Arriva to cap evening fares

Arriva has capped the evening fares on its Service 155 that runs between Chatham and Maidstone via the Medway Valley villages during November, December and January. For the three months, the maximum return fare in the evening will be £5 instead of £6. The move is the latest in a campaign involving the communities along the route to encourage local people to make use of the evening buses to ensure that they can be sustained in the future. Kent County Council removed financial support for the evening 155 buses as a result of the government’s spending review in 2011. A local action group was formed to press for the reintroduction of the withdrawn buses and, following discussions with Arriva and Kent County Council, the evening service was reinstated for a trial period with some support from the Council, the endorsement of local MP, Tracy Crouch, and a lot of local effort to encourage people to make use of the service.

Arriva’s Regional Publicity Manager, Richard Lewis, said, ‘Although we run the daytime 155 service without any financial support, demand drops considerably in the evenings and that is why the service had previously been supported by Kent County Council. We have been pleased with the way the community has pulled together to ensure that as much use is made of the service as possible and we hope that the capping of the fare at £5 will make a return journey to Maidstone or Chatham for the evening a good alternative to taking the car, especially for those who like to have a drink while they are out.’