Random Rides: Regent 620

[Chris]

Regent Coaches now have a somewhat smaller footprint on local bus operation as in recent years, but some of their remaining routes retain a very rural flavour. 

I last rode one of their Sprinters in 2022, on the 544 to Walmer as shared here https://groups.google.com/g/mdekbusclub/c/l1gtgqJXO8I/m/8GzYF_OrBAAJ, and opportunity presented itself last Saturday (27th July) to ride a portion of the 620 to Petham and Waltham. 

The timetable for the 620 interworks with the 667 on all days, but is irregular between Mondays to Fridays and Saturdays - during the week, the 1605 departure from Canterbury would serve the whole route including Hastingleigh, but on Saturdays terminates short at Waltham. Curiously, on Mondays to Fridays there is no suitable journey for shoppers into Canterbury from Hastingleigh but a suitably timed journey back (0734 in, 1605 and 1745 out), whilst on Saturdays there is a good journey into Canterbury (1126 as well as the 0734), but they have to wait until 1745 to return! 

Aside from the slightly bemused driver, I was the only passenger on the outward journey, and almost on the way back too, although we were joined at Petham by two ENCTS passholders (which did leave me to wonder whether they were enjoying a 45 minute trip to Canterbury, or getting a taxi back). My first thought on leaving greater Canterbury was 'where are the houses?', as there is little other than farmland until reaching Petham, then little more again until Waltham. The roads were narrow in some places, and it would be 'interesting' to see how the full-size single-decker used on school workings gets on. 

When terminating short the bus reverses into Church Lane, just missing the curious bus shelter which is tacked onto the side of the village hall on the other side of the junction (just out of shot to the right). 

Now to work out how to do the 667, which doesn't have a return journey...

Chris

[Chris]

A little under a year after my first ride out to Waltham, I revisited on Saturday 20th, with a newer vehicle in the Regent fleet, the as-yet-to-be-signwritten YK73 FFM, which seems to alternate between periods on the 68 in Dover and the 620/667 in Canterbury. 

The destination blind was even more temperamental than usual, with the route number especially showing when it wanted to (and scrambling completely for the 667), but it is seen here at the same terminus in Waltham with the camera pointing the other way. Unlike my first trip, this carried four of us out to various stops along the way, and collected a second passenger other than myself on the return. 

Chris