Nottingham City Transport is running additional bus services from Sunday May 31st 2020 to provide extra capacity for potential increases in demand – as more people return to work and current government restrictions are gradually lifted.
However, official advice remains that people should not use public transport except for essential journeys – and that people must not travel if they are unwell, show any COVID-19 Coronavirus symptoms or are living with anyone who is self-isolating.
NCT’s Marketing Manager Anthony Carver-Smith, says: “Bus users in Nottingham have followed the government’s advice exceptionally well in recent months. The number of people travelling on our buses has been 90% lower throughout lockdown and was broadly the same even after the Prime Minister’s announcement on 10th May 2020. We are conscious though that as restrictions relax further in the next few weeks, we need to provide some additional capacity”.
However, at present, the company considers the frequency of service already being provided for Ruddington’s bus passengers is sufficient to cope with the likely demand. Therefore the Green 10 ‘core’ timetable will remain as before (and can be found >>HERE<<) whilst no resumption of the Navy 3 service is planned for the time being.
For passengers making essential journeys further afield, details of NCT’s additional and improved services can be found >>HERE<<.
Recently the Department for Transport issued ‘Safer Travel Guidance for Passengers’ which included advice for people to wear a facial covering on public transport, where social distancing is not always possible. The full guidance (summarised in the image below) is available at https://www.nctx.co.uk/safertravel and all customers are requested to familiarise themselves with this revised guidance before using NCT services.
To keep customers safe on board buses, NCT says it’s continuing to follow an enhanced and rigorous cleaning regime, paying additional attention to the parts of buses that are most commonly touched, such as doors, poles, bells, card readers.
Employees are being provided with access to wipes, gloves, facial coverings and hand sanitiser as well as regular guidance and reinforcement about the expectations and requirements on them whilst at work.
On board buses, some seats have been closed off, as shown, to support social distancing. Additionally, customers are encouraged to use window seats only and sit a row away from people with whom they do not live, where possible.
NCT says there is currently no planned date for when additional services or a full service will resume. The operator is continuing to review and follow government guidance – and is closely monitoring usage levels on a daily basis – and will make further announcements on this in due course.
