Boxing Day buses have always been a difficult decision for operators to make. Will loadings justify running to a high enough frequency to encourage people out of their cars and onto the bus? In Nottingham Trent Barton decided to run a large commercial network, including a bus every 30 minutes on the Rainbow 4 (via Bramcote). Nottingham City Transport decided not to run any commercial services; however Nottingham City Council stipulated that the contracted Citylink 1 Park and Ride bus should run, with special discount fares. In Stratford upon Avon where I spent Christmas both main operators (Stagecoach and Johnson's Excelbus) decided to run nothing, but again the local council Park and Ride contract (held by Johnson's) stipulated a Boxing Day service, which me, my uncle and my younger cousins travelled on. The Optare Versas used on this route are also used on town service 222 and they are exceptionally modern. They are also diesel-electric hybrids, claiming to save up to 30% CO2.
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