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I regularly used the buses in Nottingham during the 1950s and 60s and to a lesser extent the 70s. As I recall, nearly all of my journeys seemed to cost either 1d, 3d or 6d and rarely anything else. Here is a picture I found on another site showing the old tickets:

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Let's not forget the Ultimate ticket machine that dispensed them; or of course the clippies who, with a flick of the wrist, could produce either a single or double ticket with ease :)

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I seem to recall that this particular type of machine (Setright) was the one of choice for the Trent bus company:

wTnoQ1E.jpg

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I remember before the Ultimate ticket machines, where the clippies had a rack of tickets - different colour for each price, held in the rack by a spring wire. Down the side of the ticket were stage numbers. The tickets were punched/clipped in a 'machine' to show what stage you had got on.

When you got on the bus there were inward-facing bench-type seats. These were called 'Anniversary' seats. Anyone know why?

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Compo, when I saw the pictures #1 of old bus tickets, they looked SO familiar, my heart 'lurched'. I obviously haven't seen any of them for several decades but they must have a permanent place in my brain!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Me and my mate often tried to get into town on the 43 without paying. We'd scoot up on the top deck, run to the front seat and duck down. It usually worked but one day the inspector got on, he must have been the bloke they based Blakey on. Even though there was no-one else upstairs, he'd walked right up to the front to check and looked down at us. He marched us downstairs and started tearing the conductor off a strip. The conductor must have been having a bad day, so he started giving it large back to the inspector. While they were going hammer and tongs, we nipped off quick. Had to get off a stop early though.

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Those tickets at #1 still look so familiar Compo. I remember the longer shape before those as well,

mid-forties onwards. We used to plunge our hands into the used ticket slot on the platform to get

handfuls to play with.

Our usual bus was an 18, but I once caught a 6 from its terminus on Arnold Rd., to go a short

distance to my grandma`s on Gainsford Cresc. I was about nine. At the top of the curve on

Gainsford, the engine backfired with an enormous bang. The driver stopped the engine, got out,

came speaking to the conductor, looking quite shaken. He said he`d try it again, I got off,

saying "I`m not going on it again, I want my money back." I think the fare was an `ap`ny.`

The conductor said he couldn`t give it me back as he`d issued the ticket. I said I`d walk the rest.

I could still instantly pick out his face from photos even today.

What a Barton`s bus from a nine year old!

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the person who invented bus passes for pensioners should be knighted................

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SPIKEISLAND, your post reminded me when I was 10 and went on the bus from Mapperley to town by myself for the first time. I was going to my Ballet lesson which was usually at a place down Exchange Walk, but occasionally somewhere on Glasshouse Street (no, not THAT place). Well, on this particular day, I was supposed to get off at the station, cross over the bridge and go to G Street, but I must have been daydreaming and missed the stop. When I got off the bus at the Market Square, I didn't dare walk back to the station in case I got lost, (remember, I was only ten and didn't know the city very well) and I would have been late anyway, so I got on the next bus home and told my mum I'd got a headache and hadn't gone to the lesson because of it. Don't know why I didn't tell the truth - my mum would have understood how I felt.

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