Nearly 20 fewer buses will serve Rye’s Memorial Hospital each weekday when subsidy cuts start affecting timetables on April 26. Rye’s links to the Conquest Hospital, Hastings, are also much reduced and services between Rye, Northiam and Tenterden will operate only every two hours, effectively halving the off-peak service. Rye Harbour’s bus service will, effectively, become a shuttle service into town with poor onward connections. And there will be no Sunday services from Rye to Rye Harbour, Tenterden and Northiam.
These are some of the principal changes following a decision to cut subsidised services by the Conservative-led county council. Other changes include
- new routes,
- new bus operators,
- new numbers for some routes, and
- some changes to pick up and stopping points
For a full analysis of the changes see Bus cuts may confuse by Charles Harkness.
The current 344 route from Hastings to Northiam via Rye is being split into two and the Rye-Northiam section will see major cuts. But the Rye-Hastings section will be renumbered 101, have larger buses, and continue on to Lydd Camp where the current 101 now runs through to Folkestone and Dover. Camber therefore may have a few more buses to and from Rye, but at the Hastings end of the route the new 101 will have fewer connections to the Conquest Hospital than the current 344.
The 344 service (Rye to Northiam) will become the 313 with a two hourly off peak service, and the 312 will start from Rye Station (not the Harbour) and will also be two hourly off peak to Tenterden. The 312 service from Rye Harbour becomes the 313 and more of a shuttle service, with fewer connections from Rye Station.
The present 100 bus will continue running along the main road between Hastings and Lydd via Rye and will then continue onwards to Folkestone and Dover as the 100, instead of becoming the 101 at Lydd. Some existing 100 journeys will be cut, but overall Camber will get two extra services to and from Rye with the introduction of the extended 101 service from Hastings.
The 326 service in Rye will no longer be subsidised by the county council and will be run instead by Rye Community Services (RCT) and will have extra Saturday services. There will be some timetable changes though, more buses may stop in Tilling Green (rather than on the Udimore Road), and RCT will have to balance the books. Services 342, 343 and 347 will see some minor cuts, while the 340/341 (Hastings-Tenterden service) will be renumbered 2 and extended to Ashford. This will be run commercially by Stagecoach, as will the new Hastings-Lydd 101 service, while some county subsidised services will now be run by Renown.
See also:
Photo: Ray Prewer