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Post by wirewiper on Apr 28, 2022 9:45:38 GMT
There are many other villages in Kent losing their bus service but such has been the decline in usage post covid. I’m not sure that is true to be honest. Most of these services are school , shop , old age pensioner , not commuter. KCC have been spectacularly brutal. As others have said , Swanley which should be good bus territory is effectively a dead end for any onward travel into Kent by bus unless you want to go to Dartford or West Kingsdown. Even then the 233 doesn’t serve the station. I suspect most people in Swanley wanting to travel on into Kent (and not drive) would use trains. Kent's rail network is still reasonably comprehensive as it largely escaped the post-war closures.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2022 11:43:59 GMT
I’m not sure that is true to be honest. Most of these services are school , shop , old age pensioner , not commuter. KCC have been spectacularly brutal. As others have said , Swanley which should be good bus territory is effectively a dead end for any onward travel into Kent by bus unless you want to go to Dartford or West Kingsdown. Even then the 233 doesn’t serve the station. I suspect most people in Swanley wanting to travel on into Kent (and not drive) would use trains. Kent's rail network is still reasonably comprehensive as it largely escaped the post-war closures. Yes that’s fair enough but there isn’t the road connections to link the lines up north to south
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Post by Dillon95 on Apr 28, 2022 19:49:47 GMT
I’m not sure that is true to be honest. Most of these services are school , shop , old age pensioner , not commuter. KCC have been spectacularly brutal. As others have said , Swanley which should be good bus territory is effectively a dead end for any onward travel into Kent by bus unless you want to go to Dartford or West Kingsdown. Even then the 233 doesn’t serve the station. I suspect most people in Swanley wanting to travel on into Kent (and not drive) would use trains. Kent's rail network is still reasonably comprehensive as it largely escaped the post-war closures. Trains don’t go in the Dartford direction though. A town of 16,000+ deserves more than 2 regular bus services.
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Post by buspete on Apr 29, 2022 11:48:26 GMT
What ever happened to the Thames Weald bus service?
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Post by Dillon95 on Jul 9, 2022 18:59:30 GMT
The 477 is being axed completely now! This is disgraceful.
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Post by greenboy on Jul 9, 2022 19:25:18 GMT
The 477 is being axed completely now! This is disgraceful. Has this been confirmed? I know that there have been rumours about it being axed in October.
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Post by twobellstogo on Jul 9, 2022 19:40:00 GMT
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Post by SILENCED on Jul 9, 2022 19:50:25 GMT
The 477 is being axed completely now! This is disgraceful. The thing with commercial routes, is that if a sufficiently high number of people use the service, they don't get withdrawn ....
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Post by twobellstogo on Jul 9, 2022 20:05:34 GMT
The 477 is being axed completely now! This is disgraceful. The thing with commercial routes, is that if a sufficiently high number of people use the service, they don't get withdrawn .... Unfortunately I think this is very much true. Regular twobellstogo readers will know that I use buses in North Surrey a lot : notably the 715, but also the 458, 461, 555 and the various Cobham Chatterbuses, plus occasional journeys on others services, such as the 32, 446, 566/567. These bus routes all have one thing in common. Multiple passengers. And not just free pass holders either. I was on a 555 from Walton to Whiteley Village early-ish on a Sunday morning recently - it had passenger numbers well into double figures, in an area where you wouldn’t immediately think of vast passenger numbers. When I’ve seen the 477, it’s been dead as a doornail. It’s a route that to me has had the axe hanging over it for a long time, and the proposed withdrawal is not a surprise, and I cannot for the life of me see anyone being remotely interested in reviving it, sadly..
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Post by Dillon95 on Jul 9, 2022 20:28:06 GMT
The thing with commercial routes, is that if a sufficiently high number of people use the service, they don't get withdrawn .... Unfortunately I think this is very much true. Regular twobellstogo readers will know that I use buses in North Surrey a lot : notably the 715, but also the 458, 461, 555 and the various Cobham Chatterbuses, plus occasional journeys on others services, such as the 32, 446, 566/567. These bus routes all have one thing in common. Multiple passengers. And not just free pass holders either. I was on a 555 from Walton to Whiteley Village early-ish on a Sunday morning recently - it had passenger numbers well into double figures, in an area where you wouldn’t immediately think of vast passenger numbers. When I’ve seen the 477, it’s been dead as a doornail. It’s a route that to me has had the axe hanging over it for a long time, and the proposed withdrawal is not a surprise, and I cannot for the life of me see anyone being remotely interested in reviving it, sadly.. 3 villages are now isolated from the world, and Swanley a decent sized town only has one regular bus service. KCC should step up and fund something.
