Update.

Well I have quit from the group I created ams this petition I created I had hoped would have done better. I'll try and share my reply from Stagecoach head office. 

Hi Alex,

We've had to take some really difficult decisions locally in response to a downturn in passenger numbers, changes to peoples travel patterns, and a significant rise in our operating costs. By removing the Folkestone/Hythe section of the 16 route we've been able to resource some local town services in Folkestone that would otherwise no longer operate. To mitigate the impact of this we increased the frequency of buses on the 102 service between Dover and Hythe; there are now buses scheduled every 15 minutes, whereas before they were every 20 minutes. However, I appreciate that from the PoW buses are now every half hour.

Route 10 is operated on a commercial basis and sadly the number of passengers using it on a Sunday did not cover the operating costs. Sadly, there is no local government support available to fund a Sunday service and as such we had to make the difficult decision to withdraw it.

We are also dealing with a driver shortage which has led to some cancellations and an adverse impact on service provision. That's obviously something we're really unhappy about and we appreciate how frustrating it will be for our customers.

Our management teams are working flat-out to resolve this. Their approach is three-fold; redistribution of drivers from other areas, relentless recruitment, and temporary use of agency support.

Despite our best efforts, there are some days where we can't cover every journey, but where we do have to cancel a bus, we aim to update our app and advertise details on our Twitter/X feed @StagecoachSE. We do expect an appreciable improvement in the situation before the end of the year. 

I hope this helps explain the situation. We're very sorry for the inconvenience these changes and the challenges around driver shortage has caused you personally. We've always said that where no local authority support is available, and we've sadly had to reduce services, we will keep those decisions under continuous review.

Thank you
Fraser