BusAndTrainUser Verify

Saturday 10th October 2026

It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog fact checking one of those headline grabbing negative stories about public transport that appear from time to time in the media. I’m putting that right today, thanks to blog readers Harry and Lorenzo who drew my attention to a news item from Crawley which the BBC covered on Tuesday with a video clip (presumably for its Regional News programme) and online.

The story was about residents, having moved into a relatively new (and still expanding) residential area west of Crawley called Kilnwood Vale, complaining buses are “disturbing the quality of life”.

It does happen from time to time – whereas the media often feature passengers complaining about the lack of, or cuts to buses. there are also sometimes reports of a NIMBY attitude from others who don’t want any buses past their front door. In my time it often happened wirh the siting of bus stops. “No bus stop to be sited outside my house, thank you very much”; as if householders owned the road outside their property.

What gave Tuesday’s story added interest was complaints from two residents who couldn’t sleep at night due to the noise and disturbance caused by buses passing by 24/7. One resident, Stuart Ralph reckons Calvert Link, which he calls a “fast highway” (it’s in a 20mph zone), has “400 buses going from Crawley to Horsham past my front door, which is less than five metres away”.

Another resident, Andy Marits described the situation as a “nightmare” and said his wife, who has moved to their spare room, is now “sleeping with earplugs in and a pillow over her head”. Terence Nadin said he has had to add some “secondary glazing” on his bedroom window to improve his sleep quality while Andrea Gaielli claims the frequency, particularly of the number 10, was “disturbing the quality of life”.

The report also stated “residents who are against the frequency of service said it exceeds the level promised in the section 106 planning agreement struck when the estate, which remains unadopted, was built.” But, Crest Nicholson, the developer pointed out “Crest Nicholson does not determine or control the frequency of bus services operating through Kilnwood Vale.  We have met all of our obligations in relation to bus services at the development.” And Matt Ashton, managing director of Metrobus rightly observed “the Section 106 agreement sets minimum service requirements rather than a maximum level of provision, enabling services to respond to passenger demand.” Adding “we recognise the concerns raised by some residents and have engaged with them through meetings, calls and correspondence. Services are planned in conjunction with a range of stakeholders, including Crest Nicholson, the lead developer.”

I took a ride out to Kilnwood Vale on Thursday afternoon to see what all the fuss is about.

The area lies just north of the A264 Crawley to Horsham road on the western side of Crawley and by the look of the area on Google Map’s aerial view (above image) only around half the planned 2,750 houses have so far been built (Phases 1 and 2 shown in red on the map below) in a project that began with initial planning permission awarded in 2011.

Three Metrobus routes serve the area, using the aforementioned Calvert Link road to run through what eventually will be the middle spine road of the estate. There’s the half hourly longer distance route 23/23X between Crawley, Horsham and Worthing; the half hourly route 200 between Gatwick Airport, Manor Royal, Gossops Green, Bewbush and Horsham and thirdly the frequent route 10 from Gatwick Airport, Manor Royal, Crawley town centre, Broadfield and Bewbush which terminates at Kilnwood Vale. Frequency of the 10 is eight buses an hour for most of the day with hourly departures from as early as 03:00 to 23:30.

All told, that equates to the quoted 400 buses a day in the news item, with 200 heading along Calvert Link westbound and 200 eastbound (give or take one or two). However, just a small correction it’s not “400 buses between Crawley and Horsham” as quoted, only routes 23 and 200 comprising 144 a day (72 in each direction) continue west to Horsham; it’s the Fastway route 10 that makes up the remaining (approximately) 250 journeys a day and is the main player and hence, no doubt, why that route has been singled out as “disturbing the quality of life”.

In the early days of construction at Kilnwood Vale buses on routes 23 and 200 between Bewbush and Horsham would divert off the A264 in both directions to do a short dog leg to serve the western end of the development area as no through road was available. It wasn’t until February 2024, when Calvert Link was completed, that both routes could be diverted away from the A264 to instead pass through the new estate and at the same time the 200’s timetable became a 24 hour offer (with support from Gatwick Airport) to “connect Kilnwood Vale residents directly to Crawley, Horsham, and Gatwick Airport”, as Metrobus stated at the time.

