About NCT

Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is the biggest transport operator in Nottingham, with 280 buses providing a comprehensive network of services across the city, 7 days a week.

We are an Award Winning bus company and are the only operator to have won UK Bus Operator of the Year a record breaking six times!

Our recent awards include:

  • UK Bus Operator of the Year 2024, UK Bus Awards
  • Large Operator of the Year 2024, Route One
  • Lifetime Achievement Award for David Astill, Managing Director 2024
  • Recruitment and Retention Award winner 2023
  • UK Bus Operator of the Year 2019, making us the first and only bus operator to win the title 5 times!
  • Environmental Improvement Award (CILT Awards for Excellence) in 2021

We carry some of the most satisfied bus users in the country, with a 89% overall satisfaction rating in the independent Transport Focus Satisfaction Survey (2023).

Through continued investment in modern, fully accessible buses and increasing frequencies on core routes throughout the City, we have been able attract more people on to our buses, bucking a national trend of bus passenger decline.

All NCT buses are tracked by satellite, feeding live bus departure information to hundreds of bus stops across the network as well as being available on our fully responsive website and NCTX Buses app. Keeping up with technological advances, USB charging points are now on most of the fleet too.

Easyrider smart cards and payment through the NCTX Buses app offer the best value way to travel around Nottingham.

NCT In Numbers:

Some interesting facts and figures about NCT:

  • We’ve been UK Bus Operator the Year six times (the only operator who has been!) – 2004, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2024
  • Passenger Satisfaction on our buses is amongst the highest in the country – 89% in 2023
  • Our drivers have won the Top National Driver Award four times - 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2022
  • NCT is the 5th biggest private employer in Greater Nottingham – the top 4 are all multi-national organisations
  • Passenger trips per year: 45 million (2023/24)
  • Bus journeys scheduled to run every week: 32,600 – about 1.7 million a year
  • Longest route - South Notts 1 to Loughborough at 16.85 miles
  • Fuel used per year - 3.24 million KGs of bio-gas and 4 million litres of diesel (previously 8 million litres of diesel) 
  • Number of drivers: around 810
  • Kilometres operated per week: 300,000 a week 
  • Number of buses operated: 280
  • Number of electric buses: 24 with 38 more coming in 2025
  • Percentage of buses that meet the most stringent Euro VI emission standards: 100%
  • Percentage of accessible buses: 100%
  • Percentage of buses with audio announcements: 100%
  • Percentage of buses with USB charging: 75%
  • Number of routes operated: 74

Who Owns NCT?

NCT was ‘privatised’ in 1986 and Nottingham City Council held 100% equity of the company until 2000, when Transdev PLC the UK arm of the French multi national transport operator acquired an effective 18% stake in the company.

Mission Statement:

Providing those we serve with a safe, reliable, value for money, integrated, public transport network which has the least impact on our environment.