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 Darent 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The now withdrawn route GC1 was introduced back in January 2025 when Arriva withdrew its Click branded DRT service.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 Knockhall 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week to take a look at the new arrangements and began by being totally confused as to whether the GC1 had actually been withdrawn.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 GC1 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 fazed 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 Knockhall 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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I used to travel through Northfleet throughout the late 70s & the 80s on my way to Gravesend on business and recall the scruffy RMLs operating on the frequent 480 route, some of which were still carrying their original London Country Livery! Then the replacement new Atlanteans in their NBC leaf green livery started to appear gradually before the entire stock of NF Routemasters were finally despatched. I also tend to recall the frontage of NF garage when driving by still looking good at that time, even without the former large iconic LT roundel.
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To add to the confusion, when did these changes happen?
CB1 timetable “valid from Monday 31 August 2026”, with a footnote in small print “No Sunday or Bank Holiday Service”; so it started on Tuesday 1st September (as in your writing, Roger).
The screenshot from the website (in which you place “more faith”, Roger): “Big changes from Monday 1 September” in an unspecified year. Presumably they don’t mean Monday 1st September 2025.
There’s a minor typo, Roger: “Knockholt Road” should be “Knockhall Road” twice.
John M.
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Many thanks Knockhall now corrected.
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Go Bus have been going to Chartwell this summer on their 1 / Sunday 401 which requires 2 buses on the Sunday, timetable was still the same with no mention of Chartwell or the extra journeys.
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Roger’s comments about incorrect/out of date/misleading info available to intending passengers apply equally to thousands of points of contact all over the country. Every reader of this blog will have many examples of their own. If retailers tried to sell goods using these standards of promotion they would be in contravention of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Perhaps we train and bus users should be campaigning for the extension of these rights to the public transport sector.
Robin Bence
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This terrible information makes it difficult for bus enthusiasts to use the services, let alone the average public.
I’ve never understood it, I don’t think it’s that hard to keep information relevant and up to date.
AMB
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I was in North Kent on Monday last to ride the 479 and 489 routes serving New Ash Green (sadly, I never managed to ride on them when operated by BN buses from Northfleet; although that was 50 years ago . . . yikes!).
I arrived at Bluewater via Fastrack Route A (less than 10 passengers all the way from Dartford, AND in a 09-plate Mercedes ex Red Arrow!) at 1203, leaving 27 minutes before my bus on Route 479 was due to depart. I walked from Stop 1 to Stop 6, and couldn’t find any mention of Route 479 on any departure screens, so walked all the way round to Stop 7 and still couldn’t find any mention of my route, including on the main screen beside the (closed) travel Hub office.
I now had insufficient time to find a toilet (thanks, Roger, for the tip about M&S!), and in desperation looked up the route on bustimes (thank goodness) which showed Stop 6, and which DID display a timetable, unlike most other stops at Bluewater Bus Station.
I did manage to ride on both routes . . . the 479 in an Autocar-branded Evora saloon, which carried around 10 passengers through to New Ash Green, and the 489 back to Gravesend, in a small Brookline E200, with only a handful of passengers (but travelling into Gravesend at c1400 this did not surprise me). The route through Southfleet was along very small roads . . . I now understand why BN buses were used all those years ago.
Since Kent CC-style timetables are displayed at Bluewater . . . is it beyond possible that a diagram showing departure stop details can be displayed in the (often empty) timetable frames?
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Many thanks for this – the 479/489 have been on my radar to do too (not quite for 50 years though!) so thanks for the tip about the departure stand!
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@thernoblerobin . . . I cannot understand why BusUsersUK do not get more involved in promoting and publicising bus timetables and publicity. I have contacted them in the past about setting up local user groups to promote their local routes, and printing local bus timetables for the local groups to distribute . . . they were rather dismissive about the whole concept, and wouldn’t even discuss the matter, despite a follow-up.
It would seem to me to be just the sort of concept that they should be involved in . . . after all, buses are very much a local matter, rather than nationwide, and a local bus timetable distributed locally might just result in more passengers . . . how many people won’t use the bus simply because they don’t know about it?
And with a Prime Minister who seemingly does “get” buses . . . now might be the right time . . .
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I live near a housing estate where the tenants Association printed their own bus timetable and delivered it locally. First it was just the route around the estate. Then thay Included the routes on the main road. In the latest copy they kind of acknowledged one more routes that only serves one stop at the bottom of the main road. I think the reason for printing their own leaflet was used the bus or we’re lose the service.
