A call is being made by East Thanet MP Polly Billington for the No 9 bus to have its full Ramsgate to Canterbury route restored using government funding allocated to Kent County Council.
Kent will receive £78.2 million in capital and revenue grants from government to fund bus services and infrastructure.
The MP says restoring the Number 9 bus connecting Ramsgate and Broadstairs to Canterbury must be the “first priority” for the new funding.
Ms Billington said: “For too long Thanet had been disproportionately impacted by years of bus cuts, undermining its economy and cutting people off from work, study, and family and friends.
“Constituents constantly raised the cancellation of the Number 9 service as one of their biggest frustrations, which (I) blame on an “out of touch county council that didn’t understand how much younger and older people in particular rely on bus services to get about.”
The Labour MP recently launched a petition calling for the restoration of the service.
She has also recently launched a constituent bus survey. for residents to raise their experiences, concerns and suggestions about bus travel in and around East Thanet.
Alongside restoring the Number 9 service, ticket prices and service reliability were big issues among those who have already completed the survey. The friendliness and helpfulness of Thanet’s bus drivers has been frequently cited by respondents as a major positive of local services.
The MP said: “Bus services have been decimated across Britain after 14 years of Tory cuts, with coastal communities like Thanet among the worst impacted. But with Labour giving Kent more than £70 million to improve bus services, Kent County Council now has the opportunity to ensure Thanet is at the front of the queue for that much-needed funding.
“In my residents’ bus survey, constituents have told me loud and clear that restoring the Number 9 to Canterbury is their first priority for this new bus funding.”
The Number 9 service was changed in 2022 when the daytime service to and from Canterbury was ended. Some peak-time route 9X journeys continued to operate the full route.
The government funding is allocated across 2026-2029 in two pots – revenue (the money for day-to-day running costs of bus services and keeping routes operating) and capital for infrastructure and equipment such as upgraded stops.
The £42m in revenue funding can be used for services, the remainder capital funding is not for bus routes.
A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “Stagecoach welcomes the opportunity to discuss Polly Billington’s priorities and explore how Stagecoach might work with her and Kent County Council to maximise the impact of this investment for local communities.
“While Kent County Council has received funding to be spent over three to four years, only £42 million is available specifically to fund bus services.
“Any decisions about reinstating, extending, or adjusting routes depend on a range of commercial and operational factors, as well as the intentions of the local transport authority.
“Stagecoach looks forward to working with KCC under our Enhanced Partnership agreement and to constructive conversations with all partners about how this funding can best support sustainable, reliable bus services for passengers across the area.”
A spokesperson from Kent County Council (KCC) added: “KCC is aware of the Department for Transport’s recent announcement regarding additional funding for bus services, which is a welcome development for Kent.
‘At this stage, we have not received a formal funding offer, or any details on conditions or guidance that will inform how the grant might be used. Until this information is provided, we cannot confirm how the funding will be allocated.”
Polly’s survey can be completed at https://pollybillington.org.uk/2025/11/20/fill-out-pollys-thanet-bus-survey/ and will close on 6 January 2026.
Polly’s petition to bring back the Number 9 bus to Canterbury can be signed here: https://pollybillington.org.uk/2025/11/20/sign-the-petition-bring-back-the-number-9-bus-to-canterbury/
The bus service much used by Labour-voting U.K.C., Christchurch and K.I.A.D. students. What a surprise.
The 8 runs from Westwood Cross. Where the Thanet-focussed Loops and 34 stop regularly. The 8A runs from North down Park.
The 9 does not benefit Thanet or Thanetians. In fact, it takes potential shoppers away from Thanet shops.
It was much used by those from Broadstairs who had appointments at Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
Ms. Matterface- You’re right. And I bet they weren’t all Labour voters!
Minster and Monkton were still in Thanet last time I checked.
This is fascinating, do you know what the association is with the number 9 and affiliation with socialism – is it something deriving from druidry? I’m curious to know which bus services in the region other party political supporters are most prone to use so that I can make an informed choice in deciding which one to board? If and when I do board, how do I know how the passengers vote or even vote at all? Can I just ask or is there a particular look I should be keeping an eye out for and keeping my distance? What about those who have spoilt their ballot paper, even accidentally? I’ve asked the internet but no sensible results were elicited, but I imagine that’s because your ethnographic esearch is still in its early infancy and not yet published in a reliable academic journal. Awaiting your response with asphyxiated breath.
What buses do you use? How could they be improved?
What am awesome post!🤣
If Polly were male I suspect that her predeliction for the number 9 would possibly indicate Masonic links and Cabalistic references to perfect manifestations.
However I was going to post that money to reinstate the full number 8 service to Canterbury that used to run to Broadstairs and then back via Beacon Road and Cliftonville on to Margate, St Nicholas at Wade to terminate I. Canterbury. Much quicker than 9 used to be. Of course a publicly owned bus company would be the best solution!
The 9 served Ramsgate better because it went through Nethercourt and the villages so was quicker if you lived that side of Thanet.
We do also need the 33 back as that served the Dumpton area.
