The full list of bus services set to be cut in Kent this month
Arriva and Stagecoach are blaming rising fuel and staffing costs, and falling passenger numbers
Kent is set to lose more than a dozen bus routes this month, with Arriva and Stagecoach blaming falling passenger numbers and rising costs.
Dover, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling and Maidstone will all lose services from August 30, according to council documents seen by the LDRS.
The moves have been criticised as “hitting the vulnerable hardest” by one county councillor.
According to the KCC document:
Arriva changes from August 30Imminent cuts to bus services across Kent, blamed on declining passenger numbers and increased fuel and staffing costs, have sparked fury.
The axe is due to fall in Dover, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling and Maidstone just as the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a £2 fare cap from next year.
The details of the changes by Arriva and Stagecoach are contained in a Kent County Council (KCC) members’ briefing paper, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The moves have been dismissed as “hitting the vulnerable hardest” by one county councillor.
According to the KCC document:
Arriva changes from August 30
• Service 4 (Downswood to Maidstone) : Revised timetable : Saturday frequency reduces to every 90 minutes
• Service 5 (Maidstone to Hawkhurst) : Reduction in capacity at school times. Saturday frequency reduces to every 75 minutes
• Service 9 (Grove Green to Maidstone) : Saturday frequency reduces to every 90 minutes. Sunday service ceases
• Service 72 (Kings Hill to Maidstone): overall frequency increase in conjunction with service 71 but service removed entirely from Clare Park, East Malling.
• Service 59 / 89 (Grafty Green to Maidstone): cancellation of school service for Grafty Green, Kingswood, Boughton Monchelsea
• Service 575 (Kings Hill / West Malling /Snodland to Maidstone) : reduction in school day services from two to one vehicles
Stagecoach changes from September 20
• Service 32 (Margate to Minnis Bay) : Withdrawn with impact of Garlinge and Minnis Bay being left unserved.
• Service 9 (Ramsgate to Dumpton) : Off peak service withdrawn with Minster/Monkton/Nethercourt Estate left unserved
• Service 34 (Ramsgate to Margate via Dane Valley) : Reduction in frequency from half hourly to hourly and curtailed at Westwood Cross.
• Service 43 (Canterbury to Sandwich) and 45 (Broadstairs to Sandwich) : Recast as service 44 providing hourly service between Canterbury and Westwood Cross.
• Service 65 (River to Dover) : reduced in frequency from half hourly to hourly.
Other changes from September 1
• Brookline Service 4A (East Malling to East Peckham feeder into service 4) : service cancelled.
• Autocar Service 205 (Tonbridge to Paddick Wood) : Saturday service cancelled.
The KCC document states: “The operating and commercial climate for bus operators remains a very challenging one of declining passenger journeys (which has been adversely impacted by the shift from a £2 to a £3 National Fare Cap Scheme), increased fuel costs (particularly high at the moment owing to the conflict in the middle east) and staffing costs (impacted by increases to employers’ NI contributions.
“Although the government has recently announced an intention to reintroduce the £2 fare cap from 2027, as a consequence of the above, KCC has recently been advised of a series of changes…needing to be made by operators to ensure that services and their operations remain viable.
“Operators are required to provide 70 days’ notice to the Traffic Commissioner when making service changes. KCC has no authority to compel operators to maintain or introduce commercial services.”