Park-and-ride losing double-deckers

Canterbury City Council is to remove double-decker buses from a Kent park-and-ride scheme due to a fall in passenger numbers post-pandemic.

Stagecoach South East, which operates the park-and-ride vehicles, will switch to single-deckers and hopper buses, as the authority aims to cut financial losses from the service.

Passengers used the city’s three park-and-ride sites about 20,000 times in February of this year, compared to 30,000 times in February 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) lockdowns.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) told a Canterbury City Council overview committee meeting that the scheme currently loses more than £30,000 a month.