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Post by MoEnviro on May 8, 2019 12:30:59 GMT
Stagecoach East Kent are set to launch a new express coach service from Canterbury to North Greenwich, using five plaxton elite bodied Volvo B9Rs.
The coaches currently based at Northampton are operating a East Midlands Trains Replacement Service W7 between Bedford and Wellingborough.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2019 7:27:53 GMT
Stagecoach East Kent are set to launch a new express coach service from Canterbury to North Greenwich, using five plaxton elite bodied Volvo B9Rs. The coaches currently based at Northampton are operating a East Midlands Trains Replacement Service W7 between Bedford and Wellingborough. This is good news. Will be popular with students in the area I’m sure. That part of Kent don’t have the MF commuter coaches either. Often wondered whether there would be demand off peak for some of the existing commuter routes from Kent into C London or N Greenwich. SE trains very slow on their traditional routes, and HS services very expensive. |
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Post by wirewiper on May 9, 2019 8:02:31 GMT
Stagecoach East Kent are set to launch a new express coach service from Canterbury to North Greenwich, using five plaxton elite bodied Volvo B9Rs. The coaches currently based at Northampton are operating a East Midlands Trains Replacement Service W7 between Bedford and Wellingborough. This is good news. Will be popular with students in the area I’m sure. That part of Kent don’t have the MF commuter coaches either. Often wondered whether there would be demand off peak for some of the existing commuter routes from Kent into C London or N Greenwich. SE trains very slow on their traditional routes, and HS services very expensive. Interesting that this does not appear to be operated under the Megabus.com banner (although I expect tickets will be available through the website). This will join the small but growing band of services that feed into suburban Underground interchanges rather than slogging on into Central London. The Berry's Superfast routes to Somerset have been using Hammersmith Bus Station as a terminus for years, and recently the Norwich Megabus.com service was cut back from Victoria to Stratford City. |
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2019 8:32:52 GMT
This is good news. Will be popular with students in the area I’m sure. That part of Kent don’t have the MF commuter coaches either. Often wondered whether there would be demand off peak for some of the existing commuter routes from Kent into C London or N Greenwich. SE trains very slow on their traditional routes, and HS services very expensive. Interesting that this does not appear to be operated under the Megabus.com banner (although I expect tickets will be available through the website). This will join the small but growing band of services that feed into suburban Underground interchanges rather than slogging on into Central London. The Berry's Superfast routes to Somerset have been using Hammersmith Bus Station as a terminus for years, and recently the Norwich Megabus.com service was cut back from Victoria to Stratford City. Makes perfect sense. Cuts down on fares and delays, especially at weekends with constant demonstrations and events closing roads in the City and Central London. North Greenwich is a destination in its own right of course . If they strike a deal with MBNA you could have a through ticket to Central London via the Thames. |
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Post by sid on May 9, 2019 9:34:06 GMT
I think this has a lot of potential, National Express services to and from Canterbury are well used and it's a fast run up the A2 to North Greenwich.
Presumably also stopping at the Black Prince interchange and a stop at Falconwood or Kidbrooke Station might be useful particularly for when the JLE is suspended.
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Post by N230UD on May 9, 2019 16:47:01 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing more details about this.
I think it will be successful, as Canterbury has a high student population, many of whom come from London. While the High Speed service is very fast (London in under an hour), it is very expensive and can get very busy.
The National Express 007/022 from Canterbury is good if you are travelling to/from some areas of south London, but the slog to Victoria can be painful. Going to North Greenwich will make links to east London much easier. I will be interested to see if the Stagecoach service will stop at the University of Kent - a huge target market. Not all the National Express journeys stop there.
I doubt this would have happened when Stagecoach operated the National Express services (currently operated by Kings Ferry), so its good to see.
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Post by thesquirrels on May 9, 2019 22:15:42 GMT
I think this has great potential. As already mentioned there are two universities in Canterbury, one at least which keenly sells themselves on their proximity to London, and while the rail service isn't a total ripoff, for an average student (or most on a modest income!) £32/£38 on a day trip to London is a rare discretionary expense. The A2/M2 into London is a pretty good road right up to where the queues start for the Blackwall Tunnel. As the coaches dive off for the o2 they needn't be caught in the worst of the congestion in the last mile or so, which is where the commuter coaches tend to start experiencing issues (even so, TKF run a very tight ship and keep customers updated on individual coach delays via twitter so people aren't left in the dark often). If Stagecoach keep their eye on the ball and provide a similar quality offering on this service they could do very well indeed out of it.
A parallel case exists in Arriva's 700 - also between a town in Kent (Chatham, via Strood and Rochester) and a major leisure/transport hub (Bluewater) via the A2, which has gone from strength to strength even as the rest of the company's North Kent empire has seen anaemic growth at best, and attrition at worst. Service hiccups and late substitutions with tiny single deckers don't seem to put people off here - Bluewater is a big pull. I think there is merit in having occasional coaches divert into Bluewater (as the NX services already do) though I think to have the entire service divert away would be excessive and make the wider service less attractive.
