Fastrack
is a bus rapid transit scheme in the
Thames Gateway area of Kent which consists of two routes. It was first founded
on 26th March 2006.
Their routes are as
follows:
·
Route A serves
Bluewater, Greenhithe, Temple Hill and Dartford
·
Route B serves
Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International Railway station, Swanscombe, Ingress Park,
Greenhithe, Bluewater, Dartford and Temple Hill
Both
of these services are operated by Arriva Kent Thameside on behalf of Kent
County Council.
I
have also extracted the map of the Fastrack services from their website.
The
timetable for Route A can be viewed on the Arriva and Traveline websites; the timetable for Route B is
also on Arriva and Traveline websites.
What
is interesting about the Fastrack system is they have ticket machines at the
bus stops in order to speed up boarding times. London Buses used to have this
type of system for the Central London area for the same reason. What the
Fastrack system needs to do is enable the ticket machines to take Contactless
payment cards which is a great way to speed up boarding, just like London Buses have done, but instead, the
bus operator Arriva provides M-ticket which is a bus ticket from mobile phones
which is available across the Arriva bus network. (Except for the London Bus
Service which they operate.)
Below
you can see the video footage taken from the back seat of a Fastrack bus. I
apologise for the shaky camera as I filmed it from my smartphone.
Fastrack
Route A
Operated
by Arriva Kent Thameside from Northfleet depot
Wright
Streetlite DF
Registration:
GN15CXD
Fleet
number: 4307
Filmed
on 1st October 2015
More
video of the Fastrack bus can be seen on my ‘Buses at Bluewater’ video.
I'd
also like to mention that the bus also contains free Wi-Fi, charging points for
your phone or laptop and leather seating. This is equivalent to a ‘premium bus service’, and I have written an article about those type of services.
My personal view
What
I'd also like to say is that they should have middle doors which is another
solution to speeding up boarding. London Buses are a semi ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ because of the fast boarding technique they
provide.
Fastrack’s
competitors are London Buses, most notably Route 96 which has an express section
of the route between Dartford to Bluewater bus station. London Buses does not
use the segregated busways that Fastrack use. If Kent County Council allows
London Buses to use Fastrack’s segregated busways, it would lower the image of
Fastrack’s services.
Don’t
forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
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