LeoJBH
Member
From what I heard arriva derby is withdrawing from Nottingham, so does this mean the 901 and the other hopper bises will be taken over bit like the 90 was in February, I don't know much about arriva and the hopper buses.
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Nottingham City Transport
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The Hopperbus is a contract which NCT supposedly have won from Arriva. The routes and timetables would transfer over, the vehicles and drivers won't
I’m speculating here, but in theory at least, if the drivers on the hopperbus are assigned primarily to that contract, they probably could transfer over under TUPE if they so desired.
That was my thought, too.
LeoJBH
Member
I don't think that post you've screenshot means anything at all
joieman
Member
I think most of it is simply speculation. What does appear to have happened, though, is that 675 has been repainted after just five months in service!
callum3490
Member
You would think they’d have repainted 2 of the lilac gas buses in reality given some of them will be displaced by the electroliners in the future anyway… seems odd!
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Probably because they are the only E12s in green and the PVRs for the 11 and 12 individually wouldn't be big enough to have a dedicated fleet.
MCR247
Established Member
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The 11/12 and Bridgford bus are all Green E10s. But I agree with the base of your logic. The Bridgford bus E10s are decent sized pool already, while the 11 is just on its own, so I’d say it makes more sense for the 12 to join 11s
markymark2000
On Moderation
Just to add to previous comments about the Uni of Nottingham Hopper Bus, this has now been confirmed by the University.
Student news - Hopper bus update - University of Nottingham
Following a comprehensive procurement exercise, Nottingham City Transport (NCT) have been appointed as the new operator of the hopper bus service.
www.nottingham.ac.uk
Trainman40083
Established Member
No 904 service after 31st July, when teaching is relocated to Nottingham.
callum3490
Member
There seemed to be suggestion that they had potentially won the contract due to potential future availability of electrics, do we think this isn’t the case?
If the need for diesels is true and given they didn’t come across as overly impressed with the ultroliners their options are limited other than ADL.
TR673
Member
Imagine if NCT had six recently displaced, high-capacity diesel buses they could have used for ferrying students, perhaps with the numbers 907 and 925-9! If only they'd hung onto them a little longer, even just temporarily...
Presumably they're looking for 2nd hand diesels or dealer stock, rather than buying brand new?
I guess they didn't meet age requirements, after all NCT would have known they at least had a chance of taking over the Hoppa when they were withdrawn.
joieman
Member
But it's not like they couldn't have been used as spares elsewhere on the network to allow newer spares to be used on the Hopper Bus network
LeoJBH
Member
adrianjohnson
Member
It mentions "low emission" buses, not electric, for 2027. Does this mean more diesels have been ordered? I thought only electrics were on the way.
edwin_m
Veteran Member
The actual text:
It also says:
The contract term is eight years. This suggests they are ordering new non-electric buses for next year and intending to replace them with electrics later in the contract. Not sure why they should be doing this two-stage process considering they are already ordering electric double deckers for other routes anyway.
Np13
Member
271 is now spare, quite surprised it hasn't gone green as they need more buses on the 9 now it serves Clifton
Could it be to do with depot charging capacity? Might need extra work doing before they can cope with Hoppa. I doubt shareholder would be too happy if the recently ordered electrics for city work were diverted to the contract.
callum3490
Member
I think it seems clear that they will order “low emission buses” presumably diesels initially. 903 and 906 they will work with the university to move to electric buses. More likely than not that they will be seeking funding etc for the electric double decks in partnership with the uni so this could happen at any point over the next 8 years.
Unlikely that any upcoming double deck electrics will be rerouted to the hopper bus as they would’ve had funding for use on specific routes areas etc.
It will be interesting to see what they order initially given they didn’t seem overly impressed with the ultroliners.
Unlikely that any upcoming double deck electrics will be rerouted to the hopper bus as they would’ve had funding for use on specific routes areas etc.
It will be interesting to see what they order initially given they didn’t seem overly impressed with the ultroliners.
Apologies if this is obvious but I don't know the fleet well.
Are the incoming electrics going to display any existing buses which could be classed as low emission which, in turn, could be moved on to these routes?
