West Road Bus Stops and Shelters

In July, Sandgate Parish Council and County Councillor Tim Prater asked Kent County Council in writing about the newly installed bus stops on West Road in Sandgate.

The newly installed shelters are a ridiculous distance from the newly installed boarders (with pole and flag). We wanted to know why, when that would be fixed, and when will Stagecoach start stopping at the new bus stops.

I've today had a response from KCC (encouragingly under a month after the enquiry was sent) as below.

The too long, didn't read version: Oops. We'll fix that.

The key paragraphs from Peter Osborne, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport at Kent County Council, are:

"Unfortunately, the shelters were installed sooner than anticipated, resulting in two different parties delivering elements of the bus stop infrastructure within a short period. This has led to the current situation where the newly installed shelters are located a considerable distance from the existing bus stop poles.

"I appreciate that this is confusing and far from ideal, and I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. We are currently working with the developer to rectify the issue and arrange for the bus stop poles to be relocated so that they align correctly with the shelters and remove any uncertainty for passengers.

“In relation to bus services, we have been liaising with Stagecoach regarding the new stops. We have been advised that the stops are currently being added to their systems and that services are expected to begin serving them imminently.”