The cost of a single bus journey has been capped at £2 on most Stagecoach and Arriva routes has now been extended until the end of June.
The Bus Fare Cap scheme is a Government funded scheme introduced on most single bus journeys across England from the 1st January 2023.
These tickets can be purchased on the bus apps or on board.
For more information please visit the Stagecoach webpage for Canterbury buses or the Arriva webpage for Medway buses.
There are some disruptions to Southeastern train and Arriva bus services planned for October which may affect your travel to Canterbury and Medway Campuses, details of which are provided below.
If you are travelling during this time, we advise that you plan your journey prior to travelling and check our Campus Travel updates page.
Southeastern have announced that there will be strike action taking place on the rail network on: Saturday 1 October, Wednesday 5 October, and Saturday 8 October. For full details please visit the Southeastern strike action webpage.
Train Strike Days:
Saturday 1 October and Wednesday 5 October: No Southeastern train services will be operating. Please do not attempt to travel by train on this day. For alternative transport options visit Traveline.
Saturday 8 October: A limited service will be operating and some routes will be closed. Southeastern have advised to only travel if absolutely necessary and if you are travelling to expect severe disruption and plan your journey ahead of travelling.
Days following the train strikes:
Sunday 2 October: Some trains will not run before 07:00.
Thursday 6 October: Southeastern expect a normal service to operate.
Sunday 9 October: Services will operate later in the morning, with no trains running before 07.00.
Arriva bus company have announced that there will be further industrial action taking place across Northfleet, Gillingham, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells on the 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th of October.
Update (11/10/2022): Arriva have announced another 13 days of industrial action taking place on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th October, as well as, the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th of November.
Please visit the Arriva Kent industrial action webpage for full details on the Arriva bus disruptions during this time.
M20 closure between junction 10A and 11: This closure will be in place from 21:00 on Friday 7th October until 06:00 on Monday 10th October. There will be a diversion route in place using the A20, A261, A259 and A2070 to go London bound and the same roads in reverse order to go coast bound.
3 way road works on the junction of University Road/St Thomas Hill: At peak times there may be some delays and we encourage you to plan your journey prior to travelling.
St Stephens Road Closure, Canterbury: This closure will be in place from 22:00 on Thursday 20th October until 06:00 on Monday 24th October.
The University of Kent works in partnership with stagecoach to bring our staff and students the best value accessible bus travel in Kent.
We are currently the first to be trialing the new Stagecoach mobile corporate app, which enables you to gain exclusive access to the latest discounted bus tickets. As a University of Kent or Kent Union member of staff you receive a 25% discount!
The discounted ticket range includes weekly (7 day) and monthly (28 day) tickets for the Canterbury local travel zone or the whole South East area, for those travelling a bit further to work.
Buying bus tickets on the mobile app means you can pay conveniently on the go using card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and you can use your ticket straight away! What’s even better is there aren’t any restrictions on when you can use your ticket. So whether you’re commuting to work, nipping out for the evening or exploring local hidden gems at the weekend, you can get there for less.
Of course, COVID safety is at the top of the agenda at the moment and Stagecoach has published a guide to travelling safely by bus – https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/national/covid-19-travelling-safely. With extensive measures to make their services COVID-secure all their local buses are accredited with Visit Britain’s “We’re Good to Go” official mark, recognising the measures they’ve taken to meet government COVID guidelines, keep buses clean and aid social distancing.
Remember – it’s mandatory to use of face coverings on all public transport and social distancing should be maintained at the bus stops and on the buses.
To get discounted bus travel now, download the app or for more information visit our bus travel webpage.
See our COVID-19 travel webpage for regular COVID updates and @UniKent_travel twitter feed (also displayed on our Transport news webpage) for regular service updates.
Have you spotted the new Unibus design yet? The buses are gradually being updated to the new design with the first buses now on the road.
The green Unibuses were first introduced in September 2013. The Unibuses run on biofuel, which is a sustainable fuel manufactured from used cooking oil and waste fat sourced from the UK food industry.
Learn more about bus routes, timetables and discounts by visiting our Canterbury bus travel webpage