Stagecoach South East


Stagecoach South East is the trading name of East Kent Road Car Company Limited, a bus operator based in Canterbury providing services in Kent and East Sussex in the south east of England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.
/Plaxton Paladin wearing a special heritage livery celebrating 100 years of transport in Hastings, which this bus is from.

History

Stagecoach have been operating in the Hastings area since their takeover of Hastings & District Transport in 1989. Stagecoach have made a vast amount of improvements to the Hastings bus network. All the improvements are in partnership with Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council.
Stagecoach acquired the East Kent Road Car Company in 1993 and operates many routes with different route branding.
In early November 2008, local press reported that Eastbourne Buses was to be sold by the end of the year to either the Go-Ahead Group or Stagecoach Group. The employees' trade union, Unite, wrote to Eastbourne Borough Council to ask the Council to sell to the Go-Ahead Group, because of work conditions and a superior fleet. On 25 November 2008, it was announced that Stagecoach was the preferred bidder to purchase. A few days later, it was announced in local press that the takeover had cost £4 million. Stagecoach had run services in the town until late in 2000 before they were withdrawn, and at the time of the announcement operated services to Hastings and Bexhill from Eastbourne.
The sale caused a lot of controversy, with MPs criticising the secrecy surrounding the sale and blaming each other's parties for the state the Eastbourne Buses got into, the Liberal Democrats claiming the Conservatives "failed to support Eastbourne Buses". There has also been criticism of the low price the company was sold at - revealed at £3.7 million, lower than the original report of 4 - and criticism against Stagecoach, one MP saying that the company has effectively been "given away for nothing". However, it was revealed that Go-Ahead had bid much lower at £2.85 million, so the council had to sell to Stagecoach to serve the taxpayer due to the £1.2 million difference in bids, despite the union's calls.
In January 2009, Cavendish Motor Services were bought by Stagecoach Group. Stagecoach announced redundancies for Cavendish staff. The company was then merged with Eastbourne Buses and rebranded as Stagecoach.
On 13 May 2009, the Office of Fair Trading announced that it was referring the purchase of Eastbourne Buses and Cavendish Motor Services by Stagecoach to the Competition Commission. Although the provisional decision found that the acquisitions had substantially lessened competition, the Competition Commission cleared the purchase in October 2009 after deciding that Cavendish would have chosen either to reduce its services substantially or even to close its operations altogether following Stagecoach's acquisition of Eastbourne Buses.
On 22 January 2012, 11 new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 bodied Scania N230UD's were introduced on The Wave 99 that runs between Hastings and Eastbourne via Bexhill and Pevensey Bay.
On 19 April 2012, 23 new Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart's were introduced on the local Hastings Arrow routes.
On 30 June 2013, Stagecoach in Eastbourne introduced a summer only service, Route 110, to celebrate 110 years of bus services in Eastbourne, using a 1967 Eastbourne Buses Leyland Titan PD2 or a 1950 AEC Regal on a circular service around the town.
From 26 April 2015, Hastings saw a major reconstruction of its bus services. Route 2 was extended from Tenterden to Hastings Station to replace routes 340 and 341. The Wave 100 and 101 also changed, with buses serving Hastings every 30 minutes from Kent. The 101 was routed via Fairlight from Rye to replace route 344. Hastings Arrows' Sunday evening service was slightly reduced due to cut of funding from East Sussex County Council.
Until July 2017, Stagecoach operated National Express coach routes 007, 021, and 022, which were then taken over by The Kings Ferry. East Kent had operated services from Kent to Victoria Coach Station since 1932.

Current Operations

Stagecoach East has three divisions:
Stagecoach South East operate seven depots
Stagecoach South East operate a number of branded routes.

The Triangle

The Triangle runs a circular service from Canterbury to Canterbury, calling at the seaside towns of Whitstable and Herne Bay. The route runs on both directions, with buses running every 15 minutes during the daytime. The route is operated with branded Scania E400MMC double-deckers.

The Breeze

The Breeze runs from Canterbury to Margate every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 30 minutes on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The 8 runs from Canterbury to Westwood Cross via Margate and QEQM hospital, and 8A from Canterbury to Northdown Park via Margate and Cliftonville. It takes from 50 minutes to an hour to get from Canterbury to Margate, and a further 30 minutes from Margate to Broadstairs, depending on traffic. The route is operated with Scania E400MMC double-deckers.

Gold 16

Gold 16 is part of the Stagecoach Gold network and has upgraded the route from Hythe and Folkestone to Canterbury. Gold 16 runs every 20 minutes from Hythe and then via Sandgate to Folkestone. From Folkestone, Gold 16 has 20 minute frequency to Canterbury via Hawkinge, Densole, and the A2 to Canterbury. The service runs every 30 minutes on Sunday. It takes roughly 45 minutes to travel from Canterbury to Folkestone, and 1 hour 15 minutes to get from Canterbury to Hythe, depending on traffic.

