please empty your brain below
Enjoy your summer DG come to the South Wales valleys sometime,fascinating part of the world.
"The 402 is an important part of the bus network in west Kent, linking Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Hildenborough, Sevenoaks, Knockholt, Halstead, Green Street Green and Farnborough with Bromley."
Clearly it's very important to serve Bromley...
I always wondered if that was a hamlet, or a warning.
After all the 375 and 498 replaced the 'London' sections of routes coming in from elsewhere.
There was the probability of the London Overground being run out to Dunton Green (along with Oyster, lower fares and staffed stations) until Chris Grayling scuppered it in a fit of pique to prevent it 'falling into the clutches of a Labour mayor'.
Let's hope we get a better Transport Secretary after 9 June.
IIRC the only clue was a 402 tile on the flag, but it didn't even tell you where it went.
Even after the big Orpington bus changes of 1986, there used to be peak hour journeys from the surrounding villages to Knockholt Station, but these dwindled over time. An enterprising chap tried a peak hour service from - I think - Halstead to Knockholt Station using his preserved RM a few years ago.
The Maypole used to be served by double deckers running in both directions (the 477) up until the late 80s which seems fairly extraordinary now.
It would also make a lot more sense. Why would they make a long journey to Yorkshire when a cheaper rural location could by found around 20 miles away? The station was suitably remove with steep cuttings (the landslide) and a tunnel nearby (the paper chase).
dg writes: There isn't a bus stop called Northolt Park station, and the nearest bus stops are over 100m away.
The film couldn't be made at Knockholt without risking electrocution of half the cast. (and steam trains being a bit of a rarity on the south eastern main line by the 1980s). Hence the translation to Yorkshire.
@jerym
The length of the platforms ha=s nothing to do with how busy the station is, and everything to do with how busy the trains are that call there. If you want to run 12-car trains, all stations on the line have to be able to take them.
(Which is why Woolwich Dockyard station is preventing 12 car trains being run on the North Kent lines)
link
Seems that Arriva are keeping very quiet about this and didn't tell the local council.
non-TfL bus services never appear on the Countdown system & signs
Visit Eden Street, Kingston sometime.
However, timetables should appear.
>If you want to run 12-car trains, all stations on the line have to be able to take them.
Nope, the magic phase is Selective Door Opening (SDO)
"on arrival the last set of doors will not open" (Embankment)
"... due to short platforms at these stations" (Hinton Admiral).
A terminal station had better have room!
And not all train software can manage it.
Agreed, but I just want a seamless transport experience: I'm not interested in branding rivalries or excuses about why there's a fly in my soup !
If bus travel is too fragmented, complicated and uncertain then people won't bother, they'll just use their cars whenever they can, and the 402 won't be the only route that gets shortened or axed.
If TfL has to axe half of Central London's buses to stay within budget and force people on to the Tube and Crossrail it doesn't have the cash to serve Knockholt Stn. The nearby R5/R10 are tightly scheduled despite being low frequency. TfL has steadfastly refused to add resources to this route (and others) hence why frequencies are no longer clock face. I see the local councils and residents are now "up in arms" but there have been rumours about the 402 being axed for many months. Arriva denied they would make this change but went ahead anyway which says something about their attitude in all of this. I will be astonished if either TfL or Kent County Council do anything to fill this gap. The only hope is if a low cost operator is willing to take a punt at running a service but I'll be amazed if it reaches Bromley.
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