The Sherwood Shuttle 277

Popping into town?

Then take the Sherwood shuttle!

We’ve given Service 277 a name - the Sherwood shuttle. We’ve called it that
because that is what it does. It shuttles between Sherwood and the town centre via
Ferndale every 15 minutes for the main part of the day on Mondays to Saturdays.

In town, buses stop in Monson Road and at the Rail Station, with alternate buses continuing to the Pantiles and Sainsbury’s, giving handy access to all the main shopping areas and the historic part of town.

At Sherwood, buses run via Friars Way, Birken Road, Liptraps Lane and then Greggs Wood Road, Sherwood Road, Sandhurst Road, Ferndale, St. James’ Church, Lansdowne Road and Calverley Road into the town centre.

New buses for the Sherwood Shuttle
In October 2008 we invested £300,000 in the three brand-new, environmentally-friendly, easy-access buses especially for the Sherwood shuttle. These buses are of a very distinctive design and bring new levels of comfort to the service. As they are fully-accessible, they make travelling much easier for parents with buggies, shoppers with trolleys or heavy bags of shopping and for anyone else who previously had difficulty using buses with steps at the entrance.

Their engines meet the latest stringent rules on exhaust emissions to
help make Tunbridge Wells a cleaner and greener place.

Like all new Arriva buses, and an increasing number of older vehicles, the Sherwood shuttle buses are fitted with a state-of-the-art digital CCTV system which records continuously via a series of cameras fitted both inside and out to give an added feeling of safety and security to our staff and customers.

To help you identify your bus, and to advertise the frequent service to those who have not tried it before, the standard Arriva livery is adorned with prominent branding for the Sherwood shuttle.

As well as bringing the new-look buses to the area, we refreshed the bus stop flags along the route to advertise the 15-minute frequency and to match the branding on the buses. We have also displayed easier-to-read timetable information at stops along the route, and have installed cases to carry this information at a lot of stops which previously had no bus time information.

Acknowledging local people's efforts

The three buses are named after people from Sherwood who have, over many years, made a positive contribution to the life of their local community. These are Jenny Bays who has given much time for well over 30 years to carry out voluntary work, Keith Marden who has been Head Teacher of the local primary school for over 20 years and the Reverend Brian Senior who has been the vicar of St. Philip's Church for over 10 years.

Their names are carried on the buses as a tribute to their work.

The new buses got an official launch in the heart of Sherwood at Greggs Wood Road on Friday, 31st October 2008 and entered service the following day.

All three buses gathered so that the people after whom they are named could see their buses and the event was attended by the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Councillor Mike Rusbridge, together with local MP Greg Clark, as well as representatives of the Arriva management team and other local members of the Sherwood community.

The three names were also shown in lights on the destination displays of the buses and Arriva gave them four-weekly tickets allowing travel on all Arriva buses in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge as a further surprise.

To see some photos of the event, please click here.

Arriva's Marketing Manager, Richard Lewis, said "I'm delighted that we've been able to make this significant investment of £300,000 in more new buses for Tunbridge Wells to bring higher standards of comfort to customers on the Sherwood route.

"We have not named buses after local people before, but this has gone down exceptionally well within the local community and the three people who were recommended to me are clearly very well respected.

"Our buses provide important links for communities like Sherwood, and it is nice to have the opportunity to involve local people in creating awareness of the service, whilst marking their good work in such a public way. I got the impression at the launch that we have made quite a few people very happy, not only by naming the buses and having the launch event on the estate, but also by the specific choice of names."

In an address to the guests who attended the launch, Greg Clark MP paid tribute to the short time in which suggestions of improving the Sherwood service had been acted upon by Arriva Southern Counties' management team. These include a route change to be introduced in January which will improve links between different parts of the estate.

The Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Councillor Mike Rusbridge, was also very supportive of Arriva's willingness to invest in new buses for the town and was impressed by the significant passenger growth which followed the introduction of six ADL Enviro 200 Darts at the end of 2007 on the cross-town Service 281, marketed as the ‘town centre bus link'.

Marking the first anniversary
The first anniversary of the Sherwood Shuttle was marked by a get-together of the three people after whom the buses are named and gave the Reverend Brian Senior the opportunity to be photographed by 'his bus' and with Jenny Bays and Keith Marden, as he had been unable to attend the original launch.
Three cakes in the shape and livery of the Sherwood Shuttle buses were baked by Jenny's friend Ruth, and each had the correct match of vehicle registration number and person's name!
The Deputy Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Councillor David Jukes, attended the gathering, along with representatives of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Kent County Council and Arriva's local management team.
Arriva's Marketing Manager, Richard Lewis, said "I'm delighted that we have marked the first anniversary of the naming of our buses which highlight the good work which Jenny, Keith and Brian continue to do for the good of their community.
"Buses are part of the fabric of local community life and by naming vehicles which spend all their time on the Sherwood route it was both an unusual and fitting way to honour those who have gone beyond the call of duty for the benefit of their neighbours.
"At the initial launch I was surprised at how much interest was generated by the people of Sherwood and it was very clear that those three 'unsung heroes' are very well-respected members of the community.
"One year on it is clear that the buses are still a talking point on the estate and it seems that naming them has given them a personality in the eyes of the local community."
To see some photos of the event, please click here.
Not used the bus lately?

If you don’t normally use the bus, then perhaps you should give it a try!
There’s no parking hassle, as the Sherwood shuttle stops in the heart of town and at the rail station. You will also be helping to reduce pollution and doing your bit to cut Tunbridge Wells’ ongoing congestion problem. You might even find that bus travel is more convenient and cheaper than you thought.

The cost of an Arriva Tunbridge Wells Day, Weekly or Four-weekly Saver gives
great value for money. You can buy them on the bus and then travel as many times as you like on all Arriva buses in the Tunbridge Wells area for the period covered by the ticket.

Not only that, but you can also buy them via your mobile phone and then the ticket is displayed on your phone! Visit arrivabus.co.uk for more details.

Weekly and Four-weekly Savers are also available from local shops displaying the
sign. Click here to see where your nearest PayPoint agent can be
found.

The Four-weekly Saver can also be bought in advance online at a reduced price. Visit arrivabus.co.uk for details.

Details of the prices of the various tickets are shown by clicking the ‘Money - Saving Tickets’ button on the red navigation bar at the top left of this page.

If you normally travel around Tunbridge Wells by car then take a moment to compare the price of a four-weekly ticket with the cost of filling-up your car with petrol or diesel for the same period. You might be surprised!

Bus travel is probably more convenient and cheaper than you think!