A year later, in February 2025, save for some journeys between 23:30 and 03:00, Fastway route 10 was extended from its long standing western terminus at Bewbush over to Kilnwood Vale, again as part of the company’s “ongoing collaboration with Gatwick Airport” and a further enhancement, from May 2025 saw route 23’s “timetable boosted with extra journeys and expanded evening/Sunday services funded by the West Sussex Bus Service Improvement Plan”.

There’s no doubt Kilnwood Vale is very well served by Metrobus, particularly for its current size. But, as we all know, key to serving new residential developments is getting the bus service established before the bulk of residents move in so how refreshing it is to see this being an exemplar of that. Kilnwood Vale has already got a similar level of service to the much more populated parts of neighbouring Bewbush and is still only around a third of its size.

But it will grow. Walking around the area on Thursday it struck me just how much land was still available for Crest Nicholson with Taylor Wimpey to build the many more houses their Marketing Suite is ready to sell.

It also struck me, how nicely laid out the area is with lots of trees, hedges and green spaces in between the clusters of houses and flats already built.

It looked like a very pleasant place to live and what would particularly attract me to live there is the incredible bus service especially if I worked at Gatwick Airport entailing very early starts and late finishes.

It would also be easy to travel into Crawley town centre (16 minutes on the 23/23X and 20 minutes on the 10) or over to Horsham as well as having a day by the sea in Worthing. Residents are really spoilt for choice.

However, one thing that did strike me was how close some of the houses have been built to the Calvert Link road. Many have tiny front gardens and although there are small hedges between the pavement and the road along some parts of the road…

… in other parts, at the eastern (perhaps cheaper?) end of the estate in Somerset Road, houses are much closer to the road although I noticed that hasn’t prevented one from just being sold and where the average price of a two bedroom end of terrace house is £345,000.

Somerset Road is the eastern extension of Calvert Link providing a connection to neighbouring Bewbush and it’s good to see this is protected as a ‘cut through’ for general traffic by a bus only section of road.

I’m sure this is effective in diverting traffic from parts of Bewbush bound for Horsham, for example, down on to the A264 rather than use Somerset Road and Calvert Link as a cut through.

However, what it does do is make buses more visible and prominent as they drive along the road alongside what are otherwise only residents and delivery vehicles making up the other traffic in what effectively is a ‘no through road’. Perhaps that’s why those who aren’t bothered about using buses notice their presence on such a regular basis. Furthermore, Metrobus’s problems with its hydrogen powered single deck fleet – still all off the road since last December – has meant the company has had to use a fleet of much older vehicles than it normally would, including many borrowed from other bus companies. Due to their age, they do tend to rattle more than an otherwise almost silent recently built hydrogen bus would.

Let’s hope the hydrogen buses can return to service very soon as this would be a great help in reassuring those residents making their voices heard that good bus provision is what living in a lovely green centric area is all about.

One small suggestion to the Metrobus team. In the current situation, it might make sense to limit the number of times, if at all, driver training buses use Calvert Link which only adds to the 400 buses a day and I note was duly observed by a resident I saw while walking around!

A final positive note about this story: it was good to see the BBC report how other residents are bowled over by the fantastic bus service they enjoy. Elizabeth Allen described the number 10 bus service as a “blessing”. She said: “It gives me safe travel at almost any time I want. If I go into London, for example, and come back as a single person, travelling at 11 at night, I know I’m perfectly safe. So we have to balance that convenience and safety against perhaps a little bit of inconvenience from time to time.”

Another resident, Anne Baker, also sees the frequency of service as a positive. She argued that the development “has been sold as somewhere that is close to Gatwick, so the whole thing is geared towards people being able to get there”.

The story quotes Metrobus saying “Kilnwood Vale is ‘a growing community’ and the services provide ‘important connections to Crawley, Manor Royal and Gatwick’ which give residents an alternative to car travel.” Good for them and very well done on an excellent service not only in Kilnwood Vale but throughout Crawley.

Roger French

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