Bus firm Arriva has announced it will stop running a route which connects Maidstone with major shopping centre, Bluewater.

The operator says the 703 service is no longer commercially viable and passenger numbers have been declining for many years.

Arriva has confirmed that another firm is looking at taking over the route.

Marketing manager Richard Lewis said: “We have had to take the decision to withdraw our Wednesday and Saturday shoppers bus as an insufficient amount of people have been using it and the revenue is not sufficient to cover the cost of providing the service.

“Like all bus companies, we are a commercial business that is required to run profitably and we are unable to sustain a loss on this service for any longer.”

The route also serves Allington, Aylesford, Larkfield, Snodland, Halling and Cuxton, before running fast on the M2/A2 to the shopping centre.

The service will end on Friday, January 8, and passengers will have to travel from Maidstone to Chatham, then Chatham to Bluewater.