Estimates of station usage: April 2022 to March 2023

[whole diary]

[grahame]

You missed Okehampton I think. Comes under Dartmoor Railway in the tables.

Hear are a load of the missing ones that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve:

11693876 WIM Wimbledon
10185022 CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) Cardiff Central
5495672 SOU Southampton Central
5118228 PUT Putney
4004066 BSK^▸ (Brake Standard Corridor (carriage)) Basingstoke
2339566 NWP Newport (South Wales)
1883574 SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) Swansea
1775756 FTN Fratton
1746574 PMH Portsmouth Harbour
1707210 PMS Portsmouth and Southsea
1621562 SAL Salisbury
1560326 WKM Wokingham
1415156 FRM Fareham
1133284 BGN Bridgend
1089664 ESL Eastleigh
1079070 SOA Southampton Airport Parkway
765158 CSA Cosham
666058 NTH Neath
641612 WEY Weymouth
471848 PTA^▸ (Passenger Transport Authority) Port Talbot Parkway
384366 ROM Romsey
366450 AXM Axminster
339596 HDE Hedge End
310290 WNS Winnersh
298074 HLS Hilsea
292606 CMN Carmarthen
288228 HON Honiton
277934 GIL Gillingham (Dorset)
273736 LLE Llanelli
228272 OKE Okehampton
179318 WCH Whitchurch (Hampshire)
179132 WTI Winnersh Triangle
170474 YVJ Yeovil Junction
166352 PIN Pinhoe
157562 CKN Crewkerne
151630 TIS^‡(resolve) Tisbury
128806 CFR Chandlers Ford
103238 CBK Cranbrook (Devon)
83500 SAN Sandown
68276 TMC Templecombe
52048 FNT Feniton
43128 UPW Upwey
39808 WHM^▸ (Well House Manor (where I worked - please excuse advert)) Whimple
28894 RDB Redbridge
28230 DEN Dean (Wilts)
25426 MBK Millbrook (Hants)
24412 DBG Mottisfont and Dunbridge

[lympstone_commuter]

I've updated my clickable map to include the 2023 figures:

https://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm (Follow the link to the map and then click on a station to see the time-series)

The time-series show that the post-COVID bounceback is pretty much complete in Devon and Cornwall.

Also (as noted elsewhere) the Elizabeth Line effect is very clear at Paddington and Liverpool Street!

[Surrey 455]

Hear are a load of the missing ones that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve:

11693876 WIM Wimbledon

I've never seen a GWR train at Wimbledon. Surely you mean SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)? 

[stuving]

Hear are a load of the missing ones that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve:

11693876 WIM Wimbledon

I've never seen a GWR train at Wimbledon. Surely you mean SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)? 

Looking at the 2021 GWR network map, some other places are not served - Chandler's Ford, Templecombe, Honiton, Whitchurch ... I can see why some those might be on a diversionary route, but Wimbledon is a bit of a stretch for that. And as for Putney ??

[Red Squirrel]

I've updated my clickable map to include the 2023 figures:

https://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm (Follow the link to the map and then click on a station to see the time-series)

The time-series show that the post-COVID bounceback is pretty much complete in Devon and Cornwall.

Also (as noted elsewhere) the Elizabeth Line effect is very clear at Paddington and Liverpool Street!

Thanks, really useful!

[PhilWakely]

You missed Okehampton I think. Comes under Dartmoor Railway in the tables.

Hear are a load of the missing ones that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve:

277934 GIL Gillingham (Dorset)
170474 YVJ Yeovil Junction
157562 CKN Crewkerne
151630 TIS^‡(resolve) Tisbury
68276 TMC Templecombe

Since when has GWR served the above stations ?  I'd even debate stations between Pinhoe and Axminster, given the one train a weekday is cancelled more often than not.

[grahame]

Hear are a load of the missing ones that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve:

11693876 WIM Wimbledon

I've never seen a GWR train at Wimbledon. Surely you mean SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)? 

Looking at the 2021 GWR network map, some other places are not served - Chandler's Ford, Templecombe, Honiton, Whitchurch ... I can see why some those might be on a diversionary route, but Wimbledon is a bit of a stretch for that. And as for Putney ??

Very quick and dirty manual operation.  I may have a look back when I get a chance or invite others to fill in gaps to Hereford and Pembroke Dock, and check intermediate stations between Paddington and Reading.  And did I miss Botley?

