Arriva Kent route 333

[N230UD]

After Arriva Kent & Surrey discontinued the historical route 402 (well, except Dunton Green - T. Wells), it looks like the historic 333 route is set to be altered in September. A traditional Maidstone & District route. 

The 333 runs between Maidstone, Sittingbourne and Faversham. The 333 at one point ran beyond Faversham to Canterbury (now replaced by Stagecoach's successful 3/3B/3X routes), in NBC days. It is a generally hourly Mon-Sat service, and in recent years has gained a Sunday service. When I have used the route, its not been particularly busy on the Faversham section. Stagecoach will be extending their 3-group services to Sittingbourne. My guess would be that they will extend the 3X express to Sittingbourne to possibly compete against the train. Apparently there has been requests for a direct bus, and I can imagine it will be popular with the many college students who go to Canterbury (the train service gets very busy into Canterbury from Sittingbourne, from my observations). 

This will be the first time (sort of!) that Stagecoach (and its predecessor East Kent) has had a regular service into Sittingbourne. Well, if you ignore the joint East Kent/ M&D operation on the 333 decades ago, or Stagecoach's long schoolday route which ran a return journey from Sheppey to Canterbury, or the Sunday route 335 which Stagecoach ran under contract to Kent County Council. 

Stagecoach will already start replacing part of the route in a few days. This is the Oare section of the route (a small village just outside Faversham). Arriva have withdrawn from the village already, and Stagecoach are replacing it with new route 3C (Faversham-Oare), and is a Kent County Council contract (yet another route KCC have had to fund because a commercial service has been withdrawn). 

[sid]

I remember the 333 Maidstone to Canterbury from NBC days.

Interesting idea about the 3X, as you say trains into Canterbury can get very busy and presumably the bus will be cheaper?

[N230UD]

Jul 29, 2017 19:57:54 GMT sid said:

I remember the 333 Maidstone to Canterbury from NBC days.

Interesting idea about the 3X, as you say trains into Canterbury can get very busy and presumably the bus will be cheaper?

A single train ticket is £8.80 without a railcard, so yes it is slightly cheaper. Season tickets would presumably also be cheaper. 
Sittingbourne will also be part of Stagecoach's expanding Swale ticket zone, which includes Faversham and other villages. 

The changes have now been registered from 17th September, so hopefully a timetable will be seen on Traveline by this Thursday (Traveline's usual upload date for the area). 

[N230UD]

The new Stagecoach 3/3A/3B/3X timetable is available on Traveline (although as both the current and new timetables are shown together, as well as the many variations of the 3-group routes, it can take a while to work out!)

As I predicted, the limited-stop 3X will be extended to Sittingbourne, which gives an average journey time of 55 minutes to Canterbury. Although some afternoon journeys from Canterbury will be on route 3B, taking 1hr07. This compares to 20 minutes on a direct train. But, the bus does also serve areas and villages which are not near a railway station.

At the moment, theres no evidence that Arriva's 333 will be withdrawn between Sittingbourne and Faversham. So, the routes could possibly be competing. I don't understand why any company would want to compete on that corridor as they are two small towns in a rural area, especially as these companies have not competed before. Obviously they are different routes with a different USP, but i'd say most people just travel between Faversham and Sittingbourne, rather than continue to Maidstone or Canterbury. Perhaps there is more than meets the eye and the two companies are in discussion - who knows.

[N230UD]

Arriva have now announced that the 333 will now be completely withdrawn, after 3rd January 2021. It currently runs between Faversham and Sittingbourne, but as I’ve written above was withdrawn from the full route to Maidstone in recent years.

This now brings this historic route to an end, and takes Arriva out of Faversham, once where the boundaries met of traditional operators East Kent and Maidstone & District (which became Arriva).

[twobellstogo]

Dec 29, 2020 17:59:15 GMT N230UD said:

Arriva have now announced that the 333 will now be completely withdrawn, after 3rd January 2021. It currently runs between Faversham and Sittingbourne, but as I’ve written above was withdrawn from the full route to Maidstone.

This now brings this historic route to an end, and takes Arriva out of Faversham, once where the boundaries of traditional operators East Kent and Maidstone & District (which became Arriva).

In a historic sense, this is a shame.
I still like the way that many routes in Kent have kept NBC style numbering (Medway with 1xx numbers, Tunbridge Wells with 2xx numbers etc.) so the loss of a 3xx number in Swale is to be regretted.

[N230UD]

Dec 29, 2020 18:27:26 GMT twobellstogo said:

Dec 29, 2020 17:59:15 GMT N230UD said:

Arriva have now announced that the 333 will now be completely withdrawn, after 3rd January 2021. It currently runs between Faversham and Sittingbourne, but as I’ve written above was withdrawn from the full route to Maidstone.

This now brings this historic route to an end, and takes Arriva out of Faversham, once where the boundaries of traditional operators East Kent and Maidstone & District (which became Arriva).

In a historic sense, this is a shame.
I still like the way that many routes in Kent have kept NBC style numbering (Medway with 1xx numbers, Tunbridge Wells with 2xx numbers etc.) so the loss of a 3xx number in Swale is to be regretted.

Indeed it is a shame. Yes, Arriva have kept the NBC style in some places in Kent. Stagecoach have mostly reverted to the pre-NBC East Kent numbering. Lots of the Kent County Council-contracted routes still have the 6xx numbers, such as the 638, 660 and 666 all from Faversham

[greenboy]

Stagecoach will be taking over many of the Arriva journeys...

[titan1mike]

Dec 30, 2020 17:25:38 GMT greenboy said:

Stagecoach will be taking over many of the Arriva journeys...

I think its 2 return journeys each day.

[N230UD]

Jan 2, 2021 21:34:53 GMT titan1mike said:

Dec 30, 2020 17:25:38 GMT greenboy said:

Stagecoach will be taking over many of the Arriva journeys...

I think its 2 return journeys each day.

Indeed, and only on schooldays.

The 3X will be used by most of the former 333 passengers, although the 3X doesn’t serve the Ospringe area by Faversham (which includes a large secondary school), instead operating via Bysing Wood, hence Stagecoach replacing 2 return journeys on the 333.