Councillors have praised a decision to shelve planned cuts to bus services amid growing concerns for isolated residents, school kids and hospital workers.

Transport for London (TfL) had pledged to curb part of its 428 route starting from Crayford and scrap the 492 service operating between Dartford and Bluewater shopping centre.

A consultation was held last year with the transport body claiming its changes would "better match bus capacity to customer demand" .

But plans to axe these services, which would have led to a reduction of services from parts of Dartford to Bexley , have now been put on hold until after the pandemic.

However, proposals to convert the 428 into a double decker bus and withdraw three school-day-only journeys will still go ahead.

Opponents claimed the bus cut plans would lead to additional wait and journey times for commuters – which include school pupils, the elderly and disabled people – as well as hospital workers travelling to and from shifts at Darent Valley Hospital.

Dartford council and Kent County Council jointly responded to object to the proposals with the former expressing "strong dissatisfaction".

Opposition Dartford Labour councillors also prepared a petition against the plans which were supported by upwards of 1,600 signatures.

TfL has since decided not to proceed with the changes as outlined in a consultation response issued on Friday. It was intended these changes would be introduced in January but they were postponed following a "large number of responses" .

However, the door has been left open for the cuts to be revisited with TFL indicating it intends to keep the services and demand levels under review.

The decision was met with guarded approval by Dartford councillors who discussed it at a joint transportation board meeting last month.

Cllr Brian Garden (Con), whose Joyden's Wood ward sits between Dartford and Bexley, said they would need to start getting their "ammunition ready" in the event the transport body revisited the decision.

He said: "It is not within their (TFL) desire to run a service outside London which is not cost-effective.

"It is our desire that they do that because we need to have a link between Stone etc, into Bexley and the schools that are there."

Cllr Garden added: "We need to work with our schools and determine where their students are coming from. We need to start getting our ammunition ready."

This, he said, needed to be handled "one way or another", adding the council would require replacement services from Arriva or Go Coach in the event TFL forged ahead again.

TfL is seeking to make cost savings as passenger numbers plummet and it faces financial difficulties after funding from the government was withdrawn.

The transport provider has no "statutory responsibility" to operate to and from destinations in Kent and has previously said it believes the existing 96 route would provide a suitable service from both Bexley and Dartford to Bluewater.

Bob Blitz, bus network planning manager at TfL said: “We have continued with our plans to convert the 428 bus from single to double deck and make changes to a small number of school day services.

"At this time in the pandemic we don’t feel it is appropriate to implement the other changes we proposed to the 428 and 492.”

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