"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On Jun 1, 1:18 pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
03:54:07 on Mon, 1 Jun 2009, Mizter T remarked:

So, they'll only be offering peak time trains from Ashford during this
preview service, but there'll be an all day half-hourly service from
Ebbsfleet.

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.

Though come the full service there will be 2tph off-peak from Ashford
into London. And Ashford could also perhaps provide a P&R style
offering for those in the surrounding area, areas of which at least
are quite affluent. Also, I don't know Ashford at all well but
wikipedia pointed me in the way of this Channel 4 survey where they
judged it the fourth best place to live in the UK!

Hm!

Ashford station is in centre of town surrounded by an area not far short of
dereliction. It's a short walk from the shops.

But it is not easily accessible by car from outlying areas, and there is
almost nowhere to live (and certainly nowhere nice to live) that is a
reasonable walk from the station.

It doesn't make an idea park and ride IMHO.

tim