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Post by twobellstogo on Jul 9, 2022 21:04:25 GMT
Unfortunately I think this is very much true. Regular twobellstogo readers will know that I use buses in North Surrey a lot : notably the 715, but also the 458, 461, 555 and the various Cobham Chatterbuses, plus occasional journeys on others services, such as the 32, 446, 566/567. These bus routes all have one thing in common. Multiple passengers. And not just free pass holders either. I was on a 555 from Walton to Whiteley Village early-ish on a Sunday morning recently - it had passenger numbers well into double figures, in an area where you wouldn’t immediately think of vast passenger numbers. When I’ve seen the 477, it’s been dead as a doornail. It’s a route that to me has had the axe hanging over it for a long time, and the proposed withdrawal is not a surprise, and I cannot for the life of me see anyone being remotely interested in reviving it, sadly.. 3 villages are now isolated from the world, and Swanley a decent sized town only has one regular bus service. KCC should step up and fund something. Do you really see Kent County Council funding a bus route that carries air most of the time, regardless of Crockenhill/Hextable/Wilmington losing their bus service? The best you are likely to get I think is Go Coach expanding the Go2 service to cover Crockenhill and those bits of Hextable that aren’t yet covered. Wilmington is likely to be just left with its TfL/KCC school buses.
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Post by WH241 on Jul 9, 2022 21:23:18 GMT
Unfortunately I think this is very much true. Regular twobellstogo readers will know that I use buses in North Surrey a lot : notably the 715, but also the 458, 461, 555 and the various Cobham Chatterbuses, plus occasional journeys on others services, such as the 32, 446, 566/567. These bus routes all have one thing in common. Multiple passengers. And not just free pass holders either. I was on a 555 from Walton to Whiteley Village early-ish on a Sunday morning recently - it had passenger numbers well into double figures, in an area where you wouldn’t immediately think of vast passenger numbers. When I’ve seen the 477, it’s been dead as a doornail. It’s a route that to me has had the axe hanging over it for a long time, and the proposed withdrawal is not a surprise, and I cannot for the life of me see anyone being remotely interested in reviving it, sadly.. 3 villages are now isolated from the world, and Swanley a decent sized town only has one regular bus service. KCC should step up and fund something. Local councils have had budgets cut! If the 477 is not justified why would KCC waste money? It’s unlikely they would be able to increase passenger numbers.
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Post by Dillon95 on Jul 9, 2022 21:40:59 GMT
3 villages are now isolated from the world, and Swanley a decent sized town only has one regular bus service. KCC should step up and fund something. Local councils have had budgets cut! If the 477 is not justified why would KCC waste money? It’s unlikely they would be able to increase passenger numbers. What about the people that rely on the service? Not everyone has a car. That’s the whole point of public transport. How is someone in say Hextable that has a job in Dartford or Bluewater for that matter supposed to get to work now?
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Post by WH241 on Jul 9, 2022 21:51:04 GMT
Local councils have had budgets cut! If the 477 is not justified why would KCC waste money? It’s unlikely they would be able to increase passenger numbers. What about the people that rely on the service? Not everyone has a car. That’s the whole point of public transport. How is someone in say Hextable that has a job in Dartford or Bluewater for that matter supposed to get to work now? Sorry but you seriously can’t expect a service to be maintained just because someone works away from a village that’s not how public transport works. Are you really expecting KCC to subsidise a service that would cost hundreds of pounds per trip? Surely it’s down to the person to find another way or another job? Sorry if this appears blunt.
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Post by vjaska on Jul 9, 2022 21:53:40 GMT
3 villages are now isolated from the world, and Swanley a decent sized town only has one regular bus service. KCC should step up and fund something. Do you really see Kent County Council funding a bus route that carries air most of the time, regardless of Crockenhill/Hextable/Wilmington losing their bus service? The best you are likely to get I think is Go Coach expanding the Go2 service to cover Crockenhill and those bits of Hextable that aren’t yet covered. Wilmington is likely to be just left with its TfL/KCC school buses. Of course, there will likely be adverse consequences to this as well - I mean those who few are left using it would likely be put off bothering with public transport at all so that's more custom lost in general at a time when people really should be being drawn out of their cars and onto public transport, no matter how few or many you can coax on board. I just think it's rather sad that authorities like KCC just default to cut mode rather than actually exploring all options before resorting to that - I mean, I actually wonder have they looked into if an improved 477 could bring in people and thus bring in more money given we know most authorities have little clue with many of the decisions they make? I'm quite surprised there seems to be no discussions with other operators at the very least unlike with Hertfordshire who seem to to try and find a solution whenever they have to withdraw funding from routes such as the 84 & the soon to be withdrawn Amersham to Watford section of the 103 - Metroline deemed the 84 to not be worth it yet Sullivans by all accounts have apparently done rather well with it since taking it on.
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