Looping the Loop in East Kent
14 January 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach East Kent 26249 (YW19 VNU), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, calls at Pierremont Hall, in Broadstairs High Street, on an anti-clockwise Loop service. All photos in this article taken on Monday 9th January 2023 unless otherwise stated.
I'm in Margate. The high-speed train has whisked me here, effortlessly and in double-quick time, from St Pancras (which my tablet has kindly auto-corrected to St Pancreas)!
I have a good friend at work who commutes this line twice a week. He always travels via Canterbury, and I think I understand why now... The route I have taken, via Gillingham, has had 13 intermediate stops, whilst the route via Canterbury only has six. Journey times are negligibly different but travelling via Canterbury just feels faster!
I'm here to try out the Stagecoach East Kent service known as ‘The Loop’. As is implied from the name, this is a circular service that links Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate – the three major seaside resorts on this bit of East Kent that juts out further east than the rest of the county.
I'm sure the locals find it easy enough - it's been in place for nearly 20 years - but my first experience, last summer, was one of bewilderment, which is why I've come back to get a proper grip on what it's about.
The route runs from Margate, via the locale of Cliftonville to Broadstairs town centre and then on to Ramsgate. We're near, but for most of the time not quite in sight of, the east coast of Kent for this half of the trip. The route returns via a slightly more westerly / inland route, via a major retail area known as Westwood Cross, calling in at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, known locally as "QEQM" it seems, before coming back into Margate Town Centre.
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It's a high-frequency service, running every 10 minutes seven days a week and, for both directions around the circuit, requires a whopping 18 buses to provide the peak service. I estimate it's 12 or so miles right round, and it takes the best part of an hour-and-a-half to complete a circuit. The one thing that I could really have done with on my previous visit was a map of the route. One would think that one would be provided in stops and on the buses themselves, but they are conspicuous by their absence. There's no route-specific map on the Stagecoach website either. The bus timetables along the route present a linear version of the route that 'stop' half-way round (the example in the photograph, from Broadstairs, fizzles out just short of Westwood Cross, although the descriptor at the top of the panel does mention Margate). Oh for a little arrow to show that there is life beyond Westwood Bus Garage! I do find one Network map that includes The Loop, as a poster in a bus stop (and also available on the website), but it’s quite complicated as it also shows the other services in the area. |
The only route-specific map I find is as part of the branding on the back of the bus, although this plays down the direct Westwood to Ramsgate service:
I have decided to do a clockwise circuit. I start at Cecil Street, outside the Council Offices. Timetables present this stop as the start / finish point of the route, but you can travel past without changing buses, if you're willing to wait a few minutes.
There’s a bus waiting for me. It’s an ADL Enviro200 MMC, 11.8m long. It’ s branded for the route. Although there’s a maximum £2.00 single fare in operation, I’m going to be breaking my journey up to three times, so I pick up a Thanet Day Rider for £5.00. This also gives me the freedom to decide, as I go, where I want to alight.
There are about 12 people on this lunchtime departure. The bus is labelled “Cliftonville, Broadstairs, Ramsgate”. Clear enough at this point but, as buses work their way around, they change the displays, which can become confusing as we shall see.
There’s a lovely War Memorial in Trinity Square and a striking church just beyond. Beyond Cliftonville there are some open stretches, on a route that otherwise rarely gets out of built-up areas, and we pass a road where the door numbers are stuck onto trees.
These long buses have a few tight spots along the way, although it has to be said that this is mainly due to badly-parked vehicles rather than natural features. There's plenty of churn of passengers along this section, but this lunchtime run is never especially busy.
We have a timing point stop near the entrance to St Peter-in-Thanet , which I have never heard of before, but we turn left so don’t actually go there. Having had a look at its narrow streets on Google Streetview, I can see that a bus of this length - possibly a bus of any length - would never fit down there!
Unbranded E200MMC 26231 (YW19 VNA) has just left Pierremont Hall in Broadstairs, on a clockwise service - now only serving one of the three points shown on the display (Ramsgate), having already been through Cliftonville. Should the display have been updated by now?
I take my first break at Broadstairs, alighting at Pierremont Hall, which acts as the focal point for buses in Broadstairs. This is a Grade II listed building, built in 1785 as a private residence and now used as an event venue. There's a fascinating snippet on its website, to the effect that there's an air raid shelter beneath the grounds, with tunnels from "all around Broadstairs town" that up to 150 people could have used during raids.
I want to take a photo of a Loop bus outside the hall, so position myself on the other side of the road in readiness. Just as the bus on the other side of the road is due, an out-of-service double-decker pulls up at my stop and blocks my line of sight! It's waiting to form the 45 service to Sandwich.
This turns out to be a blessing in disguise! Repositioning myself a bit further forward enables a much better picture (in my view). Judge for yourself - it's the one at the top of the article.
Broadstairs would appear to be the poor relation on this service. From Pierremont Hall, it’s only around two miles as the crow flies to the local Westwood Cross Retail Park. But there's no through bus between the two, other than The Loop. But using The Loop means travelling either via Margate or via Ramsgate, each of which is scheduled to take around 44 minutes - far from ideal.
One of the problems with a relatively high-frequency service like this one is the propensity to bunching. Two buses turn up together on the anti-clockwise service and indeed, just over an hour later, when I am resuming my circuit (having been fed and watered), the same thing happens in my direction. Of course, the one that pulls up first turns out to be the later-scheduled of the two, and the other one overtakes and disappears.
