On Jun 1, 3:46*pm, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 1 June, 13:18, Roland Perry wrote:

Perhaps they are expecting people to use Ebbsfleet as a P&R for London.
I'd certainly give that try if I lived nearby on the M25. Ashford is a
run-down provincial town (sorry, but that's the reality), and I can't
see why people would want to travel from there to London and back on a
premium service outside commuter hours.

Since - as you point out - Ashford has no amenities of its own, the
only way to have an evening out is to go up to London, and currently
that requires spending the best part of 3 hours on a train for the
round trip.

I can't see who would be stingy enough not to take the premium
service.

Put like that, yes. But on the flip side there's folk heading for a
day out in London - perhaps a family-type group or just some
youngsters - where the extra expense might well add up to rather
stretch the budget, and where said money might be better spent during
their day in London town. Plus at least for some such groups (e.g.
young family) the train trip itself might be part of the fun, so in
that sense going the relatively 'slow way' might work out for them.


(and not forgetting it's the junction station for a large part of
Kent)

Very true.

The other factor is what changes are being made to "Mainline" services
to/from Ashford under the new timetable, i.e. whether they'll be
slower and less frequent.