Nottingham is the seventh largest conurbation in the United Kingdom; despite this, the city's transport system was deemed to be poor for its size in the 1980s. In the early twenty-first century, the UK government invested heavily in the transport network of Nottingham, which has led to the re-opening of the Robin Hood Line and the construction of a light rail system, Nottingham Express Transit. [1]
The first railway station in Nottingham opened in 1839. It was opened by the Midland Counties Railway and was built on Carrington Street. [2] It was served by trains to Derby. By 1848, the station was too small and a new through station was built in Nottingham by the Midland Railway (which was formed when the Midland Counties Railway merged with two other companies). New destinations, such as Lincoln, received a direct service to Nottingham.
In 1900, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opened Nottingham Victoria station, as part of the new line to London which they were building. The station was served by Great Central services to Marylebone station in London. The Great Northern Railway also used the station.
In 1904, the Midland Railway closed their station in Nottingham and opened a new one, Nottingham Midland station, which is still open today. [3]
By 1967, Nottingham Victoria station had become run down; both the station, and passenger numbers on the routes through it, suffered from low demand. The station and the Great Central Main Line were closed. Nottingham Arkwright Street station, also on the Great Central main line, closed in 1969.
The Robin Hood Line from Nottingham to Worksop was closed to passengers following the Beeching cuts in the 1960s; it reopened to passengers in stages between 1993 and 1998.
Today, the station is served by three train operating companies:
There were plans to bring High Speed 2 rail services to Nottingham and the East Midlands, by constructing a parkway station, East Midlands Hub, at nearby Toton. [7]
Plans for the leg of the line between Birmingham and Leeds have since been scrapped. [8]
The Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited began operating horse-drawn trams in Nottingham in 1878. A steam tram service began in 1880. In 1898, the Nottingham Corporation Tramways took over the existing tramways. Electric trams were introduced from 1901, and the last horse tram ran in 1902. The tram network in Nottingham was replaced between 1926 and 1936 by a combination of the Nottingham trolleybus system [9] and a fleet of motor buses. [10]
Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a light-rail system. The first line opened on 9 March 2004, having cost £167 million to construct. The scheme took 16 years from conception to implementation. [11]
There are currently two lines:
Tickets can be purchased at tram stops. [1]
Nottingham is close to the M1 motorway and major roads the A52 and the A46. To the west of Nottingham through to Derby, the A52 is known as Brian Clough Way. There are several park and ride locations which offer connections with Nottingham Express Transit or the bus network. [12]
In April 2012, Nottingham became the first city in the UK to introduce a workplace parking levy. [13] The levy charges businesses for each parking space made available to employees at businesses with more than ten such parking spaces. The council have used the revenue of around £10 million a year to develop the city's tram system. [14] The levy for the period 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021 is £424 per space. [15] As of 2019, there was a 9% reduction in automobile traffic and 15% increase in public transport use since the introduction of the levy. [16]
Nottingham benefits from a network of traffic free cycle routes, these include:
National Cycle Routes passing through Nottingham are maintained by volunteers from Sustrans. Cyclists in the Nottingham area are represented by Pedals (The Nottingham Cycling Campaign). [17]
A new cycle and pedestrian bridge is being built over the River Trent to connect cycling routes on each side of the river. [18]
Nottingham was one of several trial locations arranged by the Department for Transport to facilitate local journeys by electric scooters. Started in October 2020 together with Derby City Council, in December 2023 the trial was extended until 2026. Riders must be 18 years of age minimum, hold a full provisional driving licence, must ride on roads and bus lanes only, not pedestrian footways, and pay by mobile-phone app. [19]
In late December 2023, the partner-business, US-based Superpedestrian, planned to cease trading by 31 December, and the scooters were withdrawn from their city centre locations. [20] Nottingham City Council are to seek a new provider to continue the scheme.
East Midlands Airport, in Leicestershire, is served by low-cost international airlines, [21] makes the city easily accessible from other parts of the world providing daily services to many principal European destinations such as Paris, Milan, Frankfurt, Berlin, Oslo and Amsterdam; internal flights to Edinburgh and Belfast; and limited services to transcontinental destinations such as Barbados, Mexico and Florida.
Birmingham Airport is about an hour away and provides flights to most principal European cities, New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Dubai and locations in India.
Nottingham City Transport (NCT) operates the majority of bus services in the city. It was the first transport operator in the UK to use RFID technology for its EasyRider bus passes, introduced in 2000. [22]
Trent Barton operate some local services around Nottingham and to other nearby towns such as Beeston, Mansfield and Derby. [23]
The two operators are also frequent winners of the National Bus Operator of the Year award. NCT and Trent Barton have a good relationship and routes are designed so that they are not competing against each other. Using a Robin Hood day ticket makes it possible to use buses from both operators in a single day.
There are two bus stations in the city centre: Broadmarsh and Victoria. [24]
Broadmarsh bus station is situated in the city centre, adjacent to the former Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, underneath its multi-storey car park. It is bordered by Canal Street (A6008 road) and is close to Nottingham railway and tram stations.