We used to often get the 34 from Birchington to St. Peters roundabout, and then stroll into Broadstairs. We haven’t been to St. Peters since as its too difficult to get to.
For once I 100% agree with Ms. Billington (and while we’re at it, can we reinstate the full route of the 8 all the way to Broadstairs?).
Unfortunately it’s not down to us’ but we need to lobby the relevant bodies. I raised this last evening at full council specifically the 9 and 33 routes.
Please stop this,and Polly please do the same.
Patching up old routes is not the answer.The network is full of half dead zombie routes that few use because the frequencies are hopelessly inadequate, and the same will happen again.Stagecoach will run some of them at the frequency of 3 per day or some such nonsense, and then blame you the passengers for not using them.
How do I know this? Because this is what has done on elsewhere!
We need a plan to restore the network regeneratively, so it will not fall apart when some car centric outfit like Reform are erroneously voted into power at Westminster, and start building motorways instead of bus routes.
We need to make the experience of using a bus positive, with decent bus stops, accurate and easy to read traffic information, rather than bits of paper nailed to a post, which purports to be a timetable, and is more a work of fiction than Dickens ever wrote.
We need to decarbonise,modernise, and to ensure a priority for buses, not patchy schemes that round up a few anti social car parkers.
We need to rethink entirely how buses are used, and to understand their importance in the social life of young and old.We are an ageing population more of us won’t be able to drive, and some of us shouldn’t be driving.If there is a decent bus service that needn’t be a problem as it is today.
This is just a small area for discussion, but most of all I don’t want this money to be squandered on a bean feast for Arriva and Stagecoach SE to remit to their masters in Florida and Germany.
I have no particular view about franchising, but the pusillanimous way that KCC act regarding these two bus companies has to stop.If KCC cannot manage this £90m they should hand the network over to TFL and get them run it. As it is parts of Kent have TFL services anyway.
Moan, moan, moan!
As for your “We need to make the experience of using a bus positive”, The Loop aside, it very much is so. We travel all over the country several times a year, and only use public transport. Buses in particular are a great way of exploring places, Thanet included. Its a lovely day, so get out there, and jump on a bus route you’ve never used before. You might even come back with a “glass half full” attitude, and start praising some of the many positive things happening in Thanet right now.
A man has told a woman to stop. All women stop! A man has spoken (or written). Listen! Even if it’s utter tosh! Who even needs buses? Who even needs roads? Why are people even leaving their houses? Buses, roads, routes, people needing to go places – all such politically correct clap-trap! Be gone with them all! Vote George! You’re welcome.
George is often rude to female politicians.
I find the bus service is just about OK in Cliftonville. Loop and 8a are the busses I use the most of. I use my car only when required, a lot of grocery shopping or garden centre. I have stopped driving for 6 months a couple of years ago but had to buy another one for those reasons. Yes taxis could do the job but the freedom a car gives is great.
I had to go to Herne Bay Hospital for treatment recently and the 36 was once an hour. Not good enough for me.
This is another route that could easily disappear due to lack of use. The villages of Thanet are even worse, no services for some. With taxis age being reduced soon and less on the road it just means more of us keeping our cars. Thanet like a lot of coastal areas are left behind in transport needs.
Until a few years ago, the 36 went to Whitstable. Yet another route that’s been cut back.
I agree with most comments on here. Bus services are an important part of our community. There has been a lack of funding and effective planning. Eg Interconnecting Bus and Rail Services. Our roads also need improvements/funding. I would love to see a central tram service between the towns, but I know that won’t be happening, all pie in the sky!
One thing that should be reinstated are bus services on Boxing Day, as they’re a real lifeline for many of Thanet’s poorer residents (in London they run a full Sunday service on all routes!). We also need to equal things up by giving free bus travel for the over 60s, just like in London, Wales and Scotland.
All very well, but who is going to pay for all these “free “ services?
Motorists, ideally.
And there you go. Always someone else who has to cough up. If you want something, pay for it yourself!
I care about your grandchildren’s future.
I think that will bring up “the war against the motorist ” trope,and in any case it’s likely to come from general taxation.
I think where devolution is a pain, is not having a national bus pass. It’s a nonsense having separate bus passes for every area.
9 bus didn’t used to go through Minster and Monkton and was much quicker. It was changed after stopping the 42 bus from Ramsgate.
Shouldn’t bus companies make enough money to run themselves and stop relying on tax payers to fund. 70 million could be better spent
The problem with that is only busy routes would make money, and we’d have even less in those rural areas with no shops where it is essential.
All bus companies except for First bus and some smaller operators are subsidiaries of foreign owned financial interests.Arriva, by I Squared based in Florida, Stagecoach SE by deutsch bank and Go Ahead by a French group.The DFT reckons that around 40 to 50% of their income is subsidy from HMG.This includes some urban routes.If we said no subsidy I suspect that much of Kent would have no bus services.
In that event nationalisation would be the only choice, costing even more.
However,I think we deserve much more bang for our buck, and as the state subsidises bus services to a substantial degree,there should be some provision for the piper to call the tune.How that would be done is down to negotiation.