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After years of activism within CAMRA that’s exactly why I joined BUUK two decades ago. Although a few areas had local successful user groups – I’m thinking of Oxford, Lancaster and elsewhere – nationally the organisation had little to offer and no campaigning zeal. As greenline727 says, that hasn’t changed. So do we start from scratch? Preparing the banners already.
Robin Bence
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Yes! – and may be this is the time for combined bus-rail user groups, opeating as some of the Community Rail groups do to promote all local public transport. After all, as well as a prime minister who ‘gets’ buses, we have a government elected on a promise to improve bus-rail integration …
Rick Townend
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Sometime this week I clicked on a local bus stop on Google Maps and saw two routes one I thought was withdrawn and other was the new replacement. In the past Google Maps has been good at adding a new route but sometimes showing one that’s not supposed to be there.
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Sadly, having watched the rise and rise of house building in the Ebbsfleet basin (for want of a better word), the whole area still looks more akin to a ghost town for much of the day. Bus passengers still remain sparse on most buses, including Fastrack, although obviously there are odd busy times. One gets the impression much is being propped-up by developer funding, which will cease at some point in the future. And yes, passenger and stand information at Bluewater, not to mention lack of toilets, is most certainly not what it was, and a far cry from just a few years ago.
I find the lettering of routes such CB1 and GC1 confusing, and fear some older people may mistake them for special services rather than available for all, and multi-operator maps (very welcome) do need to be kept up to date.
But perhaps the biggest shock is looking at the Arriva map, and realising the pvr at the once mighty Northfleet garage is now something around 27, and that includes some work moved up from the Medway towns! An astonishing retreat from the days of a 70+ run out which was the case for several decades, not to mention Dartford and Swanley’s combined similar total serving the area. RFs once happily traversed some of those narrow lanes prior to BNs, which were the noisiest vehicles I have ever had the misfortune to travel on!
Terence Uden
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Indeed CB1 and GC1 sound like some form of therapy, motor cycle training scheme or semi illegal drugs in a medication form
JBC Prestatyn
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I came here to say the same thing about Arriva. I know there’s some TFL work, but to think that’s all that’s left of Kentish Bus’ commercial network… wow.
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I note on one of the maps the Bluewater facility is named as a Bus Terminal. I assume this differs from a Bus Station by not having a travel enquiry office or publicly available toilets.
The Righttech vehicle at least looks like a bus (if it were black maybe a taxi – does its turning circle comply with London requirements ?) though I struggle to work out the front from the rear
A GC! has appeared in the narrative rather than GC1.
It seems pointless to further comment on the lack of correct displayed maps and timetables
Is this strictly one of the new bus route exploration series ?
Gareth Dennis on youtube (maybe elsewhere but I dont go elsewhere generally) is suggesting that with Bus franchising and transfer of passenger rail into GBR that the whole lot should be integrated into one as Transport for England which strategically looks at routes and fares and what is best served by rail and best served by fast , semi fast and local bus services and Kent Thameside looks to be one of those areas where an integrated network needs a little more thought – including perhaps better overlapping into local London areas.
Did Maidstone and District have a garage at Gravesend (an area I should have visited but never did despite having at least three ancestors coming from the area). I know their Dartford and Northfleet Garages (both ex local tram depots?) passed to the LPTB being placed in the Country Area.
JBC Prestatyn
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Although both Dartford and Northfleet had tram depots they were located separately from the two bus garages you refer to. The Dartford garage was built for Maidstone & District in 1927 and was transferred to the LPTB upon its formation in 1933. The present Northfleet garage was designed and built specifically for the LPTB and opened in 1937.
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Would I be wrong in a general rule of Thumb. Any bus route with a letter other than X prefix will take the most twisting route and two times min long to get to its final destination than any sole numbered route. any letter only route is generally a special service, any bus route with two letter prefix will be a premium fare (though at present that rule is half broken here)
JBC Prestatyn
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On the subject if GoBus, I read in the latest edition of LOTS’ The London Bus magazine that GoBus’ three Mellor Sigmas have been off the road for a number of months. Is there something wrong with them? What’s their future? It seems a waste of what are probably quite expensive buses just to be sitting idle.
MotCO
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Parts may be an issue with Mellor Sigmas as they were built in China and imported under the Mellor brand during a previous ownership. When Mellor went into receivership a couple of years ago the new owners of the business dropped the Sigma range and it appears support for it. The Chinese manufacturer (Wisdom) are reported as providing some parts support but as they have no other presence in the UK, and only sold less than 2 dozen vehicles in total, that support is patchy and if parts have to come from China may take some time to deliver.
