Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells to invest in bus services
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is planning to invest £2m in bus services over the next five years to enhance public transport to the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital after it fully opens this September. The trust will contract with Kent County Council, which will manage the improvements to the bus routes. New hospital development director, Graham Goddard, said: "We have always promised we would work with the council and other agencies to improve public transport links to the new hospital and now we are making good on our pledges by announcing this major investment at a time when NHS money is tight." He added: "We looked very carefully at all the local routes most used by patients, visitors and staff by analysing the data we hold. From that it was clear that the most effective investment of the £2m is by funding additional buses running to and from the key hubs to the new hospital." The trust had also looked at the possibility of funding buses from other parts of the region, but ruled that, due to low passenger numbers, the services were unsustainable. The new services will see up to six buses an hour from Tunbridge Wells, three an hour from Tonbridge and two an hour from Maidstone."
