Stagecoach East Kent no longer operate route 335

[lonmark]

Stagecoach East Kent is no longer operate on route 335 (Sunday only) between Maidstones and Faversham in Kent.

I can't find whose bus company to take over on this route 335? Do anyone know? Thank you

[Connor]

Mar 29, 2015 16:22:42 GMT lonmark said:

Faresham in Kent

*Faversham*

[snoggle]

Mar 29, 2015 16:22:42 GMT lonmark said:

Stagecoach East Kent is no longer operate on route 335 (Sunday only) between Maidstones and Faversham in Kent.

I can't find whose bus company to take over on this route 335? Do anyone know? Thank you

I can't find any info on Stagecoach, Arriva, Kent County Council or Medway Council websites or LOTS TLB. No timetables in Traveline either after 5/4/15. If it is being retendered then it looks like a last minute award hence no info yet.

Kent County Council appear to have scrapped or "lost" their bus service changes page on their redesigned website. Seems a rather daft thing to do but perhaps the financial cut backs have hit even that!

[sid]

Mar 29, 2015 16:22:42 GMT lonmark said:

Stagecoach East Kent is no longer operate on route 335 (Sunday only) between Maidstones and Faversham in Kent.

I can't find whose bus company to take over on this route 335? Do anyone know? Thank you

Has it been withdrawn?

Not so long ago Arriva introduced a Sunday service on the 334 between Maidstone and Sheerness which may have made the 335 superflous, well apart from the Faversham bit?

Just a suggestion, I might be completely wrong.

[lonmark]

Now Arriva is decide no longer operate sunday service on bus route 334 between Sheerness and maidstone.

[snoggle]

Mar 30, 2015 16:41:22 GMT lonmark said:

Now Arriva is decide no longer operate sunday service on bus route 334 between Sheerness and maidstone.

That info has just turned up on the Arriva website today. It's clear that all the details are not known yet about the impact of the retendering of services by Kent CC. I think it remains to be seen if the 334/335 get a Sunday service replacement funded by the council.

[sid]

I tweeted Stagecoach and they confirmed that Easter Monday will be the last day of their operation of the 335 but they don't know if there will be any replacement.

[sid]

I've also tweeted Arriva and they confirmed the withdrawl of the 334 but they are also not aware of any replacement for it. Surely that section won't be left without any Sunday service.......will it?

[snoggle]

Mar 31, 2015 18:43:12 GMT sid said:

I've also tweeted Arriva and they confirmed the withdrawl of the 334 but they are also not aware of any replacement for it. Surely that section won't be left without any Sunday service.......will it?

Why not? if KCC don't have the money then there will be no service. It's clear Arriva can't make a service pay and the Stagecoach service was contracted wasn't it? No different from vast tracts of the country that have no evening or Sunday buses.

I was looking at the timetables and bus map for that area earlier today and even simple "down the road" journeys are nearly impossible - no long distance buses at any sort of appreciable frequency and those buses that do run are hourly or worse and you often have to change buses to go any appreciable distance. The areas either side - Medway and Broadstairs - are more densely provided for by Arriva and Stagecoach but Faversham / Sittingbourne seem to be a bit "deserted" by bus companies. I suspect people use trains for public transport or else drive.

[sid]

Mar 31, 2015 20:19:42 GMT snoggle said:

Mar 31, 2015 18:43:12 GMT sid said:

I've also tweeted Arriva and they confirmed the withdrawl of the 334 but they are also not aware of any replacement for it. Surely that section won't be left without any Sunday service.......will it?

Why not? if KCC don't have the money then there will be no service. It's clear Arriva can't make a service pay and the Stagecoach service was contracted wasn't it? No different from vast tracts of the country that have no evening or Sunday buses.

I was looking at the timetables and bus map for that area earlier today and even simple "down the road" journeys are nearly impossible - no long distance buses at any sort of appreciable frequency and those buses that do run are hourly or worse and you often have to change buses to go any appreciable distance. The areas either side - Medway and Broadstairs - are more densely provided for by Arriva and Stagecoach but Faversham / Sittingbourne seem to be a bit "deserted" by bus companies. I suspect people use trains for public transport or else drive.

Well there is a half hourly Mon-Sat daytime service between Maidstone and Sittingbourne so I would have thought an hourly Sunday service would be viable but seemingly not.

Train travel would be an indirect journey via Strood.

[Deleted]

On the Arriva website, they are advertising that their 333 will operate a Sunday service every 2 and a half hours, commercially. Not exactly the most appealing timetable, but better than nothing. Without it, Sittingbourne would have had no Sunday buses at all! (except for a positioning journey on Chalkwell's KCC route 5).

www.arrivabus.co.uk/globalassets/documents/south-east-service-documents/poster333sundayl_apr1.pdf


Considering this will start next weekend, and nothing has been registered on VOSA yet, I get the impression there was a cock-up somewhere.


