Congestion blamed for complaints about bus services
Top five routes with most gripes link to town
plained about Arriva services also connected to Maidstone – the 59 from Grafty Green, the 71 from Kings Hill and the 89 from Coxheath.
Borough Cllr Martin Round (Con) from Headcorn was not surprised. He said: “The number 5 and number 12 are among the best used services. They are also among those most affected by traffic snarl-ups.” He suggested KCC might be responsible for some of the delays. He said: “Earlier this year there was a problem with the phasing of traffic lights on the Sutton Road at the entrance to Morrisons. They were not letting enough vehicles through at a time. That caused traffic to back up affecting the Willington Street junction and all the way down to the Wheatsheaf.”
That problem has been fixed, but recently seven weeks of roadworks near The Plough at Langley had caused “absolute havoc”, he said, with long tailbacks in all four directions of the crossroads. Cllr Round said: “Both these services take children from the Weald to schools in Maidstone and it’s natural that worried parents will complain if delays cause their children to miss lessons.” He suggested that with many new houses still being built, congestion and bus unreliabilty were only likely to get worse. Arriva’s area manager Oliver Monahan said: “The majority of complaints related to congestion delays that where experienced by ourselves and all other road users in and around Maidstone when the portal launched. “However, since then the number of complaints has decreased.”