New Sevenoaks Commuter minibus starts Monday 12 March

Arriva are starting a new commuter minibus service for Dunton Green, Chipstead, Bessels Green and Riverhead on Monday 12 March. This is a welcome reinstatement of the parts of the 452 service axed last year and largely recreates the earlier, popular, S2 service.

The “1” minibus will run in the morning commuter period from Ryewood at 0628, 0648, 0708 and 0741 via Tesco, Witches Lane, Bessels Green, Chipstead Square, Chipstead Lane, Bullfinch Lane, Riverhead shops and on to Sevenoaks Railway Station and Bus Station.

There’s a late afternoon/evening service leaving the Railway Station at 1609, 1634,  1705, 1725, 1745, 1805. 1825, 1845, 1905, 1925 and 1945. (These leave from the Bus Station 4-5 minutes before that). The minibus runs via Riverhead, Bullfinch Lane, Bessels Green, Chipstead Square, Chipstead Lane, Tesco and finally Ryewood.

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Solar Powered Trains?

Imperial College have apparently released a report detailing how British railways could be powered by solar panels.

The Renewable Traction Power project will plug track-side solar panels into trackside substations, where trains can directly use the generated electricity. The saving is estimated at £4.5 million annually.

The proposal is apparently that the solar panels are alongside the tracks, rather than on the roofs of the trains. At least this should mean that the trains don’t grind to a halt when they enter Polhill tunnel!

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Driverless cars for Sevenoaks?

This week the Sevenoaks Society talk will be on “The impact of driverless cars on Sevenoaks”.

For rail travellers there could be a number of impacts including:

  • how much car parking would be required at the station if cars could drive themselves home after dropping off commuters?
  • would Southeastern try to recover lost income from car parking by raising fares?
  • whould Network Rail be allowed to keep the “development gain” through being able to use Car Park 4 for housing – or another supermarket?
  • could “shared mobility” reduce the amount of traffic around the railway station?
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