The Medilink bus service has improved its timetable to provide better accessibility for the residents of Nottingham from Tuesday March 29.
Medilink is a free, electric, bus service that runs Monday to Friday from Queen’s Drive Park & Ride to the City Hospital via Queen’s Medical Centre and the Wilkinson Street tram Park and Ride. It is jointly funded by Nottingham City Council and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and operated by Nottingham Community Transport. It is used by over 1.3m passengers annually.
Currently the service operates every 10 minutes from approximately 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. From Tuesday the service will begin running earlier from approximately 6.30am and will continue to operate until 7pm. In the morning peak period there will also be an improved frequency on the service between Wilkinson Street and the Queen’s Medical Centre with buses running every 5 minute between 8am and 9.30am.
Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs, Growth and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: “The Medilink service forms part of our larger link bus network providing bus services to areas in the city which are not well served by the main commercial bus network. These changes have come about following feedback from users plus savings recently made which have enabled us to invest more into these services to make them more accessible for our citizens”.
Ian Combellack general manager of Nottingham Community Transport said: “The improvements that are being introduced to Medilink will be of valuable benefit to everyone who uses the service. We will be introducing additional buses to cope with the continued increase in demand, providing additional running time in peak traffic hours, as well as more journeys operating the full route before 8 am and after 6 pm”.
Andrew Chatten, Director of Estates and Facilities at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is by listening to passengers and working in partnership with Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Community Transport that we have been able to make these improvements that will further enhance the service already on offer for our patients, staff and visitors.
“Our hospital sites can get very busy at times and we ask that, where possible, people choose public transport (including the free Medilink bus service and tram) over cars to get to our hospitals and help reduce congestion and pressure on our busy car parks.”