Credit: Ian Smith http://www.countrybus.org/DG2012/DG02.htm

Gerald Gray writes:- There’s no need to fear that the proposed switch of the metro rail service from Southeastern to TfL would make Sevenoaks part of Greater London.

Some 82 years ago the London Passenger Transport Board was formed.  Sevenoaks was within the ‘London Passenger Transport Area’ and was served by many London Transport bus routes and fast Green Line coach routes 704 & 705.  London Transport road services also reached out as far out as Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, and to Horsham and Forest Row in Surrey.

Being part of this network of London Transport buses and Green Line coaches never brought about the end of Sevenoaks as a pleasant town !

Bringing back the LPTB / LTE / London Transport concept to Sevenoaks in the form of two or three TfL London Overground trains per hour wouldn’t set any precedent: it would just be history repeating itself, this time with trains instead of buses and coaches.  There’s absolutely no reason to think that it would turn us into the ‘London Borough of Sevenoaks’.

Incidentally the London Transport road services also reached out to Brentwood and Shenfield in Essex.  On 31 May TfL took over the metro rail services and stations on the Shenfield line, moving Brentwood to Zone 9 and reducing its fares.  It now has posters and loudspeaker announcements telling season ticket holders how to get a refund of the difference when their ticket expires.  That’s the sort of thing we would like to see at Dunton Green!