Pay As You Go (PAYG) is usually a better fit if you travel occasionally or don’t do the same journey all the time. Season cards are designed for the regular traveller, using buses and trams more than three times a week.

Adult PAYG cards are bought and topped up from the on-street ticket machines near your bus stops, or online, so no need to come into the travel centre in the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row, behind the Left Hand Lion.

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.

If you have a card that you don’t want anymore and it has balance remaining, you can get a refund by bringing the card to our travel centre in the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row, behind the Left Hand Lion. We will refund the balance remaining less a £3 administration fee.

Refunds are not available unless you have registered your card with us (Season cards are already registered). You can register your card here. Your card must be registered at least 24 hours before you report it lost or stolen to qualify for a refund.

Only the person who registered the card can get the refund.

Unfortunately not, the technology needed to accept PAYG cards is not universally accepted yet. Currently, the main bus and tram operators that accept PAYG are NCT, trentbarton, NET tram, Kinch and Nottingham Community Transport. We are working with the remaining operators who can’t accept PAYG to try and align their systems so they can accept PAYG. For more information about the boundaries and participating operators please see the where can I use it page.

You can check the balance on your card:

• On the reader on the bus or tram stop
• At any of the on-street ticket machines
• Using the Robin Hood app on Android or iOS

You can get a Student card in person at our Travel Centre in the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row (behind the Left Hand Lion) or online.

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

Yes, Adults and Under 19s can pay by Direct Debit for Season Tickets. You will need to pop into our travel centre in the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row (behind the Left Hand Lion) to complete the Direct Debit Mandate form, where you will need to provide bank details.

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 on-street 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 you 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 Travel Centre in the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row (behind the Left Hand Lion) 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.

Occasionally one of our on-street machines may not be able to take your payment. There could be a number of reasons for this but don’t worry, if the payment fails we haven’t taken any money. You can try another machine to buy your top up. If you are able to let us know which machine, you had a problem with (street or bus stop name) we can get someone out to check it email info@robinhoodnetwork.co.uk

PAYG cards 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 to be added to your PAYG card, you will need to visit one of the on-street ticket machines and follow the instructions on screen.