Opinion: Lonely Hucknall West seeks a reconnection with rest of the town..

My thoughts on this matter may have come too late in regards to the withdrawal of the Connect Evening and Sunday services, but rewind to 2004 and the launch of the tram and exciting times for Nottinghamshire transport system – trams ran on tracks in the 19th Century and trams in 2023… still use tracks. It was not a step forward nor beneficial as much as it was being sold to people.Hucknall West was served by a service called the Hucknall Flyer every 30 minutes, and 60 minutes on Sundays, to Nottingham Victoria via the bypass.

I recall the many many times of using it and it being at full capacity on most mornings and evenings, so much so an extra bus journey, the EX, was introduced.

The HF was axed entirely.

Hucknall West was fed this ridiculous story of how having a feeder bus circular every 15 mins and “seamless” connections to the tram and the Threes was an “innovative step forward” in travel. In theory and on paper sounded great.

Practically? Successful connections were few and far between and surprised it only took nearly 20 years to actually notice the running costs are not tallying with the profit numbers.

Fast forward to present day, "Unsustainable routes because passenger numbers aren't recovering post-Covid”.

Low and behold; Connect faces the axe.

Were there any alternative options that could possibly work?

For example, looking at reducing the Threes journeys around Sherwood Business Park, or even adding the Hucknall estates to the Threes’ route on certain journeys, just like it serves Copeland and Leamington estates? Reducing daytime frequency to every 30 minutes, and 60 minutes in the evenings? Have only one route, instead of two?

So now every worker that lives Hucknall West and does not drive or have access to a vehicle or works beyond 7.30pm/Sundays/elsewhere in Nottinghamshire will be enjoying the walk back from the town centre on a daily basis.

You have completely cut off those in Hucknall West with the rest of the town.

A good example of “if it ain't broke then why fix it?”

If something is working adequately well, leave it alone.

Once reputable, that’s Trentbarton.

Andrew Adey

Hucknall