Bus passengers across Kent and Medway will be able to travel for free over the weekend of June 24-25, thanks to a collaboration between Kent County Council and the bus companies, paid for with funding from the government.
The initiative has been coordinated to support the Kent Big Weekend, organised by Visit Kent, which is promoting more than 70 tourist attractions across the county with many offering free or reduced cost entry.
The Kent Big Weekend takes place on June 24-25. The ballot to get tickets for attractions is open until June 12 and can be found at www.kentbigweekend.co.uk
The Free Bus Weekend is funded by the Department for Transport through Kent’s Enhanced Bus Partnership Schemes.
Passengers can just turn up and travel for free on any bus within Kent and Medway up to 8pm on both days.
It is hoped that as well as supporting the Kent Big Weekend, it will encourage more people to use buses again following the pandemic, to discover new places, visit friends or family and to help reduce the number of cars on Kent’s roads.
KCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, David Brazier said: “We are very grateful to the government for providing us with the funding to support our Bus Service Improvement Plan.
“Reduced use of buses and increased operating costs means that there is a real challenge for operators to sustain their services. This is one of a number of new initiatives that we hope can improve our network and encourage greater bus use helping to make services sustainable in the future.”
For more information about the Free Bus Weekend, visit www.kent.gov.uk/freebusweekend.
For information about the venues and offers featured in the Kent Big Weekend, visit www.kentbigweekend.co.uk
