Living in Rye for my entire life, I like to think I have a say in what the public transport is like in the town. I mean, we have a train station and a bus stop in close proximity to each other, and taxis outside the train station so you would think that we are well sorted out when it comes to getting around. However, I think there are some problems with public transport and I will attempt to highlight some of these issues and come up with an idea on how I think we could improve it.
First off, the trains are pretty good for the most part. Choose platform one you can take the train to Eastbourne stopping off at Hastings and making connections to Brighton and many other places. Or you could take platform two and got to Ashford where you can get on the Eurostar and go to France. This is pretty useful if you want to go out of town or to France but getting to more local places is a bit more of a challenge.
For obvious reasons, the traffic hasn’t been too bad over the last year but recently, as the weather warmed up and the restrictions have eased, we’re seeing the roads start to clog up more frequently. This is good news for Rye as it means there is more business for local companies, which is much needed after the past lockdowns. However, this is bad news for people wanting to go to the beach by bus as the roads to Camber will probably be full of cars and getting there will take longer than anticipated. The times for the buses also seem to vary in how long you have to wait for each bus.
The times seem to fluctuate between arriving every half an hour to every hour, so if you miss your bus back you’ll either have to stay another hour on the beach or walk back to Rye, which will take you about an hour. Not something I would like to be doing after spending three hours in the baking heat.
There is a simple solution to this - either we have more frequent buses, or reduce traffic into Camber. This will not only reduce the time taken driving in and around Rye. It will also mean more people will go by bus, which will mean more revenue for the bus companies.
So, on the whole, Rye’s public transport is actually okay for all the flaws I’ve pointed out. Yes, the price for bus tickets might be quite expensive and yes, the last trains back to Rye might be too early, which means you may end up rushing to the station sooner than you anticipated. But as I said, for being such a small town I think we’re lucky to have as much freedom of movement as we do.
So if the issues I pointed out are looked at, then I think that we are lucky to have the facility to go to France just by taking two or three trains.
Editor's note: The above opinion comes from a young contributor, aged 18, and Rye News could do with more youthful voices contributing to our community news and views. If anyone is interested please email info@ryenews.org.uk.
