The Future for Bus Services in Kent

The future of bus services in Kent was the topic of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT)’s South East Region event last month. Chaired by Leon Daniels (President of CILT), key representatives from local government, bus operators and transport planning consultancies discussed the challenges facing the bus industry and shared their thoughts on what the future of buses in Kent could and should look like. Paul Lulham (CILT South East Regional Chair), Rob Smith and Tom Valek from DHA’s Transport Planning Team attended the round table discussion, and Paul provided key insight into the importance of development supporting bus services, having worked in both the public and private sectors.   

 

According to Phil Lightowler (Head of Public Transport at Kent County Council), bus ridership levels are generally back to 80-85% of pre-Covid levels, but many bus users are now working and socialising online, leading to reduced demand, and when combined with a 20-25% uplift in running costs, makes running services as challenging as ever. Kent is made up of numerous urban areas, that compete and pull against each other for passengers and their centres need to offer a key destination for shopping, leisure, education etc to make the bus attractive. Sadly, many towns are losing their anchor stores to out-of-town retail parks, which are easy to reach by car from the strategic road network - and offer free parking – but can be difficult for buses to reach that operate from the town centres. Buses run as slowly as 7mph during the peak, even on corridors with bus priority measures, though these measures are not necessarily located where the delays happen.

 

For Norman Kemp, who runs Nu-Venture, the most important aspect for his customers is reliability, but this is difficult to achieve on the highway where over 200 organisations have emergency powers to implement road works at short notice. While new development can be the cause of some of these road works, Phil Lightowler recognises that residents and businesses expect broadband and other utilities to be in place when they move in.

 

The planning system isn’t always supportive; a good example being the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, which is located out of the town next to the A21 and is hard to reach by bus. Regional planning, which was crucial to the development of the Fastrack Bus Rapid Transit network in Kent Thameside, was swept away by the 2010 coalition government, to be replaced by local decision making, which has increasingly concentrated new development in remote urban extensions and ‘garden communities’, situated in areas with few local residents to object, or on the border with their neighbouring authorities.

 

There are signs that the planning world is changing from the demand-led ‘predict and provide’ approach, to ‘decide and provide’; where a preferred, sustainable future is decided and the means to help move towards that future are provided (for example, bus rapid transit). The County Council is keen for devolution of powers, with the possibility of a Kent and Medway elected Mayor: could this be the catalyst for a wider and longer-term strategic approach? The South East is a net contributor to the country’s economy, and public transport in Kent could be much improved if more of that money was re-invested in the county.

 

Key takeaways from the round table discussion included the importance of enhancing bus services and providing better links between public transport and development. This will help build up demand, reduce car reliance and support new development, all contributing to delivering high-quality, attractive and sustainable new places. As we move towards a future centred around ‘decide and provide’, these connections will be vital.

 

Kent still has a comprehensive bus network, where the operators and the local authorities work closely together and whilst it will always be an uphill battle to compete against the convenience of the private car, with a long-term strategy and sufficient funding, the bus has a real future to meet the needs of the county’s residents, businesses and visitors.