Nottingham City Transport
Nottingham City’s municipally owned bus service
Sevice Area:
transport
Sevice Area:
transport
Background
Most bus and train services across the UK were deregulated and privatised following the Transport Act of 1985. Nationally, service quality, connectivity and working conditions have since declined, while fares have increased. Research has linked rising travel costs with falling public expenditure, rising private capital investment and enrichment of shareholders, mainly investment banks, asset management firms, foreign government-owned firms and high net worth individuals. Covid-19 placed further pressure on bus services, with intermittent lockdowns suppressing economic activity and travel. It led to longer term shifts in working culture that normalised working from home and cut back commuting. In Nottingham, bus usage dropped to around 60% of pre-pandemic levels after the last lockdown in 2021.
Local Action
Nottingham City Council has maintained ownership of its bus company throughout this period, despite having to transfer its assets to a new legal entity in 1986 to comply with government legislation. Founded in 1897 as Nottingham Corporation Tramways, Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is today England’s largest municipal bus operator and second in the UK only to Edinburgh’s Lothian Buses. The council remains the majority shareholder, although Transdev PLC,a French company, acquired a 5% stake in 2001, which has grown to around 18% since.
Faced with numerous challenges over 40 years (mainly from government policy), NCT has managed to stay afloat and even revive bus usage to just over 90% of pre-pandemic levels. It has won more UK Bus Operator of the Year awards than any other company in the last decade, recently winning two awards in November 2024. Withstanding attempts to privatise the service and maintaining the municipality’s majority share has enabled NCT not only to run the service more in line with residents’ needs but also to shift more effectively towards carbon neutrality.
According to city councillors, municipal takeover is not a quick fix for other authorities seeking to achieve similar success. It has taken Nottingham years of rigorous local management: finding quality personnel to administer the service is difficult, as is creating and maintaining the necessary infrastructure. As one councillor observed, ‘it’s a Rubik’s Cube of demand and need, I think we’ve managed to get that as good as we could have done.’ One enduring advantage has been that, under municipal ownership, funds that would otherwise go to shareholders’ dividends remains available for investment in service quality, accessibility, sustainability and working conditions.
Impact on local residents
The company monitors users’ experience by conducting regular surveys, which have recently shown 98% satisfaction. This figure has risen gradually year on year.
Against the backdrop of slashed central funding to local government, NCT’s fares have been influenced more by the need for financial viability than by the goal of universal accessibility. Nevertheless, a recent government scheme offering £2 tickets reportedly received insignificant uptake in Nottingham because passengers found NCT’s regular day pass more convenient.
Because it is municipally controlled rather than a purely commercial entity, NCT finds joint-planning with the local transport authority easier – for example, to organise infrastructure, such as bus lanes and signs, which are the basic architecture of a dependable transport system. Forward planning with the city council helps to maintain a stable and consistent service. And this includes some longer and less obviously popular routes that would not survive in similarly sized cities without municipal control.
The council supports decent pay and conditions for employees as well as collective bargaining, specifically with Unite. In the last two years NCT staff have received an 18% pay rise and the company heavily invests in the pension scheme. NCT recently agreed a three-year settlement with the unions linked to inflation, which will also provide stability necessary for investment planning. It values measures that promote health and wellbeing, particularly for drivers who make up the majority of the labour force, in sedentary jobs that at times come under acute stress. There’s a staff gym and regular efforts to foster social interaction, including football teams and staff outings. A 4-day working week arrangement is also offered to employees. Staff retention is high compared with equivalent private sector organisations.
More broadly, NCT supports the local economy by providing well connected transport across the city, as well as many well-paid jobs for local people. Technically outside the public sector, it is the largest private employer in Nottingham, surpassed only by four multinational corporations.
Environmental Impact
NCT’s procurement policy is central to Nottingham’s citywide plan for carbon neutrality by 2028. With grants from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas Fund (ZEBRA), NCT has started to increase its fleet of electric buses, which also feature free Wi-Fi, USB charge points and electric air-conditioning. It has one of the largest fleets of gas buses in the country.
What's next?
Labour has set out plans in its Buses Bill to remove the previous government’s ban on new municipal bus services, so that more local authorities can follow in Nottingham’s footsteps. Nonetheless, NCT’s experience highlights the challenges associated with municipal ownership. Due to high capital costs and the need for appropriate management expertise, starting a municipal company from scratch is virtually impossible. Buying out existing companies is more feasible but many local authorities are not in the position to do so. Franchising is another option (described in our GMCA Bee Network example), although it comes with its own risks as local authorities take on more liabilities.
Sufficient and sustained support from central government – for both operating costs and capital investment – is therefore necessary for publicly controlled bus networks to become widely available, well connected and genuinely affordable for all who need them.