Poynter's Coaches (Wye) ceased trading

[alex397]

Doesn't seem to have been reported on here, that Poynter's Coaches (of Wye, Kent), ceased trading without notice at the end of August, leaving Kent County Council to rush around sorting out replacement operators. Its a shame to see them go, especially as the drivers were good, but the company always gave the impression they were 'winding down'. They were quite old-fashioned as well, only being contactable by phone, and by only getting low floor vehicles when they legally had to.

Their main services were the 620 and 677 council contracted routes, which they have operated since the 1980s, which is quite a feat considering other council contracts frequently change operator. The 620 operated from Canterbury to the deep Kentish countryside with the villages of Petham, Waltham, Hastingleigh and Bodsham, with about 6 journeys a day Mon-Sat, and the 667 operated from Canterbury (also deep into the countryside) to Old Wives Lees and Challock with about 2 journeys Mon-Sat. After they ceased trading, there was no service on these routes until Regent Coaches took over at short notice. Regent were due to take the routes over in September anyway. Regent is another established independent, who keep gaining routes at the moment. While Poynter's operated full-size single deckers on these routes of narrow country lanes and low patronage, Regent are operating a Mercedes Benz City 45 minibus, which is more than capable of carrying the handful of passengers (although Wright Streetlite DFs operate the school journeys).

They also operated a few 'public' school routes around Ashford, Wye and Tenterden, which have been taken over by other independents and Stagecoach.

Their fleet was quite interesting too - using Volvo B10M buses until they were replaced a couple of years ago by ex-Nottingham Scania OmniLinks. Ex-Stagecoach London Tridents were used on the school contracts (and the Canterbury Beer Festival shuttle), and they also had a private hire coach fleet.

They operated out of a small depot in the village of Wye, which at the back had a derelict Leyland National gradually being taken over by nature.

Sad to see them go - another independent gone!.

 

[backontrack]

I remember this happening - I used to see their green and orange vehicles going down the Old Dover Road to Waltham, Hastingleigh and Bodsha and it's a shame that they've gone under.

In other Kentish bus news, Stagecoach have recently revamped the East Kent bus routes - the 3X now operates from Canterbury to Sittingbourne once every hour, Staple and Tilmanstone have gone from an hourly service to one bus a day and the whole Deal Diamond had been changed (with new direct buses from Canterbury to Ramsgate and Westwood via Sandwich).

 

[alex397]

I remember this happening - I used to see their green and orange vehicles going down the Old Dover Road to Waltham, Hastingleigh and Bodsha and it's a shame that they've gone under.

In other Kentish bus news, Stagecoach have recently revamped the East Kent bus routes - the 3X now operates from Canterbury to Sittingbourne once every hour, Staple and Tilmanstone have gone from an hourly service to one bus a day and the whole Deal Diamond had been changed (with new direct buses from Canterbury to Ramsgate and Westwood via Sandwich).

Yes, there's been a large amount of changes in the Dover area. There are some good things from the changes, such a doubling of frequency of buses between Deal and Whitfield (which has many large out-of-town shops which can't be found in Deal), and the Deal local network as been improved, also Sandwich and surrounding villages get a direct hourly bus to Westwood Cross shopping centre. There are however many controversial changes, and if I listed them all I could be here all evening. The old '13' route has been changed (its been numbered 13 since old 'East Kent' days, although with gaps in between), with the route changing number at Sandwich to continue to Deal. Most of the time though, they are through journeys which just really confuses matters, and is hardly likely to attract customers who will have to analyse all the confusing information. There is also the change to the 89 route, where the large villages of Aylesham, Eythorne and Elvington now having to go around various estates of Dover before reaching the centre in a ridiculously long route. It wasn't a particularly well used route, so I guess if these changes make it more viable commercially to save the route, I can see why they did it. But its the sort of move which leads to terminal decline of bus passengers, and makes it more difficult to encourage new passengers. Thats just scratching the surface really, and theres been many other links lost, and frequencies reduced. The Dover district isn't the greatest bus territory, so I can understand if Stagecoach need to make it more efficient, especially as bus operators face rising costs and poor reimbursement rates for the concessionary pass.

It does seem strange that with all those efficiency savings, Stagecoach risked introducing the extension to the 3X (Canterbury - Faversham) to Sittingbourne, which competes against Arriva's 333 between Faversham and Sittingbourne (although its not exactly direct competition I guess, as they go to different destinations). The extension does make sense though, and I can imagine it being successful. Arriva give the impression they don't really care about the 333, as there are many improvements they could make to the 333 (which could save them money), but just don't bother. Stagecoach East Kent haven't competed against Arriva Kent before (as far as i'm aware), so it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.