Hastings Arrows

The main town routes are branded as part of the "Hastings Arrows" and are operated by 23 Enviro200 Darts delivered in Spring 2012.

The Wave

The Wave is the name given to four bus routes in the Kent and East Sussex regions in South East England that run from Eastbourne and Dover on the south coast. The route runs via Pevensey Bay, Hastings, Rye, Camber, Lydd, New Romney, Hythe, and Folkestone.
Stagecoach in Hastings also run long distance routes to Eastbourne and to Winchelsea or Fairlight to Rye. These routes, are branded as part of "The Wave". The Wave 99, which runs from Hastings to Eastbourne, is run jointly with Stagecoach in Eastbourne, using 11 Scania N250UD Enviro 400 MMC'S, which were delivered in late 2017 and received dedicated branding for the route. The Wave 100, 101, 102 runs between Hastings, Folkestone and Dover and are run by branded Alexander Dennis E40D Enviro 40O MMC's delivered in late 2016.
The Wave 99 is run jointly by Stagecoach in Hastings and Stagecoach in Eastbourne using 11 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodied Scania N250UDs delivered in late 2017. The Wave 100, 101, and 102 are run by Stagecoach in Hastings using 66 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Ds delivered in late 2016. All buses used for these services have different slogans at the back, as well as distinctive Wave logos at the front and sides of the bus to catch the eye of motorists.

The Wave 99

The Wave 99 runs from Eastbourne to Silverhill via Pevensey Bay, Bexhill-on-Sea, St. Leonards-on-Sea, and Hastings Town Centre with some services arriving at Hastings station. Buses run every 20 minutes from Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sundays and Bank Holidays. On Sundays and Bank Holidays, one 99 service every two hours arrives at Hastings just before a 100/101 service to Rye, which in turn connects to a 102 that continues to Folkestone and Dover.

The Wave 100 and 101

The Wave 100 and 101 runs every 30 minutes from Hastings to Rye and connects with The Wave 102 to Folkestone and Dover. The Wave 100 serves Icklesham and Winchelsea, while the Wave 101 serves Fairlight and Pett Level.

The Wave 102

The Wave 102 runs hourly between Rye and Littlestone and every 20 minutes between Littlestone and Dover. The 102 serves Lydd, New Romney, Dymchurch, Hythe, and Folkestone.

The Thanet Loop service

The Thanet Loop is the main bus service on the Isle of Thanet. It is also Stagecoach's and the island's most frequent route. Just like the Thanet Stars service, the Thanet Loop links up towns and villages within the island such as Margate, Westwood Cross, Ramsgate, and Broadstairs. The route is circular and runs in both directions every 7 minutes from Monday to Saturday and every 10 minutes on Sundays. On weekend nights, late night services are also operated, finishing at 2 am. The service is run by branded Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC.

Unibus

The Unibus service the University of Kent's dedicated bus, although anyone can use it. The service runs every 7 to 8 minutes during term time and every 15 minutes during non term time from Monday to Saturday only. The service uses Scania N230UD/Alexander Dennis Enviro400 running on bio-fuel from chip oil and lard. The buses have free wi-fi on board and special Unirider tickets are also available.

Canterbury Park and Ride

Stagecoach runs the Monday to Saturday Canterbury Park and Ride services running every 8 minutes to the city centre and 20 minutes to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. All these buses have free wi-fi on board. Once services stop running, tickets can be used on certain Stagecoach services to the Park and Ride site. The service is run by branded Alexander Dennis Enviro300 and Alexander Dennis Enviro400.

Little & Often routes

The Little & Often routes were launched in early January 2017 in Ashford to upgrade the existing B1 and B2 and the C routes. As part of the initiative, the limited regular buses on these routes were replaced with 30 Mercedes Sprinter City 45 minibuses to run frequently and conveniently for passengers to reduce waiting times - hence the name 'Little & Often'. The fleet of Euro 6 spec minibuses belong to the Ashford depot and are among the first in the region to feature contactless payment. Routes E and G have since been converted to minibus operation, resulting in reduced daytime frequencies on routes B and C in order to improve reliability.

Other services

Stagecoach provides joint bus and rail tickets with the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway at Hythe, New Romney, and Romney Sands in the Romney Sands Holiday Park, where The Wave services meet the railway. The Wave also serve Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay and Romney Warren, where the railway has stations a short walk away. The Wave also serves Lydd-on-Sea and Dungeness.
Stagecoach serves Lydd Airport from Ashford, Hastings, Folkestone and Dover.