Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 19:55 28 Mar 2024
* Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack
- Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1992)
MOD Kineton tour, branch line society (*)

Train RunningCancelled
17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street
18:08 London Paddington to Frome
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:23 Reading to Gatwick Airport
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:35 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
19:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:16 Frome to Westbury
20:20 Reading to Shalford
20:49 Newbury to Bedwyn
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
21:30 Shalford to Reading
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
15:03 London Paddington to Penzance
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
16:35 London Paddington to Plymouth
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
18:19 Reading to Gatwick Airport
18:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
18:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
18:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
19:06 London Paddington to Bedwyn
19:13 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
19:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:11 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
Delayed
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Additional 17:17 Exeter St Davids to Penzance
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 19:40 Redhill to Reading
19:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
19:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
23:04 Reading to Bedwyn
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 20:07:00 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[118] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[116] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[89] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[46] Return of the BRUTE?
[38] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[28] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Linked Events
  • ORR Station Usage figures out: December 06, 2017
  • ORR Station Usage figures out: December 11, 2018
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5
  Print  
Author Topic: Station Usage figures from the ORR  (Read 14272 times)
CMRail
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 400


View Profile
« Reply #30 on: November 14, 2018, 21:19:02 »

I am not saying that Pilning deserves improvements but without the fame surrounding Pilning the past few years would it have furtherly decreased again?
Logged
1st fan
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 402


View Profile
« Reply #31 on: November 14, 2018, 23:24:18 »

I always bristle slightly when I see Clifton Down showing a rise of over 200% whilst Montpelier and Redland languish at 116% and 109%... a lot of those Clifton Down tickets were actually for Redland or Montpelier, but because of the zonal fares busy guards just dial in CFN (Clifton Down station) and have done. And then there is the still significant number of journeys for which no fare is collected.

 I know FOSBR (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) do occasional surveys that count real journeys, but presumably these (distorted) DfT» (Department for Transport - about) figures are the ones that count?




TFL (Transport for London) were caught out when trying to close the Olympia branch of the District Line. They claimed low usage of the service but somebody pointed out that they had no way of knowing this. The exits at the station weren't segregated and the rail passengers used the same ticket gates. They then had to employ two people to record actual numbers of passengers. Someone put in a FOI (Freedom of Information) request to find out what options the TFL board were being asked to choose between. TFL stalled giving a response to the request for which they were rapped on the knuckles over.

A public meeting was arranged where TFL sent their man and some flunkies to answer some questions. At the meeting the TFL bloke stood up and said that no decidion to close the line had been taken. All options were still on the table and this meeting was an important part of the decision making process. There were some very angry people and a disabled gentleman in a wheelchair asked how he was supposed to get home. The TFL bloke said that was easy, go to West Brompton and cross over to the overground northbound platform. Disabled bloke said he found it difficult to get his wheelchair up the stairs and that made using West Brompton difficult. TFL bloke says don't be silly you can just use the lift to much loud laughter in the room. Disabled bloke says that the southbound district line platform doesn't have step free access. TFL bloke goes to disagree and one of his flunkies quietly points out that actually it isn't step free to more laughter. So the next suggestion is a bus and he didn't like being told that there wasn't a bus that went from Earl's Court to Olympia direct. The alternative route by bus requires catching the C1 ((on coaches) National route restriction) bus from EC to the Comonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street and then there is a choice of three buses.


Then somone else points out that the walking distances given by TFL as an alternative route for those not reliant on a wheelchair are a lot lower than the actual distances which people have measured with GPS, on Google maps and surprisingly their own TFL journey planner - Whoops. When the options the board were given to choose from were finally released (which was after the decision was taken) they didn't actually have an option where a meaningful service was retained. They were basically only saying they would run a parliamentary service during the weekdays and a more normal service at the weekends. The early morning trains that were still going to run were those that came to Olympia out of the depot before starting their service. The conection to all this with GWR (Great Western Railway)/FGW (First Great Western) is the TFL bloke who was Richard Parry and went on to join the FGW bid team for the West Coast Mainline. 
« Last Edit: November 14, 2018, 23:42:53 by 1st fan » Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #32 on: November 15, 2018, 00:22:00 »

I am not saying that Pilning deserves improvements but without the fame surrounding Pilning the past few years would it have furtherly decreased again?

Perhaps a couple of dozen stations at the extreme end of a list of stations by passenger numbers will tend to go up and down based on special activities rather than by ambient traffic flows.  In fact a surprising number are influenced by community promotion - witness how Community Rail lines and stations have tended to do rather better in proportion to lines and stations not so covered.  Clearly, local interest in a railway and people saying "use our train" generates traffic ...

For the bottom one or two, the very fact of being in that club will encourage people to come along and move them out of that club ... expect huge growth at Shippea Hill this year.    This is most likely to be cyclic and they'll fall back again.  If the number move up and stay up you'll see that there is true (local) love for the station and caring for it, and if Pilning remains significantly above what it was two years ago this year, it shows there's something happening there more than a flash in the pan - rather there's an effective team which makes a difference and is persistent.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
paul7575
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5316


View Profile
« Reply #33 on: November 15, 2018, 00:25:20 »

They still withdrew the weekday Olympia service, despite all the consultation...

Paul
Logged
1st fan
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 402


View Profile
« Reply #34 on: November 15, 2018, 16:10:24 »

They still withdrew the weekday Olympia service, despite all the consultation...

