TfK: Transport for Kent and the Whitstable Oyster Card

I was interviewed by John Warnett on Radio Kent's Breakfast Show this morning about Transport for London wanting to run services from the edge of Kent, i.e. Dartford and Sevenoaks.

I think that the TfL model for public transport is better than we have in Kent - London public transport is accountable to the Mayor rather than central government. They also run more reliable services, so extending them to the edge of Kent is a reasonable thing to do, especially as it is likely to improve services.

But I also think Kent County Council should be discussing the model with the Department of Transport. Currently our train service, South Eastern Trains is franchised by the DfT to Govia, i.e. Kent people have no say in it.

So how about bringing the accountability to local government with a similar model to London and we can call it "Transport for Kent" complete with a Whitstable Oyster card? It's not quite renationalisation but at least would be accountable to local people.