Kent Country’s expansion

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Go-Ahead Group’s presence in Kent has been steadily increasing during 2026 so I recently made a couple of visits to catch up on developments. The Group’s ‘Kent Country’ branded operations are part of Go-Ahead London and began a couple of years ago in November 2024, following the company’s success at winning the tender to run the Fastrack network (formerly run by Arriva) including the introduction of a new fleet of Irizar ie tram type battery-electric buses. After a challenging start awaiting deliveries of the new buses, these unusual shaped vehicles now dominate the bus scene in the Dartford, Bluewater and Ebbsfleet area as well as on to Gravesend. Further changes to the Fastrack network were introduced at the beginning of August including a short extension in Dartford of Fastrack A (to Acacia Hall), an amended route between Bluewater and Ebbsfleet for Fastrack B (using the busway and Castle Hill instead of the B255 and A2) and a new route C to replace routes…