Further to concerns about bus services raised at previous meetings, the Chair invited representatives of bus operators to come along to the Sittingbourne Area Committee meeting. Mr Matthew Arnold, the Commercial Director at Stagecoach South East and Mr Roland Eglinton, the Managing Director at Chalkwell Coach Hire Limited, were both in attendance and started the discussion by talking about the current state-of-play with local bus services.

Mr Arnold said that in the 3 years since the Pandemic, passenger numbers had only just recovered to 80%. Bus operating costs had risen by 23%. The Sittingbourne X3 service had seen some growth. Stagecoach were looking at making some adjustments and improvements to services.

Mr Eglinton said that Chalkwell were a third-generation family business. Kent was in a good position with different sized bus services that complemented each other. 97% of services were in the commercial sector with Kent County Council (KCC) bridging the gap. Arriva had been predominant in the area, but since they withdrew, Chalkwell had stepped into provide those services. Chalkwell provided the more local services and Stagecoach did more of the main route services. The result of the KCC review was that they had cut their budget by 25% which had impacted Swale in particular. The bus operators were working with KCC to put back a form of service where there was a need.

A discussion took place and comments included:

·         Was it possible to have a circle line in Swale? Mr Eglinton responded that there were challenges with that suggestion as it required a suitable road network to support it, which there was not currently in Swale. The private car was the main competitor, and it would take extra resource to provide a frequent service.

·         there were regular complaints about the school bus services arriving an hour early and parking at bus stops, in the winter they kept their engines running. Mr Eglinton responded that there wasn’t enough road space or infrastructure for buses. He said that he encouraged the Chalkwell bus drivers to turn their engines off, however, they cut off automatically after 10 minutes.

·         could the Number 9 service be reinstated? Mr Eglinton said that was one of the services affected by the KCC cuts.

·         The KCC Divisional Member for Sittingbourne North asked how the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding supplied by Central Government would be used? Mr Eglinton said that Kent had received some funding but there were some Department for Transport restrictions, the focus was heavy on infrastructure improvements and there was limited scope for additional services. Mr Arnold said that there was a small amount of money for services and Swale would be competing with other areas for those limited funds.

·         The KCC Divisional Member for Sittingbourne North asked if an on-demand service was something that could be considered? Mr Arnold said that no on-demand service in the country had survived without additional funding.

·         how much did bus operators receive from bus passes? Mr Arnold said that it was a complicated formula and the law stated that bus operators should not be able to make a profit from bus passes.

·         A member of the public commented that the X3 service was frequently overcrowded. Mr Arnold responded that punctuality was a problem due to roadworks.  Following the withdrawal of the Arriva 334 service, Stagecoach had agreed with KCC to wait until schools returned after the summer holiday to see what the impact was before deciding what could be done.

The Chair concluded the discussion by thanking Mr Arnold and Mr Eglinton for taking the time to attend the meeting.