Nottingham City Transport has confirmed their Sky Blue 47 bus will soon stop serving several villages in the borough when funding from Nottingham County Council is withdrawn later this month.
The service will no longer stop or pick up in Calverton, Oxton, Moor Lane Caravan Park, Epperstone and Lowdham once changes to the route take place.
The Sky Blue 47, 47A and 47B service is the only Nottingham City Transport bus to still receive money from the council.
Nottinghamshire County Council hope to save £420,000 a year by reducing their annual bus budget.
The 47 is operated on a commercial basis by NCT between Nottingham, Mapperley Plains and Lambley; Nottinghamshire County Council fund an additional bus on the route that allows it to extend to Lowdham.
Three buses currently operate on Sky Blue Line routes 46 and 47 and without the financial support from Nottinghamshire County Council, the bus company say the number of buses will have to reduce to two.
NCT say they have looked closely at passenger use on these services and will be able to maintain a commercial service between Woodborough, Lambley, Mapperley Plains and Nottingham City Centre, using the two buses available on a circular basis around Woodborough and Lambley.
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The route for the 46 and 47 between Nottingham, Mapperley and Mapperley Plains is unchanged. From Mapperley Plains / Spring Lane mini roundabout, buses will operate as either a clockwise (46) or anti-clockwise (47) loop:
- Sky Blue 46 will continue along Mapperley Plains, passing the Traveller’s Rest PH then right Nottingham Road and Bank Hill into Woodborough. Buses will return to Nottingham along Woodborough Main Street, right Lingwood Lane, Lambley (Church Street, Main Street) and Spring Lane (passing Gedling Country Park) back to Mapperley Plains and the City
- Sky Blue 47 will turn right onto Spring Lane passing Gedling Country Park, Lambley (Main Street, Church Street), Woodborough (Lingwood Lane, Main Street) then left Bank Hill, Nottingham Road to Mapperley Plains and back to the City passing Traveller’s Rest PH
Buses will continue to run seven days a week, including evenings, with buses arriving and departing Nottingham generally every 30 minutes on Monday to Saturday daytimes and hourly evenings and Sunday daytime.
In Lambley and Woodborough, customers will be able to travel to/from Nottingham or Mapperley from either side of the road, benefiting from an increased frequency of service.
The link between Mapperley Plains and Arnold, provided by Sky Blue 46 will no longer run and Nottinghamshire County Council will be providing a replacement service between Oxton, Calverton, Woodborough (including Dover Beck Drive), Epperstone and Lowdham, numbered 747.
David Astill, Commercial Manager commented, “Following the withdrawal of the funding by Nottinghamshire County Council, we have looked very closely at many options on how we can continue to serve as many people as we can with the two remaining buses”. He continued, “We believe the circular routes we have devised achieve this by ensuring that Woodborough, Lambley and Mapperley Plains which are the busiest parts of the route, continue to be served by a regular service”
The new timetable can be downloaded from www.nctx.co.uk/skybluechange
