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The bus service locally is probably the worst it has been since buses first came to the area in the 1920s. As car ownership has increased, bus patronage has declined. There are other factors involved too, I remember the line at the bus stop opposite the station in the evening rush hour could extend the length of the shopping parade, but that all but disappeared after the Billings car park was built next to the station.
Bus Information
As of May 2026 there are a lot of bus routes locally but most have a very limited service. Details of timetables and bus tracking to see if it is on time are available at the website bustimes.org. According to this website Fawkham, Ash, and Hodsoll Street have no buses at all, while Longfield Hill just gets the 34 school bus. Hodsoll Street used to get a postbus service, but I understand this was withdrawn in 2009.
Number | Route | Frequency |
| 479 | NAG - Longfield - Darent Valley Hospital - Bluewater (Mon-Sat) | 4-5 per day |
| 489 | NAG - Longfield - Southfleet - Gravesend (Mon - Sat) | 4-6 per day |
| 4 | NAG - Longfield - Wilmington - Dartford Stone Lodge (Schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| 34 | Meopham - New Barn - Dartford - Wilmington (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| 418 | NAG - Longfield - Meopham - Wrotham (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| 423 | NAG - Longfield - Dartford & Wilmington Schools (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| D1 | Horton Kirby - Longfield Academy (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| D2 | Temple Hill - Dartford - Bean - Longfield Academy (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| G1 | Denton - Gravesend - Meopham - Longfield Academy (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| NAG1 | NAG - Longfield - Northfleet & Gravesend Schools (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
| NAG2 | NAG - Longfield - Northfleet & Gravesend Schools (schooldays) | 1 in each direction |
Bus Usage
Bus usage on individual routes is usually a commercially guarded secret. But the trend is clear. Bus usage in Kent has fallen by about a quarter since 2010 from 58 million journeys annually to 44 million (Dept for Transport - Bus Statistics).
Fares have galloped ahead of the Consumer Prices Index. In the period March 2005 to December 2005, bus fares have increased by 114 per cent when general inflation was 80 per cent (Dept for Transport - Bus Statistics). And it would have been worse but for the maximum fare introduced since Covid. Motorists have been much more lucky. In the same period petrol prices have risen by 70 per cent (RAC Foundation - Pump Prices over time). Taken with the severe cuts in bus frequency, this has helped drive people off the buses.
The Hartley Parish Survey of 2007 found that car ownership is a key determinant of bus usage. 17 per cent of households used the bus at least monthly. But this broke down to 52 per cent of households without a car, compared with only 6 per cent of those who do.
In the 2021 census just 55 people (0.7 per cent of those in employment) travelled to work by bus, although the ONS acknowledge that these figures were badly skewed by the Covid regulations and furlough (Travel to work quality information for Census 2021).
Area | Workers | Home | Train | Bus | Taxi | Car | Bike M/bike | Foot | Oth | |
| Hartley South & Hodsoll Street | 678 | 40.3 | 4.9 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 50.3 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 0.7 | |
| Hartley East | 674 | 45.4 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 46.7 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 0.9 | |
| Hartley North & West | 566 | 45.1 | 5.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 43.6 | 0.4 | 4.1 | 0.5 | |
| Hartley Wellfield | 581 | 29.4 | 5.7 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 52.3 | 2.4 | 7.4 | 1.0 | |
| New Ash Green North | 760 | 23.8 | 5.1 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 60.4 | 0.9 | 7.4 | 0.7 | |
| New Ash Green West | 850 | 25.9 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 61.4 | 1.2 | 5.5 | 1.4 | |
| New Ash Green East | 599 | 37.4 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 51.4 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 0.8 | |
| Ash Village | 720 | 31.8 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 55.8 | 1.3 | 5.4 | 0.6 | |
| Longfield Village | 933 | 39.3 | 7.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 45.3 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 0.4 | |
| New Barn E & Longfield Hill | 700 | 41.1 | 3.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 51.1 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.3 | |
| New Barn West | 619 | 44.6 | 5.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 43.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 1.3 | |