Following Arriva’s recent decision to withdraw Route 477, an essential transport link between Orpington and Dartford, Go-Ahead Group will step in to serve local communities under the new brand name ‘Kent Country’, ensuring that no one along the route is left without access to vital bus services.

The closure, announced in early September, would have left residents without access to important destinations, including schools and places of work. Kent Country will ensure that the local community continues to have reliable connections to these key locations along the route.

Kent Country will operate from the Fastrack depot, providing continuity for customers. Services under the new operator will begin on 26 October 2025.

Isobel Hedley-Jones, Head of Fastrack, said: “We recognise the vital role this route plays in connecting people to essential destinations, and we are committed to supporting the community through this transition. The introduction of Kent Country will provide a seamless handover and a dependable service for passengers who rely on this route every day.”

Laura Trott MBE, MP for Sevenoaks, Swanley and the Dartford Villages, said: “I am delighted that, subsequent to my campaign, Go-Ahead will be taking over the Arriva 477 bus route in full from the end of October. This is brilliant news for residents – especially in Crockenhill – who were facing the prospect of being left without any public transport at all. I am extremely grateful to Go-Ahead for stepping in, and I look forward to working closely with them going forward.”

The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan has opened the new world class Operations Control Centre (OCC) for Go-Ahead London, the capital’s largest bus operator. Equipped with the latest technology, the new OCC will improve the reliability and punctuality of services for over one million customers who use the service each day.

Consolidating Go-Ahead London’s six OCCs into one purpose-built facility, the new OCC will monitor and co-ordinate the operation of Go-Ahead London’s services 24 hours a day, seven days a week across the entire fleet of over 2,400 buses on 170 routes across London.

The new OCC will enable controllers to oversee the entire network, work more collaboratively, and better allocate resource to ensure safe and reliable journeys for our passengers and our drivers. They will achieve this through access to live operational data for the whole of Go-Ahead’s London network, including information on road congestion, roadworks, bus departures and vehicle availability and reliability. This data will help the controllers make faster, more informed decisions. The OCC will also manage Go-Ahead London’s growing fleet of over 800 zero-emission buses, the largest in the city, by providing live information on the battery range and state of charge for all electric buses.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “As the son of a bus driver, it was great to officially open Go-Ahead London’s fantastic new Operations Control Centre and meet the staff working to deliver safe and reliable journeys for bus drivers and more than one million Londoners. I’m proud we’ve taken London’s bus network from strength to strength since I became Mayor, delivering the Superloop network, the Hopper fare, improving safety, freezing bus fares for six years and ensuring there are now more than 2,000 zero emission buses in the capital. We’ll continue to ensure buses remain the most accessible, affordable and sustainable form of transport as we build a better London for everyone.”

 Matt Carney, CEO, Go-Ahead Bus said: “Putting the customer first goes to the heart of everything we do. Therefore investing in new technology and world class facilities to improve our teams’ workplaces whilst continuously improving the safety, reliability and punctuality of our services is an easy decision. We are proud to partner with TfL to keep London moving by delivering more than 1.8 billion bus journeys per year.”

Go-Ahead Group and Stagecoach, two of the UK’s leading bus operators, have collaborated to launch a new report highlighting the crucial role of incorporating bus services in new residential developments, helping to integrate public transportation into emerging neighbourhoods for improved community convenience.

The report examines how strategic urban design can enhance bus provision and accessibility specifically in locations outside of metropolitan areas, while aligning with major policy shifts.

Including new case studies and reflecting significant evolution in other areas of policy and guidance including the National Model Design Code, the report updates the previous award-winning Stagecoach guidance published in 2017.

The launch was hosted online by the Bus Centre of Excellence (funded by the DfT) on Tuesday 25 March 2025 and featured key leadership figures from Go-Ahead Group and Stagecoach with the event being led by the author of the guide, Nick Small, Head of Built Environment & Infrastructure for Oxford Bus Company & Go South Coast, part of the Go-Ahead Group.

You can read the report by clicking here.