The City Council is set to change the ticket options for travel on a number of contracted bus services, branded as Linkbus, including Locallinks, Worklinks, Citylinks Park and Ride, Medilink and Centrelink.
From March 1st 2015 the following services will not accept Nottingham City Transport’s Easyrider, Cityrider, Anytime or Grouprider tickets:
City Link 1 and 2 (Park and Ride), L1, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L9, L10, L11, L12, L14, L22, L23, L33, L64, W1, W2 and W4 services.
Currently these services are operated by different bus companies under contracts to the City Council. Nottingham City Transport’s (NCT) Easyrider, Cityrider, Anytime and Grouprider tickets are accepted on the Linkbus services NCT operate, including Citylinks 1 and 2.
Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning at Nottingham City Council, said: “The City Council operates and subsidises these services to join up local communities, to link to major commercial operator services and help people get to work. Our new contracts have to reflect the changing financial circumstances in which councils now work. We had to seek a better deal for the Council and contractually this means that NCT tickets cannot be accepted on services that they no longer operate.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause some travellers, particularly those who at the moment use Nottingham City Transport buses for part of their journey before switching to our Linkbus services. Those customers who use cross-operator tickets will in the future need to use the Kangaroo ticket instead – just like you would changing from an NCT bus on to a tram, other bus company or train service in the Greater Nottingham area. Existing customers can get a full refund for their Easyrider ticket if they prefer.”
Those regular Linkbus users wanting to cancel their Easyrider or Anytime tickets will need to go to the NCT Travel Centre on South Parade in the City Centre. The normal cancellation charge will be waived.
From March 1st 2015, day fares on the Linkbus network will be £2 single and £3 return. Queens Drive and Racecourse Park and Ride services will remain at £3 per group of up to six people, including free parking. The free Medilink and Centrelink services will not be affected.
In addition, there will be new scratch card booklets of ten Link Tickets costing £25 or £2.50 per day. These can be used non-sequentially, including bus park and ride services for a car load of up to six people travelling together. These can be bought from the City Council’s Travel Centres at Broadmarsh and Victoria Bus Stations from January (customers wishing to purchase linktickets in advance can do so from January 19th 2015).
Kangaroo tickets can be used on any bus, tram or rail operator in Greater Nottingham and currently cost £4.50 per day, a ten day ticket at £42.50 and the monthly season ticket £52.75. These can be bought from the City Council’s Travel Centres at Broadmarsh and Victoria Bus Stations.