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Arriva Kent Thameside

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Arriva Kent Thameside
ParentArriva Southern Counties
HeadquartersNorthfleet
Service areaKent
Service typeBus services
Routes10
Destinations10
Depots1

Arriva Kent Thameside Limited,[1] trading as Arriva Kent Thameside, formerly known as London Transport, London Country and Kentish Bus, is a bus operator based in north-west Kent, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus. The company operates services in Northfleet, Gravesend & Dartford as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division from their Northfleet depot.

Depot and services

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Northfleet

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Northfleet depot runs a mixture of commercial and tendered services in Dartford, Gravesend and surrounding areas.

Bus services

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Northfleet currently operate the following bus services:[2]

Route Start End
414 Dartford[a] Horton Kirby
477 Orpington Bluewater
480 Temple Hill Gravesend
481 Gravesend[b] Riverview Park
482 Gravesend Kings Farm
483 Bluewater Gravesend
489 Gravesend New Ash Green
490 Gravesend Valley Drive
491 Gravesend Riverview Park
497 Temple Hill Ebbsfleet Academy

ArrivaClick

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Northfleet also run the ArrivaClick demand responsive service which covers Darent Valley Hospital, Bluewater, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Ebbsfleet Valley[3] using Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicles.

Fleet

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As of December 2024, the Arriva Kent Thameside fleet consists of approximately 50 vehicles.

The fleet consists of Wright StreetLite (both WF variant and DF), Plaxton Pointer, Caetano Nimbus, Alexander Dennis Enviro200 and Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC buses.

Livery

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Corporate Livery

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Arriva Medway Towns Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC in Chatham, showing the current Arriva corporate livery

The current Arriva corporate livery is light blue across the whole of the vehicle with a pale blue and white stripe at the front of the bus.[4]

This is currently replacing the previous corporate livery which was aquamarine with a cream "cow-horn" at the front with a dark blue skirt. This livery can still be found on many older Arriva Kent Thameside vehicles.

Sapphire Livery

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The current Arriva Sapphire livery uses the same light blue colour across the majority of the bus although the front of the bus is dark blue with a white and silver stripe separating the two colours. Arriva Kent Thameside operate Sapphire liveried buses on routes 480, 490 and 491.[5]

Fastrack

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Two Arriva Kent Thameside Wright Streetlites in Fastrack livery in Dartford

As well as the corporate and Sapphire liveries, the buses used on the Fastrack routes A and B had their own specialist livery.

The buses used a purple base livery with a light and dark blue shimmer effect towards the rear with the Fastrack logo on the front, sides and rear of the bus.

The Fastrack services replaced route 100. The buses on this route used the specialist Bluewater livery in March 1999. This was allover blue, with a water shimmer effect. The service using this livery were replaced by Fastrack on 26 March 2006.[6] On 10 November 2024, Go-Ahead London took over the Fastrack routes which will introduce electric buses by April 2025.[7]

The new Fastrack logo, as of August 2024.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Limited school services continue to and from Wilmington Academy as routes 414A and 414B
  2. ^ Limited school services continue to and from Ebbsfleet International station

References

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  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 2005266 Arriva Kent Thameside Limited
  2. ^ "Dartford and Thameside Network Map". Arriva Southern Counties. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Arriva launches ArrivaClick bus service for Ebbsfleet to get a bus to come to you". Kent Online. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Rebranding Arriva". WPA Pinfold. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Arriva Sapphire Services". Arriva Kent Thameside. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Arriva Kent Thameside 3273-3275: Bluewater Shuttles".
  7. ^ "Kent Thameside Fastrack is going electric". news.kent.gov.uk. 9 August 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
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