Hopper buses

Hopper bus parked on University Park campus

The University of Nottingham provides free hopper bus services that run between the main University Park Campus and Jubilee, Sutton Bonington and King's Meadow campuses, and the Royal Derby Hospital.

The hopper buses use a ‘tap-on’ system, so if you have your university card with you, please tap the card reader machine next to the driver. If you don’t have a card, the driver will manually record your journey.

Staff and students travelling to Nottingham City Hospital are also able to travel free of charge on Medilink - simply show your University card.

Changes to 901 hopper services diverted due to roadworks

From the 15 July 2025 - 26 July 2024, Derby Road in Kegworth will be closed Mondays to Fridays from 07.30-18.30 due to planned resurfacing works. 901 hopper services will be diverted as follows:

Monday 15 - Wednesday 17July 2024 and Friday 26 July 2024, the 901 service will not be able to serve the centre of Kegworth, and will be serving Station Road and Side Ley only.
Thursday 18 – Thursday 25 July 2024, the 901 service will continue on to Side Ley, turn left on to Derby Road, then turn left on to Dragwell and on to Nottingham Road to travel back towards Sutton Bonington.
From 18.30-07.30 Mondays to Fridays and all day Saturday & Sunday the 901 service will operate on its normal route through Kegworth.

In addition, due to roadworks in Kegworth, the Anchor bus stop is not currently in operation so the 901 will not be able to serve this stop until 26 July.

From Monday 22 July until Friday 26 July, National Highways will be undertaking road works on the A52 Clifton Boulevard which means that all 901 hopper services after 2100 will not be able to serve the stop on Clifton Lane outside NTU’s Clifton Campus.

Timetables will not be affected.

Changes to hopper bus timetables over the summer break

Hopper buses are now operating on non-term timetables:

901 and 902 hopper services operate on the same timetables year round
903 and 904 hopper services will switch to non-term timetables
906 does not operate during the summer

Term timetables will recommence on Monday 23 September.

Timetables for all hopper bus services are available below.

Changes to Medilink from 28 May 2024

From Tuesday 28 May, Medilink will operate as two separate services:

Medilink 1:

Operates between Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) and City Hospital

Operates Monday- Friday, every 12 minutes throughout the day

Medilink 2

Operates between Queens Drive P&R and Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC)

Operates Monday- Friday, every 12 minutes throughout the day

This change means that anyone wishing to travel from Queens Drive to City Hospital will need to change buses at QMC.

Staff and students travelling to the Clinical Sciences Building (CSB) / Nottingham City Hospital will still be able to travel free of charge on Medilink - please show your University card to the driver when boarding.

902 Request only bus stop to connect with Gregory Street tram stop

On route from KMC to University Park, the 902 hopper bus can drop off passengers at the bus stop next to Gregory Street tram stop. This is a request only stop so on boarding please make the bus driver aware that you would like to get off the bus at the Gregory Street tram stop.

901 Service update – NET Parking Enforcement at Clifton Park & Ride car park

We have been made aware that NET (the Nottingham tram operators) are taking enforcement action (vehicle clamping with a £140 release fee) against people that are parking at Clifton Park & Ride (P&R) and catching the 901 hopper bus.

Reminder to all UoN students and staff that parking at the Clifton Park & Ride car park is NOT free for Hopper bus users.

Clifton P&R is a tram-based P&R which means that free parking is for tram users not bus users.

NET have advised UoN that any Hopper bus users who want to use the Clifton P&R as a car park will need to buy a day pass for the tram. Users will need to provide evidence that they have a valid tram pass for the day they are parking if challenged by NET’s car park attendants at Clifton P&R. The latest advice from NET states that if you purchase your tram pass via the NET GO app, then you can register your vehicle registration plate on the app - see the NET Support website for more information.

The Hopper bus primarily stops at Clifton P&R to provide Sutton Bonington Campus with a public transport connection to the Tram which can be used to connect to Nottingham City Centre.

If not being able to park for free at Clifton Park & Ride impacts your ability to get to work / study then you can look for alternative ways to travel via a free Personalised Travel Plan, and eligible students and staff can apply for a UoN car park permit .