New Stagecoach Gold bus service to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence

Stagecoach's 16 bus service which connects Canterbury with Folkestone and Hythe, will be transformed into Stagecoach Gold from next Sunday (2 November) 2014.

The company has invested £2 million in ten brand new buses with high-back leather seats and free WiFi ,which can take Kent Cricket fans from Shepway to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence in style.

Buses run from Hythe, Sandgate, Folkestone, Hawkinge via Barham Downs and Bridge and New Dover Road to Canterbury Bus Station.Click here for a route map

The vehicles will be driven by specially trained drivers identified by their Stagecoach Gold uniform. The bus engines are also of a much higher specification to reduce the environmental impact of the service.

The interior of Stagecoach Gold buses is more luxurious with softer, noise-reducing blue moquette fabric and subdued lighting.

Philip Norwell, Managing Director of Stagecoach in East Kent said: “Our research has highlighted that key elements of the bus journey, including clean vehicles, friendly drivers, comfortable seats and pleasant surroundings, contributed greatly to our customers’ overall journey experience.

“Twelve years ago we only ran one bus an hour on route 16 and since then we have continually enhanced the service by increasing the frequency, which is now up to every 15 minutes, and encouraged passenger growth. Using our first ever fleet of luxury vehicles on the route is the next stage of enhancement.

“We carried well over one million passengers on the 16 route in the last year, so this is also about giving back to them."

The company has planned a roadshow next week to show off the new vehicles to local people.

Starting off in Folkestone on 28 and 29 October, the roadshow will move to Canterbury city centre on Thursday 30 October and a bus will be parked near Primark in Whitefriars shopping centre, where Stagecoach staff will be handing out information and goodie bags.

The official launch event for the new service will be on Friday 31 October and will be attended by the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Canterbury, the town Mayors of Folkestone and Hythe, and Canterbury City Council leaderJohn Gilbey.

Councillor Gilbey said: “This brilliant, innovative change in a mostly rural bus route from Canterbury to Folkestone and Hythe, is yet one more example of close co-operation between partners.

"We are all working to support excellent links that encourage bus travel and enhance access for everyone in our rural and urban communities, especially those perhaps less able to travel.

"The frequency and luxury presented in this service is exceptional. Stagecoach is once again to be highly commended for this huge upgrade.”

Stagecoach 16 Gold route map