Stagecoach's 3, which connected with the 335 (with the same bus), will have the same level of service, but will be run commercially.


Off-topic, but might be of interest for some, but Arriva's lengthy route 403 (Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge - Tunbridge Wells) is being withdrawn from 12th April. Didn't exactly last long did it!

[lonmark]

Apr 3, 2015 13:27:10 GMT @truffles1234 said:

Off-topic, but might be of interest for some, but Arriva's lengthy route 403 (Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge - Tunbridge Wells) is being withdrawn from 12th April. Didn't exactly last long did it!

I believe that route 403 was cut off from around 2-3pm no bus until last journey around 5/6pm on monday to saturday which why poor service and no good to anyone to use it. I guess.

[snoggle]

Apr 3, 2015 15:33:23 GMT lonmark said:

Apr 3, 2015 13:27:10 GMT @truffles1234 said:

Off-topic, but might be of interest for some, but Arriva's lengthy route 403 (Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge - Tunbridge Wells) is being withdrawn from 12th April. Didn't exactly last long did it!

I believe that route 403 was cut off from around 2-3pm no bus until last journey around 5/6pm on monday to saturday which why poor service and no good to anyone to use it. I guess.

A classic problem in deregulation land where they try to use buses off peak but can't sustain a service through the PM peak because the bus has to go off and do schools work or a contracted journey. There is no incentive to keep buses to clockface headways when journey times get longer in the peaks. This has the perverse result that service levels get worse at the busiest times. This has long struck me as completely bonkers if you need full fare paying / season ticket wielding bums on seats to actually give a payback for running the route in the first place. I suspect industry economics have been turned upside down in many places - it's off peak travel and concessionary income that is the base income and peak time travel is the "icing on the cake" rather than the other way round as it was for many decades.

[sid]

Apr 3, 2015 13:27:10 GMT @truffles1234 said:

On the Arriva website, they are advertising that their 333 will operate a Sunday service every 2 and a half hours, commercially. Not exactly the most appealing timetable, but better than nothing. Without it, Sittingbourne would have had no Sunday buses at all! (except for a positioning journey on Chalkwell's KCC route 5).

www.arrivabus.co.uk/globalassets/documents/south-east-service-documents/poster333sundayl_apr1.pdf


Considering this will start next weekend, and nothing has been registered on VOSA yet, I get the impression there was a cock-up somewhere.


Stagecoach's 3, which connected with the 335 (with the same bus), will have the same level of service, but will be run commercially.


Off-topic, but might be of interest for some, but Arriva's lengthy route 403 (Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge - Tunbridge Wells) is being withdrawn from 12th April. Didn't exactly last long did it!

Well the 333 is better than nothing but it's not very impressive. You might be right about a cock up somewhere, when I tweeted Arriva they weren't aware of any replacement for the 334! Does Sheerness still get a Sunday service?

I'm not at all suprised about the 403, that seemed a very odd service to me from the outset. It's a nice scenic ride on a double decker, certainly between Dartford and Tonbridge, but it wasn't unusual to see buses arriving and leaving Bluewater empty probably due to unfamiliar route number. Presumably there will be some sort of replacement at least between Swanley and Sevenoaks?

[jay38a]

Apr 4, 2015 12:26:33 GMT sid said:

Apr 3, 2015 13:27:10 GMT @truffles1234 said:

On the Arriva website, they are advertising that their 333 will operate a Sunday service every 2 and a half hours, commercially. Not exactly the most appealing timetable, but better than nothing. Without it, Sittingbourne would have had no Sunday buses at all! (except for a positioning journey on Chalkwell's KCC route 5).

www.arrivabus.co.uk/globalassets/documents/south-east-service-documents/poster333sundayl_apr1.pdf


Considering this will start next weekend, and nothing has been registered on VOSA yet, I get the impression there was a cock-up somewhere.


Stagecoach's 3, which connected with the 335 (with the same bus), will have the same level of service, but will be run commercially.


Off-topic, but might be of interest for some, but Arriva's lengthy route 403 (Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge - Tunbridge Wells) is being withdrawn from 12th April. Didn't exactly last long did it!

Well the 333 is better than nothing but it's not very impressive. You might be right about a cock up somewhere, when I tweeted Arriva they weren't aware of any replacement for the 334! Does Sheerness still get a Sunday service?

I'm not at all suprised about the 403, that seemed a very odd service to me from the outset. It's a nice scenic ride on a double decker, certainly between Dartford and Tonbridge, but it wasn't unusual to see buses arriving and leaving Bluewater empty probably due to unfamiliar route number. Presumably there will be some sort of replacement at least between Swanley and Sevenoaks?

Yes KCC supported route 421 run by Go-Coach, which goes via Shoreham Village. There's only a very small section of the main road which looses its bus service with the withdrawal of the 403.