Thursday 24th September 2026
Over the years I’ve featured various bus route developments in Ebbsfleet Garden Village including DRT and Fastrack changing hands and new routes to serve the expanding residential areas.
The latest change introduced from 1st September saw GoBus introduce a new all day fixed timetable bus route numbered CB1 between Ebbsfleet International Station and Bluewater Shopping Centre which has replaced most of what was a hybrid route numbered GC1 – a mix of fixed journeys in the peak hours and Demand Responsive during the off-peak. As the GoBus website proclaims for passengers enticed by the new CB1 – there’s “No booking. No app. No fuss. Turn up at the stop and pay the driver.”
Revolutionary.
Except the DRT service branded as go2Kent still runs, with the rather unusually shaped Wrightbus Rightech RB6 electric buses used on the service carry another brand name: CrossBus.
The area served by go2Kent/CrossBus stretches from Northfleet to Greenhithe including Ebbsfleet, Swanscombe, Bluewater and Derwent Valley Hospital as shown by the shaded area on the map below which also shows the route of the new fixed timetable CB1 through Ebbsfleet and Swanscombe.
The now withdrawn route GC1 was introduced back in January 2025 when Arriva withdrew its Click branded DRT service. Readers may recall I sampled the new route at the time and noted it was good to see a fixed half hourly timetable replace a DRT offering.
However, as the above timetable notes, from February 2025 the off-peak timetabled service was replaced with a DRT arrangement and it’s interesting to see, once again, history repeating itself in September 2026 as the replacement CB1 route’s fixed timetable runs throughout the day with half hourly in the peaks and hourly off-peak and all day on Saturdays.
It’s also interesting to compare the route maps of the GC1 and the new CB1 in the images above from which you can see how they’re the same between Ebbsfleet and Swanscombe taking a wandering route around the Ebbsfleet developments in Castle Hill and part of Whitecliffe but after Swanscombe instead of continuing to Greenhithe, as the GC1 used to do, the new CB1 heads down to Bluewater via Knockholt Road, bringing a bus to that road for the first time.
I paid a visit over to Ebbsfleet last week to take a look at the new arrangements and began by being totally confused as to whether the GC1 had actually been withdrawn. The usual reliable bustimes.org website was (and still is) displaying a timetable for the route containing the peak journeys…
… and when I arrived at Ebbsfleet International Station a bus stop display showed what appeared to be a current GC1 timetable – and just to add to the confusion and uncertainty, no reference to new route CB1.
I put more faith in the GoBus website (recently upgraded to a new improved design) which was definitely saying “our GC! becomes the CB1”.
Sure enough at just before 12:45 an Optare Solo appeared outside the station on the CB1 and I hopped aboard for the mystery tour to Bluewater.
The driver didn’t seemed phased when I asked if she was going to Bluewater nor pointed out the journey time at 26 minutes was much longer than the every 12 minutes Fastrack B or the half-hourly Fastrack C both taking 13 minutes.
The CB1 is definitely a route of considerable contrast as it initially wanders around the hundreds of new houses in Ebbsfleet…
… followed by the much older traditional (and very narrow roads) of Swanscombe which is also served by Arriva’s half hourly route 483…
… as you can see marked in lime green on its Kent Thameside network map below….
… and whereas that route continues to Bluewater via Alkerden Lane the CB1 takes in a section of London Road and then Knockholt Road which has a very narrow section which the driver took in her stride.
We arrived into Bluewater a couple of minutes late at 13:13 even though there’d been no other passengers – but it’s a very tightly timed route.
The CB1 leaves from Bay 6 at Bluewater’s bus station but you’d have to be a mind reader to know this as there’s no reference to it either on the real time departure signs or the fixed timetable at the bus stop.
All in all, it wasn’t surprising no one travelled. I had originally intended to catch the CB1 back again to Ebbsfleet but after that experience felt fairly confident I’d be a solo passenger again and indeed the driver did confirm she’d not seen many passengers all day.
Instead I thought I’d try out the go2Kent (or is it CrossBus?) option especially as much to my surprise when interrogating the app it told me that not only could I summon up a bus to take me back to Ebbsfleet International Station but one was available in 13 minutes.
I immediately confirmed the booking and headed off to M&S to use their toilets on the first floor – which are the nearest toilets to the bus station since the shopping centre closed down the travel centre and toilets right by the departure bays.
I then saw on the app that the bus was making good progress and would be with me at 13:24 – just eight minutes after confirming the booking. What a fantastic service. And sure enough the bus appeared at that time in the bus station as I rushed back from M&S.
Concessionary passes offer a discounted fare of £2 (50% off the normal fare) so I paid this by card and took a seat on board.
It was just me on board and off we went over to Ebbsfleet taking the most direct route along the A2…
… making for quite a contrast with my twisty outbound journey on the CB1.
It took just 10 minutes to reach Ebbsfleet International Station.
Most DRT operations these days don’t let you book a journey which can easily be undertaken on conventional bus routes so bearing in mind Bluewater and Ebbsfleet are connected by Fastrack B and C (as well as CB1) it did seem odd I could summon up what effectively was my own personal taxi within a few minutes to take me back. It would indicate utilisation of this DRT is not particularly intensive and therefore, at the moment, a great opportunity for passengers, albeit the fares are more expensive than Fastrack.
To conclude this review of Ebbsfleet’s latest developments I’m pleased to see the Fastrack website has an updated ‘summary’ network map showing new route C which is now paralleled by route B through Castle Hill between Bluewater and Ebbsfleet International…
… but it’s disappointing the Kent Thameside Multi-Operator Zone Map is now out of date, still showing Fastrack route E rather than it’s new letter C with the B shown as still using the A2 and the withdrawn GC1 is, of course, still included.
I also noticed Ebbsfleet International Station still shows Arriva’s 483 calls there, which it no longer does.
It’s all a bit frustrating bearing in mind the significant investment going into funding all these routes which offer an impressive service level, including that CrossBus (or is it go2Kent?) DRT.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
Very interesting Roger. We lived in Northfleet, one street from NF and were used to unkempt RML’s on 480. But that was in the late 1970’s and I was at either NX and BX. Yes! the Wanderings of a Busman. Your regular comments and observations of our UK wide bus services are a joy to read. Keep travelling.
The Wanderings of a Busman.
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