Services that call here are operated predominantly by Trent Barton, with routes to Beeston, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Cotgrave, Kegworth, Coalville and East Midlands Airport. [25]
Victoria bus station is situated within the Victoria Centre, at the northern edge of the city centre.
Trent Barton manages the bus station's travel shop and operates routes to Queen's Medical Centre, University Park, Derby, Hucknall, Mansfield and Chesterfield.
Stagecoach provides routes to Sherwood Forest, Mansfield and Chesterfield. Nottingham City Transport's routes call at nearby stops on Milton Street. [25]
All operators issue single journey tickets and day tickets which can be used on all the services that operator runs. The Robin Hood day ticket allows travel on any bus, tram or local train service within the Nottingham area.
The city has a large number of licensed taxi companies operating. There are also dark green London-style Hackney Carriage taxis, which can be hailed on the street.
There are several designated taxi ranks in the city centre, including at Nottingham station, Wheeler Gate, the Victoria Centre, Broadmarsh bus station and The Corner House.
Jim Mortell, of Taxi Licensing at Nottingham City Council, said “The City Council has a team of uniformed late-night enforcement officers and non-uniformed enforcement officers working to detect any instances of drivers plying for hire illegally. This includes private hire drivers picking up passengers who have not pre-booked and any drivers not licensed to work within Nottingham City.” [26]
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located 33 miles (53 km) south-east of Sheffield and 45 miles (72 km) north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham is the legendary home of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and tobacco industries. The city is also the county town of Nottinghamshire and the settlement was granted its city charter in 1897, as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Beeston is a town in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England, it is 3 miles south-west of Nottingham. To its north-east is the University of Nottingham's main campus, University Park. The headquarters of pharmaceutical and retail chemist group Boots are 0.6 miles (1 km) east of the centre of Beeston, on the border with Broxtowe and the City of Nottingham. To the south lie the River Trent and the village of Attenborough, with extensive wetlands.
Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a 20-mile (32 km) tram system in Nottingham, England.
Sandiacre is a town and civil parish in the borough of Erewash in Derbyshire,England adjoining the border with Nottinghamshire. The population of the parish was 8,889 at the 2011 Census.
Nottingham station, briefly known as Nottingham City and for rather longer as Nottingham Midland, is a railway station and tram stop in the city of Nottingham. It is the principal railway station of Nottingham. It is also a nodal point on the city's tram system, with a tram stop that was originally called Station Street but is now known as Nottingham Station. It is the busiest station in Nottinghamshire, the busiest in the East Midlands, and the second busiest in the Midlands after Birmingham New Street.
Toton is a large suburban village in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It forms part of the built-up area of Beeston, which in turn forms part of the wider Nottingham Urban Area. The population of the electoral ward of Toton and Chilwell Meadows was 7,298 in the 2001 census; it increased to 8,238 at the 2011 census.
Derby railway station is a main line railway station serving the city of Derby in Derbyshire, England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway, the station is also served by CrossCountry services. It is the busiest station in Derbyshire, and the third busiest station in the East Midlands.
Trentbarton is a bus operator providing both local and regional services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.
Loughborough is a Grade II listed railway station in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire; it is on the Midland Main Line and is located 111 miles (179 km) north of London St Pancras. The station is sited to the north-east of the town centre.
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Stoke-on-Trent, on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line. It also provides an interchange between local services running through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
East Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham. It is also the closest station to East Midlands Airport, some 4 miles (6.4 km) away, but without public transport link.
Hucknall station, also formerly known as Hucknall Byron station, is a railway station and tram stop in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. It is located on the Robin Hood railway line, 5 miles (8 km) north of Nottingham, and is also the northern terminus of the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) tram system. The station has park and ride facilities, with nearly 450 parking spaces for use by both tram and train passengers.
Beeston railway station serves the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on a spur of the Midland Main Line and is managed by East Midlands Railway. It is situated 3.2 miles (5.1 km) south-west of Nottingham railway station and 750 metres (0.5 mi) south-east of Beeston transport interchange, for local bus services and Nottingham Express Transit trams. The station building is Grade II listed.
Transport in Sheffield, England is developed around the city's unusual topography and medieval street plan. Once an isolated town, the transport infrastructure changed dramatically in the 19th and 20th centuries. The city now has road and rail links with the rest of the country, and road, bus and trams for local transport.
Kirkby-in-Ashfield railway station serves the town of Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, England. The station is on the Robin Hood Line and is operated by East Midlands Railway between Nottingham and Worksop.
East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019.
Borrowash is a village in the Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, situated immediately east of the Derby city boundary. The appropriate civil parish is called Ockbrook and Borrowash.
Arriva Derby is a bus operator in Derby. It is a subsidiary of Arriva Midlands.
Broadmarsh bus station is a bus station serving the city of Nottingham, England.
The Wellglade Group (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands.
Plans are progressing on the new Transforming Cities-funded pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the River Trent
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