A survey of Thanet residents’ views over how bus service funding awarded to Kent County Council could be spent received 423 responses with many calling for the reinstatement of the Ramsgate to Canterbury route and increased frequency of Loop services.
The Labour government awarded Kent more than £70 million, made up of £42m to improve bus services with the rest in capital funding for infrastructure, to cover 2026-2029.
As part of KCC’s exploration of where DfT Bus Grant Enhancement funding could be used county councillors were asked for feedback on proposed service enhancements.
Green Cllr Rob Yates carried out a week long consultation, for residents across Thanet with results showing preferred new bus routes are Ramsgate – Canterbury; reinstatement of the 33 service and a Broadstairs to Westwood Cross route inclusive of stops at Thanet Health Hub.
People also called for improvements to the Loop and the 34,8 and 9 services.
Improvements to the Loop focused on the frequency of buses, particularly bringing it back to every eight minutes, services running later into the evening, timing buses to trains to London and being more regular, with people citing too many delays.
KCC will need to decide on which proposals across Kent will get funded. Decision criteria includes whether the service will be sustainable after funding ends.
The Bus Grant funding is split by capital and revenue. For capital, 2026-27 sees Kent’s allocation at £11,691,366, in 2027-28 the allocation is £11,926,369 and in 2028-29 £12,161,371.
Kent’s revenue allocation is £14,163,699 per year for each of the three years.
Capital funding is to be used in areas such as bus shelter grants, bus stop upgrades, bus stop solar lighting, highway interventions to support reliability, a community transport grant, investment in greener/ accessible vehicles, Fastrack capital projects and for further transport interchanges improvements in collaboration with Southeastern Rail.
The revenue funding needs to sustain existing bus services that are currently funded through BSIP and Bus Grant funding and for the cost incentive initiative on the Kent Travel Saver.
The existing commitments cost almost £10m, leaving around £2m for service improvements as well as other works and resource and capacity costs.
Cllr Yates said: “Buses are the lifeblood of Thanet’s economy and from this feedback it is clear we need much more investment. The feedback has been passed to KCC and I have reached out to Stagecoach to discuss the results as I believe they could introduce new services without needing subsidies.
“It seems crazy to me that we don’t have normal buses that stop at Margate train station or the new Broadstairs health hub, and it seems crazy that the 8A bus only runs three times a day in Kingsgate. Let’s improve our buses!
“Given the disproportionate lack of KCC revenue bus subsidy spent in Thanet last year, I have lobbied KCC and am hopeful that additional funding is coming our way for the next three years, so thank you so much for the 423 responses, this will help shape what happens next.”
BSIP funding is used for 62 bus services in Kent, at a cost of around £7m per annum, that would have faced commercial withdrawal without direct intervention.
The estimated cost of a single vehicle, six day a week service is around £220k per annum.
The feedback for new bus improvements funding has resulted in some 80 requests and suggestions countywide.
MP’s route reinstatement call
East Thanet MP is also calling for the reinstatement of the full number 9 service between Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Canterbury.
Last December she said restoring the Number 9 bus connecting Ramsgate and Broadstairs to Canterbury must be the “first priority” for the new 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 MP has a petition running which can be signed at: https://pollybillington.org.uk/2025/11/20/sign-the-petition-bring-back-the-number-9-bus-to-canterbury/
Ramsgate need more travel link there mini cab service is out of date and leaves people waiting over a hour to get a cab ridiculous why is the NO uber drivers ? We need transport and definitely a new bus link to Canterberry
Uber is now operating in Thanet. I’ve never had to wait longer than 3-4 minutes for an Uber and a bit cheaper than calling a cab. I like paying upfront for Uber so I know what I’m paying before I get in and get charged on a meter
Don’t you give them a tip?
There is absolutley no way omn earth that UBer is cheaper than a private hire in thanet and as a Hackney driver i can also assure you that our meters are cheaper than uber
Loop needed to go via Margate railway station.
the 32 Goes via Margate seafront and Stn
As usual, this has focused on the three main towns. People in Minnis Bay have to get two buses each way just to go to QEQM (with no bus service on Sundays), while actually in St. Nicholas village (as opposed to the edge of it) there’s only one bus a day.
One suggestion I have: bring the 8 bus to Birchington station, and not just the square.
Correct Mr Checksfield , the Margate to Canterbury bus stops at St Nicholas at Wade and runs all day long
This route has been there for decades so people living in the village are aware of that before living there Btw . People go to work in Canterbury from Margate, Westgate and Birchington so the bus will never go off route to Birchington station using valuable time to get people to their place of work in Canterbury
The 36 from QEQM to Herne Bay used to stop in the village all the time. This has only changed in very recent years.
As for Birchington Station, there would be no “valuable time” wasted. When the square was cut off a couple of years back for roadworks, all buses went via the station. It probably added 2 minutes to the journey.
Interesting.
Lots of words.
Nothing quantitative concerning the proportion of respondents actually concerned with the 9. Just an assurance that at least 1 out of more than 400 is and, the big gun that is the local urban M.P. Nothing about Sir Roger’s opinion/view?
Show us the raw data!
The bus from Broadstairs to Canterbury used to take around an hour and now costs £3 each way, the train same journey is 27 minutes and with a rail card is £5.10 and there’s toilets on the train. Of course with a bus pass the bus journey is free .
The train is great but requires a reasonably long walk to get to the shops/uni/cathedral/theatre. The bus station is in a great location so it’s a shame not to have access to a bus service from Ramsgate.
Dave, depends where you are of course. From Birchington, trains don’t normally go direct to Canterbury (or even Minster). So a bus is quicker.
Rob Yates says: “It seems crazy to me that we don’t have normal buses that stop at Margate train station or the new Broadstairs health hub…” As he is now the Cliftonville councillor at KCC, it’s time he also spoke for his constituents who don’t have a bus service to Bethesda Medical Centre which has over 20,000 patients.