A major shake-up of Nottinghamshire's bus services could be on the cards as the county council draws up a £3.9million plan to support them. Around 80 bus services in Nottinghamshire that are supported by Nottinghamshire County Council or the Government will be reviewed to "understand the issues" facing them.
Services currently supported by the council include the 18 and the cotgrave in Rushcliffe, the 53 and 108 Worksop Town in northern Nottinghamshire, and long distance routes such as Skylink and Sherwood Arrow.
Nottinghamshire County Council says post pandemic bus recovery has slowed and that recruiting and retaining drivers are among the issues. The three-year Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) will therefore look at how services can be supported in future.
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Money for the plan has been secured from a bid to central government and the county council says it could help the recovery of the bus sector. Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "We are committed to doing all we can to support local bus services to ensure their sustainability for those who rely on them across Nottinghamshire.
“Despite the very recent announcement of additional Government support, some services remain vulnerable to significant change due to challenges being faced by transport operators nationally. We currently spend £4.1million per year supporting around 80 services across Nottinghamshire which is one of the highest levels of local authority support in the Midlands.
“We recently successfully tendered for a replacement for the 141-bus service, and this is a great example of how we will continue to work with local operators to understand challenges and ensure that bus services remain there for the people who use them. By carrying out this review we hope to increase our understanding of the challenges being faced by bus operators both locally and nationally to identify emerging priorities."
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