Tackling Congestion
tackling congestion: achievements
Better management of traffic can have major business benefits and helps keep our roads moving.
Significant efforts have been made in Greater Nottingham to contain traffic growth and tackle congestion by encouraging more people to commute by walking, cycling, tram, train and buses.
It is vital for people to be able to move around the Nottingham area, whether for work, social or leisure purposes and, because traffic management ultimately helps people to fulfil their potential, it has long been locked into the planning process.
Transport in Greater Nottingham is a key factor in its economic success. Controlling congestion is, therefore, vital to the current climate of investment in our region.
The Tram
NET Line One links the city centre with Hucknall and the Phoenix Park & Ride site, reducing congestion and speeding up journey times for more than 10 million passengers each year. The service carries 30,000 people per day and surveys indicate that around 30% of these passengers previously travelled by car.
Link Bus Service
The highly successful Link Bus services include Medilink buses which run between Nottingham’s two hospitals, while the city centre and university campuses benefit from the Unilink service, which has seen patronage increase by up to 150% in recent years. Other services include the Skylink bus which provides passenger and employee access to East Midlands Airport, and Work Link buses, connecting people to their jobs across a range of sites in and around the City.
Car Sharing
The free Nottinghamshare programme is a web-based service promoting car sharing by matching passengers with drivers. Travelling with others can reduce transport costs by up to £1000 a year.
The Turning Point
Traffic levels on key streets in the city centre have been reduced by up to 90% since the completion of the Turning Point traffic scheme in late 2006.
The scheme was designed to encourage bus and tram use and to create a cleaner environment for pedestrians and cyclists within the inner ring road area.
Bus Lanes
Over 20km of bus lanes now operate in Nottingham facilitating faster bus journeys for thousands of passengers and employees and promoting social inclusion by encouraging the 32% of people in Nottingham who don’t own cars to travel by bus. A 2004 survey showed that the two most popular options for improving our main roads were additional and better enforced bus lanes.
On September 1 2007, bus lane enforcement passed to Nottingham City Council, which has since been using CCTV cameras to identify motorists using bus lanes illegally and issueing £60 penalty fines.
Traffic Managers
Better management of traffic has been aided by the introduction of Traffic Managers who manage the integrated network in order to keep traffic moving. An innovative traffic control centre has also been created to oversee the network and respond rapidly to issues on the roads.
