Tuesday 7th November 2023
Readers across the detail of former Green Line routes may recall in a blog in August about retracing route 705 between Sevenoaks and Windsor I made reference to the inability of doing the same for sister route 704 (Tunbridge Wells to Windsor) due to the lack of a daytime bus route north of Sevenoaks through Halstead, Badgers Mount, Knockholt station, Green Street Green and Pratt’s Bottom towards Bromley.
Well, that all changed at the end of October when, thanks to funding from Kent County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, Go-Coach reinstated route 3 which had become a Covid Pandemic casualty back in 2020 severing the north-south link between Sevenoaks/Dunton Green and Green Street Green/Orpington.
Go Coach had introduced route 431 (later renumbered to 3) between Orpington and Sevenoaks back in 2017 when Arriva cut back its route 402 between Bromley and Tunbridge Wells (the last surviving segment of Green Line 704) to only run south of Sevenoaks (to Tunbridge Wells).
Go-Coach’s entrepreneurial proprietor Austin Blackburn believed (and still does) Orpington was a better northern destination than Bromley so north of Green Street Green the route headed directly north rather than via Farnborough to Bromley.
The reinstated route 3 runs four times a day with a new extension west of Orpington to Locksbottom to serve the large Princess Royal University Hospital located there. It also reinstates the short double run to serve the huge Garden Centre at Polhill on the A224 between Halstead and Knockholt which is a popular destination for Orpington residents.
The morning and afternoon peak journeys are numbered S3 and help cater for the large number of school children living in the Orpington to Green Street Green corridor as well as Halstead and Knockholt Pound who attend sought after schools and academies in Sevenoaks. It’s this recent increase in demand which has seen the reintroduction of companion off-peak journeys on route 3 as the dedicated school journeys Go-Coach provides for that movement on routes S32 and S34 have been overwhelmed since the start of the new school year.
I had a ride on the afternoon journey at 13:35 on route 3 from Sevenoaks to Orpington and back last Wednesday, the third day of operation, to see how it was doing.
The bus used was a smartly turned out 6-7 year old ex Abellio London Enviro200MMC carrying bespoke branding for the new route and with attractive moquette inside.
It’s also kitted out in somewhat patriotic decor…
… including an explanation of its environmental credentials.
As you’d expect from Go-Coach, a leaflet dispenser inside the bus had supplies of a newly produced leaflet for route 3 containing the timetable, a map and details of fares and tickets.
In line with Go-coach’s simple approach to fares, there’s a £3 flat fare with a cheaper £1.75 (matching TfL’s flat fare) north of Pratt’s Bottom. School children pay a more expensive £3.50 flat fare on the school journeys numbered S3 which means a pricey £35 for a week’s travel.
Austin told me many parents accept that as a cost for ensuring their children can attend the school of their choice ‘over the border’. Apparently some wrongly think they’re entitled to buy the Kent Travel Saver annual £450 ticket for students (which the County Council issues to children of council tax payers living within the county), not understanding they’re not entitled even though their old style postal address reckons Orpington is in Kent.
Paul the cheerful driver on the journey does the whole timetable in his shift and having had a break after the 12:55 arrival in Sevenoaks bus station after the late morning return journey, brought the bus round to the departure stop in good time for a prompt 13:35 departure. One other passenger boarded with me and she travelled to Halstead so must be very appreciative of the route’s reinstatement.
Whereas Green Line 704 continued north of Dunton Green on the A224 towards Badgers Mount and Knockholt station, route 3 serves the villages of Knockholt Pound and Halstead otherwise the territory of TfL’s low frequency circular routes R5 and R10.
After leaving Dunton Green and climbing up above the M25 towards Knockholt Pound you get some great views looking back at the Kent Surrey border as the M25 snakes its way towards Godstone.
After Halstead and once the bus rejoins the A224 it does the double run to serve the Garden Centre and then heads north via Badgers Mount and Knockholt station to Green Street Green and on to Orpington where the brightly coloured yellow and purple livery really stands out from the plain TfL red of everything else, except for Arriva’s hourly route 477 to and from Dartford.
Towards Locksbottom the Go-Coach bus turns left at the War Memorial roundabout at the bottom of Orpington High Street but on the return to Sevenoaks the bus does a short detour to pick up at the busy bus stop outside McDonalds at the bottom end of the High Street. There’s not enough time to do this towards Locksbottom and the bus stop south of the War Memorial is quite close to the roundabout for the High Street.
