Bat & Ball Update
The Permit to Travel machine has been removed. A galvanised cabinet has been installed on one half of the new concrete base that was recently laid near the entrance to the station close. Presumably the promised new ticket machine will go on this base. It’s in an exposed position and there is no sign of mounting points for a shelter to cover it.
For (at least) several weeks there will be no way of buying a ticket or a permit to travel at the station, and with all the trains being driver-only there is no opportunity to buy a ticket on the train either. I hope that the so-called “Revenue Protection Officers” will be sympathetic!
Another new item at Bat and Ball; there appears to be a wheelchair ramp chained to the fence on Platform Two. At an unmanned station served by one man operated trains I wonder how this will be used or is it there for emergency use only. There is no ramp on Platform One – but that platform is inaccessible for wheelchair users anyway since it can only be reached by the footbridge.
Two new seats have been installed on Platform One, and a few days later two seats also appeared on Platform Two.
I have previously mentioned that a hole had been dug outside of the entrance to Bat & Ball Station. Its purpose became clear when a display board containing some information about the walking times to local destinations and the history of the station was erected. I am not convinced that this is ideally located because the display is at 90 degrees to the path it is beside therefore to read the text you need to stand on the rough ground that faces it which unless a hard surface is installed will mean standing in mud or weeds!
Another recent addition to the Bat & Ball area is a signpost that has been erected at the junction between Bat & Ball Road and Otford Road. This sign appears to be aimed at pedestrians because it is too small, it is in the wrong location for occupants of vehicles to read, and it advises the walking times to various locations including Bat & Ball Station, “one minute”. A road sign pointing to Bat & Ball Station is still required.
Dunton Green also lost its PERTIS machine well over a month ago. There is also a metal box and some wires poking out of the ground ready for the new ticket machine.
No news on the machine yet and the SE Twitter team are unable to give me a date.
My main concern here is; with only 1 ticket machine at Dunton Green, how many people will miss their rush hour trains? SE ticket machines are extremely slow and lots of people used the PERTIS to cover them to Knockholt (where their Zonal tickets kicked in).
Also Knockholt still has a PERTIS machine on top of its ticket office & machine. Why are Dunton and B&B being treated differently? What will happen if the new machine breaks down?
Finally, why don’t SE allow customers to buy extension tickets from London stations? For example – Knockholt to Dunton Green. It would save a lot of time for customers and their staff.
The information on the new display board misses out the fact that Bat and Ball Station was the first station in Sevenoaks, surely worth mentioning. Also the semi-colon seems to be misplaced and should have been in front of ‘their competitors’ for the sentence to make sense.
Have they installed the ticket machine yet? Dunton Green is still waiting..