A Canterbury day ticket will cost £6.60 and singles rise by up to 20p from Sunday 20 September. Routes 9, 43, 44 and a new 989 change the same day. Every published price, in full.
Stagecoach bus fares across Kent change on Sunday 20 September, and several routes in and out of Canterbury change the same day.
The operator published both sets of changes on 24 August. It says “the maximum increase to a single fare will be just 20p”, and that under the government’s fare cap “you’ll still never pay more than £3 for a single journey” (Stagecoach).
Stagecoach has not published the outgoing prices alongside the new ones, and its Canterbury ticket pages load prices only through its app and journey planner, so we cannot show the before-and-after for every ticket. The prices below are the new ones the operator has published.
Adult prices from 20 September
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Short hop single | £2.00 |
| Medium-length single | £2.90 |
| Long distance single | Capped at £3 |
| DayRider, Canterbury zone | £6.60 |
| DayRider, South East network | £10.00 |
| Evening DayRider (after 6pm) | £4.90 |
| Flexi5, Canterbury zone | £26.40 |
| Flexi5, South East network | £40.00 |
| Flexi10, Canterbury zone | £46.20 |
| Flexi10, South East network | £70.00 |
| 7 Day MegaRider, Canterbury zone | £26.40 |
| 7 Day MegaRider, South East network | £40.00 |
| 28 Day MegaRider, Canterbury zone | £92.40 |
| 28 Day MegaRider, South East network | £140.00 |
Canterbury is one of seven zones with its own local ticket, alongside Ashford, Dover, Folkestone, Thanet, Eastbourne and Hastings.
The MegaRider Xtra, the direct-debit version of the 28 day ticket, does not change until Sunday 18 October, when it goes to £92.40 for the Canterbury zone and £140.00 for the South East network.
Child and under-19 prices
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Short-hop single | £1.20 |
| Shorter length single | £1.70 |
| Medium length single | £2.30 |
| Longer journey single | £2.80 |
| Long-distance single | Capped at £3 |
| DayRider, Canterbury zone | £5.00 |
| DayRider, South East network | £7.60 |
Stagecoach says the child and under-19 South East DayRider, Flexi5 and Flexi10 are not increasing at all. Kid for a Quid, which lets an adult ticket or concessionary pass holder take up to four children aged 5 to 15 for £1 each on a single journey, stays as it is. So does the Group DayRider, priced at two adult DayRiders for up to five people travelling together.
The Park and Ride catch
The £3 single fare cap is a government scheme, and Stagecoach says it is expected to run until 31 December 2026. It does not cover everything.
The operator’s own footnote says some council-operated bus services are excluded from the cap, “including our Park & Ride services”. That matters in Canterbury, which has three of them: New Dover Road, Sturry Road and Wincheap.
Park and Ride is priced by the car, not the seat. Canterbury City Council charges “£4 per day, per car with up to six passengers”, so for a carful it is far cheaper than six bus singles. Arrive on foot and it is the other way round. The council charges £4 for an adult and £3.50 for a child aged five and over. Both are above the £3 cap that applies on an ordinary Stagecoach single (Canterbury City Council).
Kent residents of state pension age can apply for a free concessionary pass, valid from 9.30am to 11pm Monday to Friday and all day at weekends.
Which Canterbury routes change
The route changes were published as Thanet and Dover network changes, and most of them are in those two districts. Six routes that start or finish in Canterbury are affected (Stagecoach):
- 8 / 8A / 8X, Westwood Cross to Canterbury. The 06:53 from Canterbury, Monday to Friday, is extended to serve Westwood Cross. The 07:26 8A from Northdown Park will terminate at Birchington Rail Station.
- 9 / 9X, Westwood to Canterbury. Another operator will run the off-peak route 9 on behalf of Kent County Council. Stagecoach does not name it. The 9X is unchanged except that the 16:15 from Canterbury will run on school days only.
- 18, Canterbury to Hythe. After customer feedback, the 07:11 school day journey will start earlier, at Seabrook Fountain at 07:00.
- 43 / 43A, Canterbury to Sandwich Guildhall. The current Discovery Park journeys running as a 43 are renumbered 44.
- 44, Canterbury to Westwood Cross. A new through route. It runs from Canterbury to Westwood Cross via Cliffsend, Ramsgate and Newington, picking up stops from the withdrawn 45 and 45A. Stagecoach says the combined 43 and 44 frequency between Canterbury and Sandwich stays at every 30 minutes.
- 989, Eastry Old Hospital to Canterbury. A new number for the existing 07:16 from Eastry, currently run as a 44.
Stagecoach says the review was intended to “help improve reliability and punctuality” and that in some areas services “have been revised to reflect current passenger numbers”. New timetables had not been posted when we checked; the operator’s route pages say to check back.
What it means for you
If you buy singles and pay as you go, the most you will pay extra is 20p a journey, and the £3 cap still applies to longer trips until the end of December.
If you make several trips in a day, the Canterbury zone tickets are where the saving is. On the new prices, a day of travel costs £6.60 bought one DayRider at a time, £5.28 through a Flexi5 at £26.40, and £4.62 through a Flexi10 at £46.20. A 28 Day MegaRider at £92.40 used on 20 days works out at £4.62 a day, against £132 for the same 20 DayRiders bought singly.
Three things to check before 20 September:
- If you use the off-peak route 9 between Canterbury and Westwood, the operator changes, so check who is running your bus and whether your ticket is valid on it.
- If you catch the 45 or 45A anywhere, they are withdrawn. The 44 replaces them between Ramsgate and Sandwich, hourly instead of every 90 minutes.
- If you walk on to a Park and Ride bus rather than parking a car, you pay the council’s £4 adult fare, not a capped £3 single.
Also on Canterbury Live: train times to London, roadworks and travel and parking in Canterbury.
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