Once past Orpington station it doesn’t take long to reach the Hospital terminus at Locksbottom.
We picked up two other passengers – one in Knockholt Pound travelling to Green Street Green who was grateful for the additional service over and above the sparse timetable on the R10 and another who boarded in Green Street Green and went to Orpington.
Well done to Kent County Council which had installed route 3 timetables in timetable cases throughout the route within the county …
… but I suspect it will take much longer for TfL to get round to acknowledging the routes presence in its timetable cases and on bus stop flags.
Suffice to say even though the usual many weeks notice were given, nothing had appeared last Wednesday when I travelled on the route.
It’ll be interesting to see whether passengers return to the restored route 3; but the finances are helped by the significant numbers of school children as well as Kent’s BSIP funding support – probably one of the only examples of a ‘new’ route that’ll be so funded with the priority otherwise being to keep services going that would otherwise be withdrawn.
I was also encouraged to hear from Blog reader Brian who had also taken a ride along with his wife on route 3 last week and reported eight passengers on their southbound journey and nine on the return to Orpington including some travelling to and from the Polhill garden centre.
Let’s hope that’s the start of continuing growth in custom.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
Comments are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
I travelled on Route 3 last Friday (3 November) on the 1212 ex Orpington . . . in total we carried 9 passengers, including two through to Sevenoaks, and picked up two in Halstead as well. As Roger comments, there was no indication at bus stops in Orpington about the route . . . I understand that the granting of a London Service Permit by TfL (the equivalent of a Registration inside London) requires TfL to install appropriate bus stop publicity . . . something they quietly ignore. In Metroline days on Route 84, we had to resort to posting our own timetables in Barnet, as TfL, even after 2 months, simply wouldn’t comply.
I returned on the 1335 ex Sevenoaks, and was pleased to see 9 passengers travelling from there, including two “rabbits” to Riverhead. What was surprising was that another 8 passengers boarded at Polhill, including two that had travelled with me earlier . . . which implies that 6 passengers spent over three hours at the Garden Centre!! Granted that most (but not all) passengers were ENCTS passholders, that’s still a good load.
With BSIP monies involved and student fares as well . . . Route 3 looks like a bit of a winner!! I even managed to locate the site of the late lamented Dunton Green (DG) East Surrey / LT / LCBS Garage!
greenline 727.
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The presumably Tfl maintained stops at Heathrow T4 are a complete mess of incorrect information and missing routes. The approach seems to be too completely ignore the existence of operators outside their fiefdom, and that’s for rail as well as bus.
Surfblue
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I had a Local at the Kent Enhanced partnership document. The usual lot of waffle. Some things actually had targets and a date. Whether any have been delivered remains a mystery as no updates. They have supposed to have delivered a Bus Passenger Charter but I have not found it. They have set targets for time keeping and reliability but whether these targets have been met remains a mystery as no updates
. This is pretty much the same with most of the LTA’s
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Goodness…I must be slipping up as I live in Locks Bottom and was totally unaware of this long overdue resurrection of the 3 (it actually follows one of the former London Transport 431 variations as well as part of the latter day 402).
TfL should hang their head in shame leaving Kent County Council to shoulder the financial burden alone, as pre-Covid, it was at least shared. TfL have a responsibility to provide services both into and out of Greater London. And whilst the R5/R10 does in fact do this, connecting two adjacent towns once more is of considerably more use.
It was absurd that several villages in the Kent section, including even Dunton Green, actually had no bus service (other than schools) linking them to Sevenoaks, their local Town. And as has been aired before in this blog, whilst Sevenoaks is linked frequently by train to Orpington, Knockholt and Dunton Green, you need the energy of a gazelle to walk from Tubs Hill station to the Town, buses being almost non-existent.
If I recall, the most popular part of the route, used from both ends, was the Polhill Garden Centre where many are able to do a full weekly shop. I once counted seventeen boarding an Orpington bound journey one afternoon on the former service. Hopefully also, the Locks Bottom extension will cater for those needing to travel to the Hospital, many medical services there replacing those once provided at the old Kent County hospital between Green St. Green and Orpington.
Long may it continue…
Terence Uden
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The GLA boundary is like the Berlin Wall. No one wants to support cross border services and TfL actively discourages them by its fare policies which makes any such services uncompetitive within London
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Roger’s blog does highlight one specific area where the regulatory set up between TfL and the provinces leads to these no mans land areas of minimal bus provision. As has been mentioned elsewhere, you have this around London.