Dwarfer
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Hello
Please be advised that John Wood passed away on Sunday 20/09/26.
Please remove him from this mailing list.
Regards Beth Alberga (Step daughter)
Sent via BT Email App
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Small correction for you, Roger – the hospital is Darent Valley rather than Derwent Valley. I’m astonished it’s been labelled incorrectly on the GoBus map.
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Thanks; I made the same error in a previous post so should have known but was fooled by the map. Now corrected.
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Ebbsfleet sure is over bused and confusing. We bus fans can take time to digest it all. Can the public though ? Gravesend M&D garage was on corner of Overcliffe and Stuart Road. Closed in mid 70s ? Northfleet and Harlow now the only two LCBS garages left in operation.
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Quite a few things to pick up on here:
– The DRT service does actually seem to do reasonably well by contrast to some others. It may only be carrying one or two around at a time, but the vehicles do seem to keep moving. The vehicles also track on Bustimes! Today’s selection is here: https://bustimes.org/services/GOCH:Cross_Bus_DRT/vehicles?date=2026-09-24, although from the areas covered, I think this also includes vehicles on the Kent Karrier service, which GoCoach/GoBus also operate.
– I understand a few red faces ensued in the GoCoach office over Derwent Valley Hospital!
– Kent County Council are apparently quite far behind in processing electronic data for those operators they handle, and similarly with replacing bus stop timetables. Any issues here are likely KCC’s fault, not that of GoCoach (or the other operators), and this may also be the issue for the (new) real time screens, and the multi-operator map.
– John M: I think there was some confusion over the bank holiday – many Kent schools returned on 1st September (earlier than usual, if you’re used to it being 3rd-5th-ish), so Monday slipped in as the first day of term/the week!
– Greenline727: the 479 timetable is on the stop at Bluewater (see Roger’s picture); the 489 is operated by 1st Bus Stop. Both routes worthy of travel, though!
– Terence/JBC: The “numbers” do make sense if you know what they stand for: GC was for “Garden City” (the name for the area served), CB is clearly CrossBus. Not really any different to when Rural Bus Grant routes were K-prefixed, or the B-prefix routes in Bexleyheath.
– JBC: M&D had a garage in Gravesend between 1921 and 1978, on Overcliffe.
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Like many readers of your blog I find it very disappointing that timetables are not updated on stops, although information on line tends to be correct, but not always. Visit to Sevenoaks bus station yesterday found the out of date route 3 timetable (it no longer goes to Locks bottom), not to mention the lack of interest by TfL to update their stops for this route.
Bluewater bus station is now very poor compared with a few years ago. Difficult to find your bus, badly maintained shelters and no loos.
I admire Go Bus as a company but their latest timetable leaflet for Sevenoaks has several errors, including incorrect timings for Route 1 and Sevenoaks Bus Station listed twice instead of Sevenoaks Railway Station.
Brian Willson
Orpington
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I have to agree with other posters that Bluewater used to be very good for travel information in the past but there was next to nothing when I last visited in 2024.
Nigel Turner
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With a wheel at each corner, I saw the CrossBus as double-ended, so no more reversing out of stands as the driver just changes ends. The pairs of steerable wheels would give a great turning circle.
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Hi Roger,
I do not know how I am supposed to change my email address on this list so this is why I am sending you this note using my new address. I do not want to miss out!
I have a bad foot at the moment so I am not getting about much so no usual bus trips or what I like doing most, longish walks
We went to Hebden Bridge to go up to Blackshaw Head for a scenic bus ride but lucky for us the route had been diverted due to road works so we went on an even more spectaculary trip followed by one to Old Town and Crimsworth Dene, before going back over the top to Keighley on the way home
If WYCA was any use it would advertise these routes as scenic tours. They are putting in expensive new Weaver bus shelters in some places which have hardly any services instead of doing busy or windswept routes first.
Best Wishes
Ray Wilkes
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Have sent you an email, Ray.
RF
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thanks
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It is interesting that a concessionary pass has to be registered by a telephone call in advance before it can be used for a 50% discount on off-peak fares on CrossBus. I’ve not come across this before and wonder if it happens elsewhere?
Steven Saunders
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The misleading or out of date information is a constant source of frustration in the Kent Thameside area when I visit. The area has some brilliant bus services, but the publicity is terrible.
AMB
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