Bus boss slams Nottingham tram expansion plans

Tom Morgan, Managing Director of Nottingham area bus operator TrentBarton since 2023, has launched an attack on the study commissioned recently by the East Midlands Combined Authority to investigate options for the expansion of the Nottingham NET tram network. He says that the bus network could achieve the same benefits if Brazilian-style bus rapid transit was adopted to link the city and neighbouring communities. This could be done without costing the taxpayer anything, whereas the tramway does not have a sustainable business model. 

 

The 32km Nottingham City Council owned tramway, with its first line opening in March 2004 carries about 16M passengers/year. The Wellglade Group, that included TrentBarton, was part of Tramlink Nottingham Ltd, the consortium that is operating the system for 23 years from 2011 under a PPP agreement, though Keolis has an 80% share. 

 

The EMCCA study has outlined potential locations for NET expansion, to Gedling, Fairham Pastures (Clifton) and Chetwynd Barracks (Chilwell). Local transport activist believe a link to Derby should be an objective. 

 

Bus Rapid Transit was inaugurated in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974 and use 157 double-articulated and 29 single-articulated buses that serve high-floor stations, but has recently been facing problems due to fleet availability causing overcrowding, and lack of maintenance. In 2024 the Federal development bank BNDES agreed to fund studies for the introduction of light rail on the 22.8km core line replacing the segregated BRT. A concession could be awarded later this year.