More bus cuts announced in Kent around the Bluewater and Dartford areas
Bus company Arriva have pushed yet more cuts on their ever shrinking network in north Kent around Dartford.
Next week saw the end of route 414 being operated by Arriva with rival bus company Go-Ahead taking it on. They’ve branded routes as Kent Country.
In addition other Arriva routes are seeing later first buses and earlier last buses including their main route the 480. This will particularly impact retail workers at Bluewater.
One route is being cut back including the 483 which on Sundays will no longer serve Ebbsfleet Green.
Continual cuts
These changes are the latest in a long line of cuts by Arriva in this part of Kent. Despite some of the highest housing growth across the entire country its been a long process of retrenchment with services cuts and lower frequencies.
Wider issues don’t help with Dartford traffic congestion often abysmal with the Dartford Crossing whilst the road collapse in 2023 at Swanscombe didn’t help some routes.
Arriva gave up on operating the Fastrack routes with Go-Ahead taking it over. They’ve started to chip away at other routes and as stated above with now take on the 414.
Recently TfL threatened to cut back on London buses serving areas of Kent past Dartford, with Kent County Council’s fees to use bus lanes being blamed. That now appears to be resolved.
Still, public transport in the area is seeing cuts which is also impacting rail. Services through stations in this area including Stone Cross, Greenhithe, Northfleet and Swanscombe are now down to just one Thameslink train per hour off-peak which offer the only direct connection to the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood.
Considering the many new housing developments in the area, these cuts will ensure many new residents will need a car adding to chronically high levels of traffic congestion.
The 414 is a result of KCC tendering which Arriva lost and was announced back in May. Same with the Fastrack and the fact there were no room for electric chargers to be installed at Northfleet garage.
As for the 483 not serving Ebbsfleet Green, I cannot say I’ve seen a single user get on or off there since Arriva re-routed the 483 through there from Ebbsfleet Intl.
From Save Our Buses (Kent) campaign.
We fully understand the horrible cut backs that you have in West Kent and is there anyway we could help you.. With my colleague Keith Sansum from Hythe we formed our Facebook campaign over two years ago to highlight the appalling plight of our public transport system operated by Stagecoach. We have had several meetings with local MP’s, Stagecoach and KCC. If you would like to hear more about us and if we can offer any help please contact me. Check us out on Facebook.