Unbranded Enviro200 MMC 26232 (YW19 VNB), has caught up with fellow branded 26249 (YW19 VNU, also pictured at the head of the article) at Pierremont Hall in Broadstairs. Judging by the fact that it overtook the other bus, and that the other one stayed put for a few minutes, I suspect this one was supposed to be in front!
We continue into Ramsgate, where buses stand for a few minutes on the Royal Harbour. This could, just as conceivably as Cecil Street in Margate, be considered as the end of the route. As with Margate, you can travel through without changing buses.
Buses on the anti-clockwise circuit are now showing "Viaduct, Ramsgate, Broadstairs" as their destination. Presumably that changes to "Broadstairs, Cliftonville, Margate" around here somewhere. In fact, buses could legitimately show "Margate" on both sides here, as we're about half-way round (42 minutes anti-clockwise and 45 minutes clockwise).
But that's why I got confused the first time out. I was at Pierremont Hall, wanting to get to Westwood Cross, and the bus that turned up was labelled "Cliftonville, Westwood", but I couldn't figure out why Margate wasn't mentioned. The one behind it was labelled for "Broadstairs, Cliftonville, Margate". I wondered whether these were buses going in opposite directions on a double-run, or perhaps one was on a short working?
Observations from this visit showed that the intermediate displays alternate between "Cliftonville" and "Margate, QEQM Hospital". The bus labelled Margate was presumably late changing the display to "Westwood".
On Wednesday 31st August 2022, Optare Solo 47177 (YJ05 XMW) was filling in on The Loop. It's seen here alongside more standard (but unbranded) 26240 (YW19 VNK). Try as I might, I haven't been able to pin down the location of this shot, which was taken from the top deck of a number 45 service from Sandwich to Broadstairs via Ramsgate. Note that both buses are referencing the QEQM Hospital on their displays (the E200 really is - I have another picture from a moment earlier to confirm this).
I have only visited Ramsgate by train once, and my recollection was of a long walk from the station to the town and seafront. This memory is reinforced by the fact that the bus reaches the station a full 10 minutes after having left the Harbour. We pass under the railway at a viaduct which is also used as a via-point descriptor.
Just prior to this is a building with a blue plaque, sponsored by the Ramsgate Society and commemorating the comedy writer and radio / television personality Frank Muir, who was born and grew up in Ramsgate.
Westwood bus garage is the base of this service, and we stand here for a couple of minutes as well. I’m quite comfortable and am tempted to stay on board all the way to Margate if we have a driver change (think it would look a bit odd otherwise). We don’t have a change, so I decide to leave at Westwood Cross.
Westwood Cross is a massive retail area just a stone's throw west of Broadstairs (or, as we have established, 44 minutes away by bus). It has a large range of shops, but is also surrounded by many other 'out-of-town' shops at the neighbouring Westwood Retail Park, the Westwood Gateway Retail Park, the Link Retail Park and the Broadstairs Retail Park. Shops as far as the eye can see, in fact, with the odd cinema and casino thrown in!
There's a basic bus station here with two stops and a turning circle. Buses on The Loop call in and serve the separate stops for opposite directions. Buses in both directions are now showing Broadstairs as the destination; those heading my way (clockwise) are alternating between "QEQM Hospital, Margate" and "Cliftonville" as the intermediate points, whilst the other direction now shows "Viaduct, Ramsgate".
26241 (YW19 VNL) loads at Westwood Cross on the clockwise service towards Margate.
There's a man waiting here for a bus on route 8 to Canterbury. He says he's been there for over half an hour. The timetable indicates a half-hourly service, but a subsequent check of the timetable confirms no service on schooldays between Westwood Cross and Margate between 1441 and 1615. Presumably the buses and drivers are providing school services but it seems rather poor to sacrifice the regular services to do this. It's now 1550, so the poor man has another 25 minutes' wait ahead of him.
26252 (YW19 VNY) shows off the full 11.3m length of The Loop's buses at Westwood Cross, and its branding, whilst working the anti-clockwise service. All is not well with this vehicle, however, and a few minutes later, this bus will still be here, and its passengers will be boarding "the one behind".
I've only stayed 10 minutes at Westwood Cross, for an 'essential' visit, but I have sacrificed a half-empty bus for one that is packed. School is out for the day, and every seat on the bus I now board is occupied, as the school run gets into full swing. Fortunately, there is still some churn so I am able to secure a seat before too long, but the bus remains busy all the way back to Margate.
I leave at the Cecil Street 'terminus', but most stay put to continue around the circuit. These buses do not really have a terminus and just go round-and-round all day, like the old London Underground Circle Line did until 2009.
As I said at the start, I'm sure the locals get to grips with this service easily, and, having looped The Loop, I am now confident about it as well. But I do think that something needs to be done to make it clearer exactly where the buses are heading, for the benefits of strangers and those new to the area.
Something on the displays needs to distinguish clockwise from anti-clockwise, and something needs to make it clear what's coming next. It might mean dropping the minor places from the display, so that they can show, for example "Broadstairs then Ramsgate", "Ramsgate then Westwood", etc. Coupled with some decent maps on timetables at stops, this could make the route easier to understand. Or is it just me?
Start and finish point (for me): 26254 (YW19 VPA) at Cecil Street in Margate.
PS: I finished my day by catching an 8A from Margate into Canterbury. Because of the £2.00 single fare offer, it was cheaper to buy the £5.00 Thanet ticket and pay separately on the 8A than it would have been to buy the 'inclusive' South East Day Rider for £8.00. One of, I suspect, many anomalies that this scheme will be creating! Not a criticism - it's a great scheme - merely an observation!