Frequently Asked Questions

The Robin Hood cards have been created to suit all different ways of travelling on our public transport network. 

Our Season cards are designed for the regular traveller – for people who use the bus and tram more than three times a week. 

Our Pay-As-You-Go cards are usually a better fit if you travel on our buses and trams occasionally or don’t do the same journey all the time. 

Our Flexible Days cards were launched after hybrid working became more popular. These cards offer you the ability to bulk buy all-day travel passes, at a discount when compared to Pay-As-You-Go, but give you the flexibility to use them when it’s convenient to you.

Yes, Adults and Under 19s can pay by Direct Debit for Season cards.

You will need to pop into our Nottingham Travel Centre to complete the Direct Debit Mandate form, where you will need to provide bank details.

Unfortunately not. The technology needed to accept Pay-As-You-Go cards is not universally accepted yet. Currently, the main bus and tram operators that accept Pay-As-You-Go are Nottingham City Transport, trentbarton, NET tram, Kinchbus and CT4N (including Locallink) and Skills (Medilink).

We are working with the remaining operators who can’t accept Pay-As-You-Go to try and align their systems so they can accept Pay-As-You-Go.

All of our Robin Hood cards (Season, Pay-As-You-Go and Flexible Days) that have been registered can be topped up online. You can register here, which is also where you top-up your card. 

For the credit / product to be added to your card, you will need to visit one of the tram ticket machines and follow the instructions on screen, or use the Robin Hood Ticketing app.

If you have bought a Robin Hood product online, or topped-up your Robin Hood card using the Robin Hood Ticketing app, you will need to collect it. 

To do this in the app, you need to go to the ‘Collect’ screen, ensure NFC is enabled on your phone, and then hold your card to the phone to download your top up or product to the Robin Hood Card. You need to work out where the NFC aerial is on your phone – for Apple devices it is usually on the front screen, and for Android devices it is usually on the rear. You will probably receive feedback from your phone when you find the aerial with a card – usually a short vibration.

You need to keep the card on the phone until the download is complete. This may take a second or two. The length of time it takes to download can be influenced by things like your phone, data, WiFi connection etc. However, it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds at most. You will get a ‘success’ message when your download has completed.

You can check the balance on your card:

• On the reader on the bus or tram stop
• At a tram ticket machine
• Using the Robin Hood app on Android or iOS

You can get a Student card in person at our Nottingham Travel Centre or online.

To buy a Student Season or Pay-As-You-Go card, you need to present an in-date photo student ID issued by your place of study e.g. your university or college.

We don’t accept NUS, TOTUM, UNiDAYS, Student Beans or ISIC as a form of ID.

If there were several beeps and a red error message on the screen when you presented your card you may not have enough funds left on your card for travel. 

Firstly, check you have enough balance left on your card, you can do this at the tram ticket machines or via the mobile app. If you have enough balance left and your card still isn’t working, please contact us by emailing info@robinhoodnetwork.co.uk and providing us with your name, and the last 8 digits on your Robin Hood card to help us investigate.

If your card did not react at all with the reader when you boarded the bus, your card may be faulty. Please contact us by emailing info@robinhoodnetwork.co.uk  and provide us with your name, and the last 8 digits on your Robin Hood card to help us investigate.

If your Pay-As-You-Go card has expired and you have some remaining balance left on it, we will transfer the remaining balance onto a new card. Please email us at info@robinhoodnetwork.co.uk  and provide us with your name, the last 8 digits on your Robin Hood card and your address. We will then transfer the balance onto your new card and send it out to you. Alternatively, you can visit our Nottingham Travel Centre where we will transfer your balance to a new card for you. You can only take advantage of this service if your Robin Hood card has been registered at least 24 hours prior to the transfer request being made. 

You can register your card here.

If you have tried to use your card on a bus, tram or at a ticket machine and your card has been blocked, please contact us via email at info@robinhoodnetwork.co.uk  to find out why.

Please include your full name and the last 8 digits of your card number. If you know where and when you last used it – i.e. day/approximate time and what service, that would be a great help.

If you have a card that you don’t want anymore and it has a balance remaining, you may be able to get a refund, as follows:

Robin Hood Season passes

Refunds are available on Robin Hood Season tickets with more than 31 days of travel left on them.

Refunds will be given on the remaining travel minus 10% of the remaining value and minus a £10 administration fee.

Refunds will be issued via the payment method used when the pass was purchased; if purchased by debit/credit card, the amount will be refunded to the same card. If you paid by cash please bring the till receipt issued at the time of purchase.

Robin Hood Direct Debit scheme

There are no refunds available for Robin Hood passes paid by direct debit.

If you wish to cancel your direct debit, you need to contact the Smart Ticketing Team at least 10 working days before the next payment is due to be taken, so that this can be cancelled. You should also cancel the direct debit with your bank.

Robin Hood Pay As You Go (PAYG) passes

Refunds are available on PAYG cards with a balance higher than £3.00. A £3.00 refund fee will be deducted from the remaining balance.

Robin Hood Flexible Days passes

Refunds for Flexible Days cards are available for any cards where the value remaining, using the calculation below, is more than £5. If the calculation results in an amount of less than £5 (or a negative amount), no refund will be given.

Refunds are calculated as follows:

The price originally paid for the Flexible Days card, minus the number of days used multiplied by the current Pay As You Go day cap at time of refund.

For example, if a refund is requested for a 50 day Flexible Days pass with 39 days remaining, the refund will be the original price paid for the 50 day pass, minus 11 times the Robin Hood Pay As You Go day cap at time of refund. The calculation would look like this:

Original purchase price of £200, minus 11 x £5 (day cap at time of refund) = £145 (this example is not using current prices).

Contact Details:

To contact the Smart Ticketing Team, you can visit the Travel Centre (9.30am – 5.15pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 10.00am – 5.15pm Wednesday) within the Nottingham Tourism and Travel Centre on Smithy Row, or give the team a call on 0115 876 2700 (office hours are 9.00am – 5.00pm Monday – Friday).