Southeastern has unveiled the top ten most popular commuter stations in Kent as more customers take advantage of savings through season tickets.
Tonbridge, Ashford International and Sevenoaks are the county’s top three stations for Season Ticket travel, collectively accumulating 3.3 million entries and exits last year, followed by Sittingbourne, Gillingham and Gravesend.
Across Kent, season ticket journeys rose from 13.35 million to 14.76 million, an increase of more than 1.4 million trips (+10.6%). This outpaced the rise in overall passenger journeys, indicating a continued boost in regular commuting.
This new data follows the decision to freeze rail fares until 2027.
On key Southeastern routes such as Tonbridge, Ashford and Gravesend, commuters can reduce their per‑day travel costs by switching from buying daily fares to a Flexi, Monthly or Annual Season Ticket. Those savings add up quickly covering everything from a weekly cinema trip or a daily barista coffee to a full food shop over the month while benefiting from predictable, convenient and flexible travel options.
You can use Southeastern’s season ticket calculator to work out which is the best value season product for your travel pattern: https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/ways-to-save/season-ticket-calculator
Southeastern’s Commercial Director Alicia Andrews said:
“The strong growth we are seeing in commuter journeys shows growing confidence in the railway as more people return to offices across Kent and London.
“We have been working hard to deliver improvements for our customers, from introducing a new timetable with more Highspeed services to investing in stations and upgrading our trains.
“Season tickets can offer significant savings even if you travel just three days a week, and with many fares frozen customers can buy whenever it suits them, too.”
In addition to the busiest hubs, Kent’s smaller communities are also seeing strong weekday demand. The top station in terms of the proportion of commuters was Birchington on Sea, where more than half (51.5%) of journeys were made with a season ticket, followed by Lenham (43.5%) and Sandwich(43.3%).
Kent’s Top 10 Commuter Hubs
(Season ticket entries and exits, 2023/24 to 2024/25)
- Tonbridge – 1,355,040 (+6.3%)
- Ashford International – 976,948 (+11.7%)
- Sevenoaks – 935,720 (+1.8%)
- Sittingbourne – 709,240 (+14.1%)
- Gillingham (Kent) – 667,170 (+12.0%)
- Gravesend – 624,970 (+11.1%)
- Chatham – 589,340 (+9.1%)
- Dartford – 549,680 (+11.1%)
- Rainham (Kent) – 529,122 (+11.8%)
- Faversham – 505,046 (+13.6%)
Together, these ten stations account for more than 6.4 million season ticket journeys, representing almost half of Kent’s entire commuter market.
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