and is glad to hear its staying: “It’s a good service, especially for older people. For older people, it’s a God sent when they need to get to Nottingham or go shopping in Mapperley and it’s the only one [bus] we have.”
Sales assistant Jane Frank, 45, from Mapperley, who uses the 46 and 47, said: “I live in Mapperley and we have the 45 bus that is extremely frequent but people still need bus services and Woodborough is quite far out.”
Jane continued and said: “I’m glad that the service will continue, even if it was a dozen people that used it, it’s still important and will impact those people who will have to make alternate travel arrangements which may be more expensive.”
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Nottinghamshire County Council , said: “Nottinghamshire County Council has stepped in to save these eleven bus routes for now, but it’s still a case of ‘use these bus services or risk losing them’. We hope residents in these areas will travel on these services more regularly in the future. They are a clean and safe way to travel, and you don’t have to worry about driving or parking. It’s cheaper to leave your car at home and go by bus, and it helps protect the environment too by reducing air pollution.
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