Canterbury has a position as the hub of a set of spokes, so aside from local City services and those to Faversham, almost everything comes in from an area with a depot. City and Faversham services are operated from Herne Bay, and the local service 649 operates from Ashford, because it can be connected with a peak school working on the 1A! Park & Ride operates from Dover, which isn't so much of an issue due to the A2.
A side note: Canterbury has seven large secondary schools, so the afternoon peak starts about 3pm.
The outstation lasted about 35 years, as it only closed in the 2010s... can't recall the exact date without looking it up. It is being redeveloped for housing.
In reality, Canterbury (C) and Herne Bay (HB) operated as one depot for some time, with a complex series of "changeover cars", which are often different during school holidays to school term. Lots of first and last journeys on services from Herne Bay or Whitstable are operated by vehicles that go on to other routes. Essentially, Canterbury Bus Station functions as a "semi depot" during the day, with certain vehicles allocated as "Bus station spare". During school terms, where some vehicles are only required in the "school peaks", they can also be used to cover short-term daytime failures. That said, there is no fuelling capacity at C, so some "cars" are scheduled to return to HB during the day (or 'step back', with another vehicle appearing in its place).
In contrast to some areas with a remote depot, where nothing happens until the man in a van comes from the depot ++ miles away, it actually works really rather well. Glad you found it a privilege!
