In message , at 23:51:56 on Mon, 6 Oct
2014, Neil Williams remarked:
Hardly - they're complete opposites. The NLL links up the spokes on a wheel and
provides a quicker alternative to going into london and out again , whereas
the croxley link provides a much longer route to watford than the alternatives.

That it does, but where it might win out is the "lazy journey" option
for those working in the northern parts of the City easily reachable
from Moorgate, Barbican, Liverpool St and Aldgate. Along similar
lines, were what you say true Bedford commuters would always use the
fast EMT services, yet quite a lot of them use Thameslink because it
provides a single-train journey.

There are only two EMT trains from Bedford in the morning that are timed
as useful to commuters, arriving St Pancras at 7:48* and 8:39

The evening peak is inherently more spread out, and there's a better
choice of departures at 17:00, 17:30, 18:00* and 18:30

* via Corby services, so might be a 5-car train only.
--
Roland Perry