Commercial bus operators - in Kent, as across the country - are carrying out reductions in services, reflecting the severe pressures faced by the sector: higher costs (notably fuel prices), labour shortages and a decline in use since the pandemic (customer journeys are still running at only about 70% of pre-pandemic levels). Many of these changes are taking place this month, others taking effect in June.
These are entirely separate from Kent County Council’s consultation on reducing support for subsidised bus routes by £2m this year (though understandably the two developments are sometimes confused). This was a proposal that we came to exceptionally reluctantly as part of a very difficult budget agreed by County Council in February.
These are currently very much proposals, on which a full consultation has been undertaken pending any decision. There are a couple of days left in the consultation; you can find the consultation here
The main impacts of these changes in Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley are to the Arriva 477 Orpington to Bluewater service (commercial change): the service will terminate in Dartford, no longer serving Bluewater or Darent Valley hospital, while the Sunday service between Swanley and Bluewater will be withdrawn. In the case of the KCC proposals regarding subsidised bus routes, the main effect will relate to the Kent Karrier services across Sevenoaks (as elsewhere in Kent), while the S11 Wilmington to Sevenoaks Go Coach service will be withdrawn, though much of this school focused service will be taken up by related routes such as the S10, S12 and S13.
It is confusing to hear that, at the same time, Kent County Council has been awarded £35 million (over the theee years 2022-23 to 2024-25) in support of our Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), drawn up as required in response to the government’s National Bus Strategy. We submitted our BSIP on time in October, and have only just had the response from the Department for Transport; we had to make other decisions in the absence of this information.
The good news is that - unlike many authorities across the country - we did receive funding. The more complicated news is that about two-thirds of the funding - £24 million - has to be committed to capital schemes, such as bus priority schemes and, in more forward-looking fashion, support for the development of initiatives such as transport integration through Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The revenue element cannot be used to sustain existing services, though it may support development of additional services after October. So, while the BSIP funding is undoubtedly good news, it does not resolve the more immediate dilemmas. We are on a tight deadline to respond to the BSIP funding package, and will announce the outcome of this as soon as possible.
