Nottingham City Transport says that Friday 18th February 2022 will be the last day it operates its enhanced Saturday timetable on weekdays.
Driver availability has improved considerably and the shortfall is now less than half of the 10% NCT was experiencing – due to the national driver shortage and COVID absence – when it announced its move to the current timetable at Christmas.
Weekday timetables will start again from Monday 21st February 2022, to coincide with the start of the new half-term after the school holidays.
Most services will revert back to their previous timetables, with new timetables introduced on Brown 15, 16, 17; Pink 28, 30; Orange 36; Navy 48; Lime 56, 57, 58, 59; Turquoise 77, 78, 79/A; Purple 87, 88, 89 and NightBus N4.
Orange 34 will continue to operate to its current timetable, with buses every 15 minutes on weekdays at peak times and half hourly at all other times. NightBus services N4 and N34 will resume, although all other NightBus services remain suspended. NightBus N4 will have a new route, serving Clifton Estate before reaching NTU Clifton Campus.
David Astill, NCT Managing Director said, “I’d like to thank my colleagues and our customers for their support and patience over recent weeks whilst we operated the enhanced Saturday level of service across the network.
“Since announcing our improved pay rates for drivers, which are now amongst the highest in the country outside London, we have seen a very encouraging uptake in applications from local people wishing to pursue a career with NCT as a bus driver. Whilst it will take a while to feel the benefit of this, it is one of the reasons why we now have the confidence to reinstate a weekday service, which will increase capacity across the network for our customers”.