With the longer term shift to electric, surely they won't order anything specifically for this route that isn't electric?
Are the incoming electrics going to display any existing buses which could be classed as low emission which, in turn, could be moved on to these routes?
With the longer term shift to electric, surely they won't order anything specifically for this route that isn't electric?
callum3490
Member
I think the line ‘with NCT placing an order for a fleet of brand-new low emission buses to enter service in the first half of 2027’ is quite clear on what the plan is.
It’s possible that some of the diesels, assuming thats whats being ordered now, could be converted to electric in future also.
It looks like they don’t plan to make the 901 electric any time soon possibly due to its mileage/route length so ordering diesels is probably the only option there with the displaced ones by electrics in future likely becoming spares to displace the older fleet
aron2smith
Member
Spent a few days in Nottingham to explore the city and around it. Have to say I'm very impressed with NCT, very frequent services on modern buses. Colours for each corridor made it very easy for someone like me who is completely unfamiliar with Nottingham and all the buses I saw were on the correct routes. Was really great to be somewhere where I can walk to a bus stop, a bus turns up in moments, quickly gets to another part of the city, I change and within minutes can go further up the road on another. Found the 25 very useful for Arnold from Carlton Hill, avoiding the need to go back to the centre first. Impressed by the speed of the services too. Loved how easy it was to get a network map and a timetable as there's a travel shop, something that just doesn't exist anywhere in London or Herts/ Essex. Very decent late evening/ night time service too which I'm jealous of. If an area is urban, buses should be readily available at 8/ 9/ 10/ 11pm, minimum every half hour by default. Also impressed by the punctuality of the 90 to Newark, which got a lot busier than I expected. Saw a full bus going to Nottingham on route (around Midday, so not rush hour), suggesting single deckers is not enough if that's a regular occurrence!
I only really have 2 complaints on NCT, the next stop announcement says the stop too quietly and finding buses on Upper Parliament Street and surrounding streets was really difficult. There should be information at city centre stops saying where to get all buses from with a map to make wayfinding easier. Got confused with the 1 and Rainbow 1 and initially waited at the wrong stop! Would've just walked to Victoria had I knew it would be that confusing.
Also found because the standards were so high, seemed to push up standards on the private operators, especially Trent Barton. Again very modern and frequent all day. And I thought their services complimented the city ones really well. Only problems I had with Trent Barton were the window in the ceiling of the bus made it feel very hot inside and my disabled bus pass for some reason wouldn't scan but the staff were fine about it.
I can see why the East Midlands Mayor doesn't want to touch the buses if they already work so well in her region. Many parts of the country aren't so lucky.
I only really have 2 complaints on NCT, the next stop announcement says the stop too quietly and finding buses on Upper Parliament Street and surrounding streets was really difficult. There should be information at city centre stops saying where to get all buses from with a map to make wayfinding easier. Got confused with the 1 and Rainbow 1 and initially waited at the wrong stop! Would've just walked to Victoria had I knew it would be that confusing.
Also found because the standards were so high, seemed to push up standards on the private operators, especially Trent Barton. Again very modern and frequent all day. And I thought their services complimented the city ones really well. Only problems I had with Trent Barton were the window in the ceiling of the bus made it feel very hot inside and my disabled bus pass for some reason wouldn't scan but the staff were fine about it.
I can see why the East Midlands Mayor doesn't want to touch the buses if they already work so well in her region. Many parts of the country aren't so lucky.
Leedsbusman
Member
Interesting observation - I’d argue that NCT has followed Trent Barton’s lead in that matter. NCT was a very traditional operation pre Mark Fowles leadership.
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Many city centre stops have a map with an index of all the suburbs, showing the routes and stops for each one, but it may not be up to date. I can't find this online.
There is an all-operator city centre map: https://robinhoodnetwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/City-Center-Stop-Map.pdf but it's not up to date either, not showing the recent NCT network changes for a start. NCT also has its own city centre map https://www.nctx.co.uk/maps/1164. Neither of these is particularly easy to find, nor are they displayed or made available on paper as far as I know.