Nottinghamshire's transport chief hopes that an on demand bus service will be expanded to areas across the county following a trial in dozens of villages. 'Nottsbus On Demand' allows passengers to select a pick-up and drop-off point before being matched up with the nearest bus.
It does not follow a fixed route or timetable, with buses instead travelling anywhere within specific operating zones. The service has been running on a trial basis in areas of Ollerton and Mansfield since September.
Councillor Neil Clarke, the cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said he now wants to see the on demand service in other areas. He said: "The early signs are that since it was introduced four months ago, the feedback has been excellent and the service is being very well used.
"The users are pleased with it, the drivers are friendly and helpful and the flexibility of the service means that rather than seeing a bus driving through the villages empty, there is always going to be somebody on the bus. It's not restricted to one person on a bus at a time. Drivers can pick other people up on the way and you could easily have five or six people on the bus at the same time.
"I would like to see this expanded further out across the county and early signs are that this can be the case if we can get additional funding and that's why we are lobbying government at the moment. Seeing buses running along empty is very frustrating because we want to encourage people to get out of their cars and to use buses.
"If we can make it more attractive to use the bus then that's good news. We're looking at the possibility of having the service in the south west of the county, the Rushcliffe area, but then there are possibilities in other areas in the north of the county."
Passengers can book their journeys either by using the 'Nottsbus On Demand' app or by calling the service. Money for the project came from a round of government funding which saw Nottinghamshire being given £1.5 million.
Nottinghamshire County Council is working on the service with Via Transportation, an American company behind a similar project in Milton Keynes. Jonathan Hampson, the Head of UK Partnerships at Via Transportation, said at the time of the service being announced: "Tech-enabled public transport services are revolutionising the access to mobility for rural communities across the UK, and Nottsbus On Demand will provide a vital link between the local community and jobs, healthcare, and educational opportunities."
Councillor Neil Clarke added: "We have a commitment to ensure that every community is served by a bus service. That doesn't mean that it's a scheduled, regular service, but that there is a bus available.
"The aim is not to duplicate existing scheduled routes, it's to give people from isolated areas access to a scheduled route. It may mean somebody changing buses, but if they go from an isolated village to a regular route to travel on to somewhere else, then they have got that access to a bus service."
