A new rural bus scheme launches in Sandwich on Monday, 10 June, serving four villages and offering four daily return journeys between Staple, Guilton, Northbourne, Mongeham and Sandwich. The Sandwich taxi bus service will operate off peak between 9.30am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday. The Kent County Council funded service will be operated by Britannia Coaches.
The taxi bus service will run like a normal bus, having designated stops with those who have a Kent Travel Saver card or an older person’s bus pass still able to use them. For everyone else, a journey on the Sandwich services will be £3 for a single, £5 for a return and £1 for a child per journey.
DDC cabinet member for transport and licencing, Cllr Nigel Collor, said: “We know how important local bus services are for people living in rural areas. The Parish Councils and local councillors have worked hard to secure this new service for their communities and we’re grateful to KCC for piloting the project in Sandwich.”
KCC cabinet member for transport, Mike Whiting, said: “Our objective with these services is to fill a gap that isn’t provided by the commercial operators and help those living in rural communities have access to an alternative means of transport.
“By doing so we hope to help tackle social isolation and provide the right transport solutions in the right places for the right price.”
Mr Whiting added: “I would like to thank everybody that took part in our Big Conversation on rural transport last year and I’m happy to see the realisation of those discussions.
“I hope every route is successful and that people are able to benefit from these additional services. We’re spending £500,000 on these pilot projects for 12 months and if they prove to be popular, they will become the basis on which rural transport could be provided in the future.”
For more information, visit: www.kent.gov.uk/ruraltransport
Posted on 04 June 2019