[lympstone_commuter]

I've updated my clickable map to include the 2023 figures:

https://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm (Follow the link to the map and then click on a station to see the time-series)

I've now added a second map which shows the year of peak usage (within the window 1998 - 2023). Some interesting patterns (with my speculations in brackets):

Stations with peak usage in 2023 (black in Map 2):
   Lots in Devon and Cornwall   (traffic not commuter heavy?)
   Elizabeth Line Stations          (no surprise)
   Cambridge - Ipswich             (new trains?)
   Norwich - Sheringham          (new trains?)
   Oban line                             (think I read about new school travel?)

Stations with peak usage immediately prior to the pandemic (purple in Map 2)
   Most of the country               (general pattern of growth halted by COVID?)
   Birmingham and Manchester commuter belts

Stations with peak usage a couple of years prior to the pandemic (blue in Map 2)
   London commuter belt (shift to home working predated pandemic?)

Stations with peak usage over 20 years ago (red in Map 2)
   A few stations where one really has to worry!



Does anyone else have thoughts about the usage patterns?

 


   

[Mark A]

Those are a delight to use and very informative, thanks for putting them together.

Mark

[Red Squirrel]

Here in Bristol, a quick scan shows an interesting shift:

MTP has 169,000 pax, RDA^▸ (Regional Development Agency) 76,000 and SRD at 212,000. These are the highest ever recorded figures; MTP for example is 30% higher than its previous peak in 2014/5.

There may be a clue in the fact that CFN^▸ (Clifton Down station), at 608,000, is 25% down on its peak (764,000 in 2016/7). I always suspected that the way fares were collected skewed things towards CFN; on trains heading towards BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), guards almost always sold tickets 'from CFN' for all stations between CFN and BRI.

[Trowres]

Does anyone else have thoughts about the usage patterns? 

Thanks for providing a very useful resource :-)

It does appear that patronage held up for longer around the major regional cities than it did in London or in smaller towns more isolated from the big hubs.

Looking in more detail at the graphs, there seem to be many in a form /^--- , where rapid growth in the first decade of the century plateaued in the second. Where the growth slowed or ended seems to vary; in Wiltshire it's 2015-2017 while in Cornwall it tends to be somewhat earlier. A similar demand curve is seen on the Welsh Marches Line and in many other places.

Some places like Gt Yarmouth have a radically different trendline - were there service reductions or problems over several years?

For the mainstream, there could be a number of reasons why growth slowed. In no particular order, I'd suggest:

• Changes to business and commuting due to technology
• Patronage reaching capacity, leading to a decline in quality
• Cumulative effect of austerity vs. RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context))+ fare increases
• The delayed effect of a reduction in the number of improvements being implemented
• Entering a period where "improvements" caused disruption during construction or where commissioning went awry.

[PhilWakely]

I've updated my clickable map to include the 2023 figures:

https://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm (Follow the link to the map and then click on a station to see the time-series)

The time-series show that the post-COVID bounceback is pretty much complete in Devon and Cornwall.

Also (as noted elsewhere) the Elizabeth Line effect is very clear at Paddington and Liverpool Street!

This is excellent, thank you.  Purely as a matter of interest, are you able to rank stations by their year-on-year growth?

[Hafren]

Stations with peak usage over 20 years ago (red in Map 2)
   A few stations where one really has to worry!


Does anyone else have thoughts about the usage patterns?

A few patterns that might be relevant:

• A number of rural stations or obvious tourist destinations. Perhaps this is related to changing tourism travel patterns (e.g. declining holiday park traffic at Penychain).
• Stations that have very limited service - e.g. east of Ellesmere Port - not sure when it was reduced from a 'proper' service but perhaps there's a link.
• Closely-spaced stations e.g. a lot of smaller stations on the Valley Lines network. Something to do with the ways tickets are issued perhaps - are the peak dates related to booking office closures? In some areas, zonal ticketing being introduced? Similar to the zonal point, but where not officially zonal ticketing, tickets being sold on-train being issued from first station in same fare band to avoid changing origin station with each transaction? Local buses improving providing better 'metro' links than the trains?

[ellendune]

Does anyone else have thoughts about the usage patterns?

Although the growth from 1998 is important, the return or not) to immediate prepandemic levels is also of interest for those campaigning for return of lost services.

[lympstone_commuter]

Purely as a matter of interest, are you able to rank stations by their year-on-year growth?

Good idea - I'll have a think!