Index to bus services

Maidstone was one of the last towns in the M&D area to be covered by one of the National Bus Company's Market Analysis Projects (MAP). Co-ordination between Maidstone Borough Transport and M&D had been proposed a number of times in the past but had never come to anything (other than one infrequent service (80) between Maidstone and Madginford, which was the only Maidstone Borough Transport service to have a route number for many years).

9 August 1981 saw the introduction of Maidstone Area Bus Services - a co-ordinated network provided by Maidstone Borough Transport, Maidstone & District and East Kent (M&D and East Kent were essentially one company at the time). This new network saw radical changes, with Maidstone Borough Transport vehicles venturing outside the town boundaries for the first time together with the closure of M&D's Maidstone Depot, resulting in a number of cross-town services and abandonment of traditional territory.

Click on the thumbnail map to see a reproduction of M&D's original Maidstone Area Bus Services map

The Maidstone Area Bus Services logo was initially carried by Maidstone Borough Transport vehicles only. M&D vehicles (which came from depots some miles from the town) did not carry vinyls initially. East Kent's involvement in the network was limited.

Index to Maidstone Area Bus Services

from 9 August 1981

The following is a list of principal services operated under the Maidstone Area Bus Services scheme. There were a number of variations to these routes - a number of rural services from the south and east of Maidstone had occasional extensions to either Maidstone Hospital (in Barming) or the East Station. There were also other minor variations in route not shown in the table below.

• Maidstone & District History • Boro’line Maidstone • Maidstone Area Bus Services • Maidstone Buses 1970s - 1980s • Maidstone Buses in 1999 • Maidstone Bus Routes in 2000 • Maidstone's buses in 2004 • Maidstone Quality Bus Partnership • Scottish VRTs •

This page was updated on 08 May, 2008