Councillor Stephen Fenton has asked council officers to work with Transdev to implement a change to the timetable for the number 12 bus service so that it will enable young people to get to school on time.

Transdev took over the route on 23 January after First Bus decided to withdraw from running the service. The service runs on a hourly basis, with Transdev agreeing with council officers to retain the number 12 timetable operated by First. The 12A service ended, but it was the timings of this service, rather than the 12, which best suited young people going to school.

For example, the current 12 timetable sees the bus depart Woodthorpe shops at 7.25am (which gets children to school too early) and 8.25am (which gets children to school too late).

This has led to a number of young people walking through to either Foxwood Lane or Eason View to catch the number 4 service operated by First, but this already busy service is struggling to cope – feedback from residents is that it is significantly overcrowded with the risk that passengers are left behind. This happened on Friday 27th January, when First ran a single decker which led to some passengers being left at the bus stop. Then on Monday 30th the scheduled number 4 service didn’t arrive, which again left passengers stranded.

Cllr Fenton has shared these example with council officers to highlight the need for a re-think of the number 12 timetable.

“Everyone wants the number 12 to be a success and to continue beyond the end of March. That is more likely to happen if the timetable is configured in a way that suits as many users of the service as possible, including young people going to school.”