Whilst TfGM has been more pragmatic in managing cross border routes, there is still the potential for damaging those routes that traverse the border. More concerning is Liverpool City Region’s proposals that will seek to limit or truncate a number of cross border routes.
Elsewhere in the UK, we have examples of councils supporting services “up to the border and no further” as they dare not countenance spending money on their residents needs if that involves travel into a neighbouring county.
BW2
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Very good to see route 3 restored. Another trip I can do when we next stay there. We rely on Go Coach when we do. If only Hampshire would step up too, as we have so little here.
Malcolm Chase, Fleet
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Hello Roger, Thanks for your review of Go-Coach Route 3 and a mention of my name. You have filled a gap in my knowledge by explaining about the support from KCC under the BSIP scheme. Numbers on the day we travelled (Tue 31/10) may have been enhanced by the dry sunny weather. We were somewhat disappointed as to how there were so few people shopping in Sevenoaks, and even less using the buses – usually only one or two per bus departure, but pleased to see the Bus Station Café still open where we enjoyed a nice ‘greasy spoon’ lunch. Like you I am disappointed about there being no mention of Route 3 on TfL bus stops (I have emailed Go-Coach about this, but no reply as yet) although as you indicate this may be just TfL being unhelpful. However I have done my best to do a little local publicity in the Warren Road area in my capacity as Secretary of the Friends of Warren Road, ie emails to the group, a notice board notice at the bottom of Warren Road, and my wife distributing copies of the timetable at her Women’s Institute. We will try the route again soon and maybe report back to you again.
Brian Willson
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Having been a student of Border Affairs since 1970 when LCBS came about I have studied this matter with close and rapt attention. Since getting my ENCTS pass in November 2017 I did get to Sevenoaks from Westerham on Route 403. Yet recently had become sadly aware that Sevenoaks folk effectively had no connections with the TFL network by bus. There are approximately 30 Boundary Points at the GLA Border. Despite severe traffic delays and roadworks, I feel very fortunate in living in Walton on Thames with Falcon Route 461 linking me with riches of the Capital, with a last bus home at 2300. I would appreciate it if Roger stated whether ENCTS passes are valid on the routes he writes about such as his recent excursions to Hertfordshire (Route 84B for example). The £2 fare on Route 461 has boosted passenger numbers to astronomical heights. Late afternoon to early evening westbound departures from Kingston occasionally have loadings which test the front wheel bearings of the buses to their limits. I suppose that Alexander Dennis ought to be proud of their products sold to Falcon in the way exceptional loadings are being coped with well by such short wheelbase models.
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Concessionary passes are valid on all local bus routes in England with the only exceptions being certain routes aimed exclusively at the leisure/tourist market and the odd ‘express’ type service (eg Red Arrow in Derby/Nottingham which I mention when writing about them but otherwise the default is acceptance.
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The “attractive moquette” is ex-Jubilee line
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Presumably chosen as this bus was previously painted up to mark the Queen’s Jubilee (later modified to King’s Coronation), which is presumably the reason it has the Union Flags as well.
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Yesterday I travelled on the 10:06 from Orpington Station to Sevenoaks where there was a total of 8 passengers travelling across the TfL/KCC border. Two passengers travelled from Locksbottom to Sevenoaks. The other 5 passengers joined the bus between Orpington High Street and Green Street Green. 3 passengers alighted at Polhill Garden Centre and the rest travelled to Sevenoaks.
It has been mentioned about the TfL bus stops not displaying the route number and timetable.
But the bus stops between Sevenoaks Station and Dunton Green are just as bad with the stops still showing 401, 402, 431 and 452. There is no mentioned of the Go-Coach routes with only the 401 still operating on Sundays only.
I returned to the TfL area by using the 11:36 service 1 between Sevenoaks and Westerham. Again there were only 8 passengers in total travelling on the bus and I was the only passenger between Brasted and Westerham.
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The Kent bus stops displaying route numbers were the unfortunate project of one individual, who was strongly advised not to do it, on the basis that (a) except in areas like town centres, all buses called at all stops, and the information was available in the timetable case; and (b) the numbers wouldn’t be maintained in the future. (Anyone can change a timetable case, but the need for ladders to change the numbers on a flag creates all sorts of issues for a risk-averse local authority).
Sadly, (b) has been proven true, with many examples of extinct routes still visible.
KCC
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