Fastrack (bus)

Fastrack Stop at Home Gardens, Dartford

Wright Streetlites at Home Gardens, Dartford in August 2015

Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLEs at Greenhithe station in April 2008 in the previous livery

Construction work on Fastrack started in September 2004,[1] and it began operating with the introduction of Fastrack B on 26 March 2006 between Dartford and Gravesend, serving Darent Valley Hospital, Bluewater Shopping Centre, Greenhithe station (and Ebsfleet International station since it opened in November 2007).[2][3] Services operate from 05:30 until after midnight.[4][5][6]

The 9.5 km (5.9 mi) long Fastrack A was added on 3 June 2007.[7] It operates up to every ten minutes between Dartford and Bluewater along the western side of Temple Hill, Crossways Business Park, Greenhithe station and The Bridge logistics site. Fastrack A is part-funded by Prologis, the developers of The Bridge.

When Fastrack B began it was divided into five fare zones. They were replaced with the current three zones when Fastrack A began to simplify the fare structure and to ease the introduction of off-vehicle ticket machines.

Prior to the opening of Ebbsfleet International in November 2007, Fastrack B ran through Northfleet. The diversion along Thames Way to the station, connecting with Eurostar and Southeastern High Speed services, added 2 km (1¼ mi) of junction priority and segregated lanes. Northfleet is still served by conventional Arriva routes 480 and 490.

For the first four months of operation, Route A ran on a temporary alignment via Junction 1a of the M25 motorway to link The Bridge, Dartford, development site with Crossways Business Park. From 30 September 2007 it was diverted via a dedicated bridge over the Dartford toll plaza and under the QE2 Bridge of the Dartford Crossing, avoiding a congestion hotspot and allowing the original six-minute peak frequency to be improved to five minutes.

In December 2012, the Everards Link Phase 2, which links Greenhithe station with the Ingress Park housing development via a stretch of busway, opened.[8]

From 2nd September 2018, Fastrack B was rerouted within Ingress Park to serve the whole of the development following the completion of a new section of road linking the development with London Road.[9] In August 2020, Fastrack B was rerouted again, between Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend along the newly constructed Springhead Bridge so that buses now serve the Springhead Park development.[10][11]

The network is split into three fare zones. Tickets are sold by the driver and from roadside machines, at certain bus stops, to allow for faster boarding.

M-tickets, bus tickets on mobile phones, were successfully trialled in early 2008 and are now available across the Arriva bus network.[12][13]

The original fleet consisted of 26 Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLEs. These had passenger information screens, voice announcements and CCTV.[14] In July 2015, these were replaced by 21 Wright StreetLites.[15][16]

From 21 March to 9 May 2018, Fastrack took part in a trial scheme which saw an additional hourly journey made by an electric Volvo 7900e, with a main charging point installed in the form of a generator at the front of Greenhithe railway station allowing the bus to fully charge inside six minutes.[17]

In August 2019, Arriva Kent Thameside retained the contract to operate the Fastrack B service. As part of this, the 14 Wright Streetlites on the route were replaced with newer Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC vehicles transferred from the Medway area which were refurbished to Fastrack specification. 7 of the Wright Streetlites continue to operate on Fastrack A.[18]

• List of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom
• Crawley Fastway, a similar-sized guided system

• Media related to Fastrack at Wikimedia Commons
• Fastrack website