Ruddington’s main bus operator, Nottingham City Transport, has detailed the current situation with its services in a move to reassure passengers – such as key workers still needing to travel – that its Navy 3 and Green 10 buses will continue to operate as before – at least for the time being.
The company says: “These are uncertain times and we appreciate that lots of you have concerns and questions about how COVID-19 will impact on bus services, your travel and what we are doing in response to it. NCT continues to monitor the developing situation around the virus and our approach is to follow the latest guidance from government and Public Health England at all times.”
It adds: “Senior managers from across NCT are meeting several times each week to discuss its impact on bus services in the city. We will be keeping you up to date throughout here: https://www.nctx.co.uk/coronavirus.”
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Following new government COVID-19 pandemic movement restrictions, bus services in Ruddington will be significantly reduced from Wednesday March 25th 2020. Please read more >>HERE<<.
Nottingham City Transport’s key points for passengers are as follows:-
Cleaning….
NCT is maintaining its existing, rigorous cleaning regime, but we have enhanced the cleaning of the parts on buses that people touch most, such as hand poles, bell pushes and inside the driver cabs.
We have also installed additional hand sanitising points at all of our sites and are reminding all employees regularly to follow Public Health England’s advice of washing their hands regularly.
At the Travel Centre, we are cleaning surfaces and customer touch points regularly and our employees are washing their hands at frequent intervals. We’ve closed the manual door to prevent people using the door handle and replaced the communal pen with pens customers can take away with them.
What Can I Do?….
We are urging all customers to continue following Public Health England’s advice related to coronavirus, which is available at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus and follow this advice:
- Before and after travelling, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use hand sanitiser if soap and water are not available. Find information about how to wash your hands effectively on the NHS website.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough and sneeze.
- If you have a high temperature or a new, continuous cough, stay at home and do not travel.
- If you normally pay with cash, switch to using the NCTX Buses app
Ensuring You Get the Travel You Paid For During the Coronavirus…
Many of our customers have pre-paid for their travel and we want to ensure you do not lose out on the days you have paid for.
If you have an Easyrider consecutive days travel pass or mobile ticket and you have to self-isolate or are unable to travel for the foreseeable future because of the Coronavirus, we’ll ensure you get the full number of days you’ve paid for.
Easyrider Everyday and Easyrider Everyday Further
If you have either of these card types, we’ll pause your travel and add back on the number of days you couldn’t travel.
- Notify us when you are self-isolating or unable to travel
- We’ll pause the travel on your card
- We’ll calculate how many days you have left on your card and add them back on to your card
- Your days will start counting down again from the first date you present the card, which will set the new expiry date
- To notify NCT, please complete this online form >>HERE<<.
Direct Debit
If you are unable to travel for the foreseeable future, we recommend you cancel your Direct Debit and set it up again once you know you will be travelling with us.
If you are unable to travel for a minimum of 14 days because you have self-isolated, please get in touch and we will reduce your next available direct debit payment.
This will be calculated by the daily rate of £1.77 (£1.87 from April 2020 payments) multiplied by the number of days you couldn’t travel.
Schools, Colleges and Universities
With the closures of schools, and colleges and universities moving to online teaching and a significant drop in the number of students and staff travelling, the 4 and 31 will cease to operate from March 23rd whilst the 34 will switch to its ‘holiday timetable’ from 22nd March.
NCT will make an announcement on arrangements for customers who purchased academic year passes in due course.
Easyrider Anyday and Easyrider Anyday Further
If you have an Easyrider Anyday or Easyrider Anyday Further card, you don’t need to do anything. If you can’t travel, the days simply stay on the card and don’t count down until you use the card again.
Mobile Tickets
If you have activated a 5 consecutive days (168 hours) ticket and find you have to self-isolate, we will add complimentary tickets to your account for the remaining full 24 hour periods you cannot use.
For example, if you activate the ticket on Monday and then self-isolate from Wednesday, we’ll add 3 x 24 hour tickets to your account for future use.
Please ensure that you contact NCT immediately if you self-isolate to receive your complimentary days. Please email nctmarketing@nctx.co.uk and tell us the date you have self-isolated from.
Staff Travel Schemes
We have notified your employer on how these are being handled.
Concessionary Travel Passes
We’re joining other local transport operators and local authorities in relaxing the 9.30am concessionary rule for pass holders. As more people work from home and universities, colleges and schools switch to e-learning or close, buses are less busy and so the risk to cardholders is reduced. Card holders simply need to show their card to the driver before 09:30 or after 23:00 on weekdays to travel. This includes holders of older persons and disabled passes issued by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council.
Refunds
The 10% admin fee applied to refunds on Easyrider travel will be suspended until further notice.
City Travel Centre
We are reducing our weekday opening hours from Monday 23rd March to reflect staffing availability. On weekdays, we will continue to open at 8am, but close earlier at 4.30pm. Our hours will be 08:00 – 16:30 weekdays and 09:00 – 15:30 on Saturdays (unchanged).
There’s more news about how Coronavirus is impacting Ruddington >>HERE<<.