Paul

Yeah it became obvious that they never intended to run anything other than a parliamentary service on weekdays. The consultation and meeting were just a PR (Public Relations) exercise designed to appease the local population. What didn't make much sense was the fact that Olympia was expanding and Earl's Court was closing when they took the decision. They also have to run shuttle busses at really popular events because otherwise the Overground and Wimbledon district line would be overloaded.
Logged
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: November 15, 2018, 16:36:34 »

They still withdrew the weekday Olympia service, despite all the consultation...

Paul

Yeah it became obvious that they never intended to run anything other than a parliamentary service on weekdays. The consultation and meeting were just a PR (Public Relations) exercise designed to appease the local population. What didn't make much sense was the fact that Olympia was expanding and Earl's Court was closing when they took the decision. They also have to run shuttle busses at really popular events because otherwise the Overground and Wimbledon district line would be overloaded.


That's what you call 'a fait accompli', call a public consultation having made a decision 'in committee' just to tick a box with no intention of taking the views of the public into consideration in re-examining 'in committee' resolutions.
Logged
Trowres
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 749


View Profile
« Reply #36 on: November 15, 2018, 18:55:05 »

Possible figure for 2023/4, once tolls on the Severn Bridge have been removed and there are platforms available off the B road or A road, both of which will be easily reached from the bridge once the new motorway junction has gone in. Cardiff to Taunton and Taunton to Cardiff trains stopping daily, hourly.

300 parking spaces occupied on an average day, 5 days per week, 48 weeks per year. Average car occupancy 1.2 people - 173,000 journeys per annum.  72,000 days of parking at £5 = £360,000

Would it be attractive?  Come over the bridge, park up near the motorway and be in Bristol Temple Meads 20 minutes later. No congestion ...

PLUS local passengers from Pilning - what a wonderful place to live if you work in Bristol. Up go house values.   Plus - oh I won't repeat all the SEWWEB stuff ...

 

I suspect this post was meant to be somewhat light-hearted, but the concept makes me despair.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #37 on: December 11, 2018, 06:37:17 »

Due today http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/publication-dates
via http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates

Assuming that the release does happen (pretty probable!) I will update stations pages and graphs tonight - doing my day job during the day today!
« Last Edit: December 11, 2018, 06:50:50 by grahame » Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 12334


View Profile Email
« Reply #38 on: December 11, 2018, 12:10:14 »

Yes, they're out.

Top 7 stay the same, although Waterloo is still top, throughputs are down, and haven't gone over the 100.000,000 mark.

Bottom is now British Steel Redcar.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #39 on: December 11, 2018, 12:32:42 »

Yes, they're out.

Top 7 stay the same, although Waterloo is still top, throughputs are down, and haven't gone over the 100.000,000 mark.

Bottom is now British Steel Redcar.

? Where ... my links not showing new data
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #40 on: December 11, 2018, 12:35:05 »

Yes, they're out.

Top 7 stay the same, although Waterloo is still top, throughputs are down, and haven't gone over the 100.000,000 mark.

Bottom is now British Steel Redcar.

? Where ... my links not showing new data

OK ... found them
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #41 on: December 11, 2018, 13:28:43 »

What's your guess/hope for Melksham this time then, Graham?

Fools rush in ....

The figure to March 2017 was 74,666 - up from 60,676 the year before and 51,858 they year before that.

I think we would be lucky to maintain the figure of 75,000 in the year April 2017 to March 2018.    

Sadly, I got that right - we have fallen back from 74,666 to 74,220 - just 99.4% of the previous year.

Quote
By April 2017, the peak train was full and standing to the extent that people were no longer being added to the train - there simply wasn't the capacity. The promised increase to 2 cars in May 2017 didn't happen until the New Year, still with occasional uses of a single carriage train. The last one car (153) I had the pleasure of using was on 15th June - with the train manager walking along the outside at Swindon, banging on the windows and asking people to move up.

Come summer 2017, reliability went down the tubes ... and TransWilts is such an easy service to cancel, never mind that it's a real hardship to customers as there isn't going to be another one along in 30 minutes ... and puts them off for a long time to come.

Early 2018 brought a loss of daytime services because of engineering works at Newbury and rail replacement buses that don't even connect properly at both ends are not popular.  And it brought storms that shut the TransWilts long after everything else was open.


At 99.4% we haven't done too badly - Trowbridge is 94.6%, Bradford-on-Avon 96.8%, Westbury 98.4%, Warminster 95.1%, Chippenham 97.5% ... so in spite of overcrowded trains (when running) and loss of passenger (when not or bustitited) w've kept pretty much ahead of the game - the whole game has slipped back though.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #42 on: December 11, 2018, 13:37:36 »

I guess the key is to make sure everyone (press included) understands the reason(s) and doesn’t come to the wrong conclusion as to why numbers are down.
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
Western Pathfinder
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1528



View Profile
« Reply #43 on: December 11, 2018, 13:51:07 »

Pilning Station up 107.8% not bad going
Now if they could encourage some proper passengers!.
Logged
Phantom
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 484



View Profile
« Reply #44 on: December 11, 2018, 14:49:35 »

Pilning Station up 107.8% not bad going
Now if they could encourage some proper passengers!.

I noticed there was a twitter group trying to get people to travel there to distort the numbers
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page