In Ashford, Stagecoach has increased the size of its bus fleet to provide two brand new routes for the town, the H-Line and K-line. The H-Line (H for hospital) runs every 30 minutes on a circular between William Harvey Hospital, Ashford International, the town centre, Bockhanger and Kennington. The K-Line (K for Kingsnorth) runs between the hospital, Park Farm and Kingsnorth every 30 minutes. There have also been improvements to existing services to the hospital such as route 11 from Lydd. A greatly increased Sunday bus service will now see buses running from 6am until 9pm.
Thanet will also see the launch of a brand new bus route from 6 April. The new route 40 runs between Broadstairs and the QEQM Hospital every 30 minutes. This will provide a significantly quicker journey to the hospital for staff and patients living in Broadstairs than currently going via Margate or Ramsgate on the Loop bus. People from Margate and Ramsgate will also benefit from these service enhancements with more early morning and Sunday journeys added to the Loop.
The frequency of route 25 buses, which run between K&C Hospital and Canterbury Bus Station, are increasing to every 7-10 minutes Monday to Friday, every 20 minutes on Saturdays and at least once an hour on Sundays. For those travelling from outside of Canterbury, extra journeys are being added to Triangle buses from Whitstable, Blean, Herne Bay and Sturry and on route 7 from Hillborough and Hoath, allowing for better connections to route 25 and the Kent & Canterbury Hospital.
Stuart Bain, Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals said: “Through an investment of nearly half a million pounds, we are bringing about significant access improvements to our hospitals for our patients and staff through public transport with Stagecoach. These new routes and improvements to existing ones mark the start of this investment.”
Jeremy Cooper, Stagecoach Commercial Director said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with EKHUFT to provide an enhanced local bus service, improving access to the hospitals for everyone, and offering significant improvements to the overall local bus network. We know from recent independent research that over half of all our customers chose to use the bus rather than drive or lift share, and we are confident that the improved services will attract car users and reduce pressure on parking for those travelling from further afield”.
Full details of all the service enhancements and new bus timetable are available online at stagecoachbus.com/eastkentNHS.aspx or call Traveline on 0871 200 22 33.