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Post by LVF_Admin on May 10, 2019 18:36:12 GMT
Interesting that this does not appear to be operated under the Megabus.com banner (although I expect tickets will be available through the website). This will join the small but growing band of services that feed into suburban Underground interchanges rather than slogging on into Central London. The Berry's Superfast routes to Somerset have been using Hammersmith Bus Station as a terminus for years, and recently the Norwich Megabus.com service was cut back from Victoria to Stratford City. Makes perfect sense. Cuts down on fares and delays, especially at weekends with constant demonstrations and events closing roads in the City and Central London. North Greenwich is a destination in its own right of course . If they strike a deal with MBNA you could have a through ticket to Central London via the Thames. It's a great idea, lets hope it attracts the patronage , I understand the coaches being sourced were some of the batch that were originally at East Kent prior to going North when they lost the National Express work. |
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Post by snoggle on May 30, 2019 20:16:59 GMT
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Post by N230UD on May 30, 2019 22:38:03 GMT
I believe it will be branded as Stagecoach Express, but bookable through Megabus.com. In fact, someone on Twitter has said they have already booked a journey on the first day, through Megabus.com. The timetable is now available on Traveline South East (I just searched for 'Canterbury' on it appeared on the list of services), and it has been registered as service M2. It will be going via Chatham. |
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Post by localet44 on May 31, 2019 7:21:33 GMT
The timetable for the new service M2 Canterbury to North Greenwich is on the Traveline South East website. The service starts on the 21st July 2019.
The M2 will operate hourly daily from Canterbury with timetable calling points at Faversham Waterworks, Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre. Gillingham [Eastcourt Lane], Chatham Bus Station and Chatham Maritime.
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Post by nickfreckle on May 31, 2019 7:30:15 GMT
Just looked at the stopping points, and knowing the area very well, as I live in Medway, it would appear that after serving Chatham Bus Station then going down Dock Road to where the Universities at Medway are, it would then go to The A2 via A289, and go past the back of my house! Just hope my application for transfer to go on this is approved, because I can envisage my 7 year old waving from the garden  |
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Post by localet44 on May 31, 2019 18:06:49 GMT
Just looked at the stopping points, and knowing the area very well, as I live in Medway, it would appear that after serving Chatham Bus Station then going down Dock Road to where the Universities at Medway are, it would then go to The A2 via A289, and go past the back of my house! Just hope my application for transfer to go on this is approved, because I can envisage my 7 year old waving from the garden According to the map on the Traveline South East website, after passing through the Medway Tunnel the M2 goes via Frindsbury Hill, Frindsbury Road, North Street, Strood Town Centre, London Road and Watling Street then via the A2. |
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Post by nickfreckle on Jun 1, 2019 8:21:06 GMT
Just looked at the stopping points, and knowing the area very well, as I live in Medway, it would appear that after serving Chatham Bus Station then going down Dock Road to where the Universities at Medway are, it would then go to The A2 via A289, and go past the back of my house! Just hope my application for transfer to go on this is approved, because I can envisage my 7 year old waving from the garden According to the map on the Traveline South East website, after passing through the Medway Tunnel the M2 goes via Frindsbury Hill, Frindsbury Road, North Street, Strood Town Centre, London Road and Watling Street then via the A2. That would be an excessively long and pointless way to go if it wasn't making any stops. And good luck being on time from around 1500 coming back from London because it can take a good half hour from Strood town centre to the top of Frindbury Hill at the Wainscott roundabout. |
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Post by N230UD on Jun 2, 2019 20:35:00 GMT
Just looked at the stopping points, and knowing the area very well, as I live in Medway, it would appear that after serving Chatham Bus Station then going down Dock Road to where the Universities at Medway are, it would then go to The A2 via A289, and go past the back of my house! Just hope my application for transfer to go on this is approved, because I can envisage my 7 year old waving from the garden According to the map on the Traveline South East website, after passing through the Medway Tunnel the M2 goes via Frindsbury Hill, Frindsbury Road, North Street, Strood Town Centre, London Road and Watling Street then via the A2. The maps on Traveline can't always be relied on, especially for limited stop services, as it just takes the route on the most direct route between the registered stops. It is highly unlikely that the M2 will go through Strood town centre as the traffic can be intolerable, and there are no stops there anyway. It will probably head along the A289 by-pass to reach the motorway. Interestingly it also stops just outside Faversham, at a stop just off the M2, similar to the Lewknor stop on the Oxford Tube. If the service is successful, I wonder if that stop will also become an unofficial 'park and ride' on the side of a country road. |
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