Station usage 2012/13

Annual station usage report out

Methodology
http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/10786/station_usage_estimates_1213.pdf

Dataset
http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/10785/station_usage_estimates_1213.xls


Changes this year are improved PTE formulas for Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, station groups have been recalibrated with manual counts, more rover/ranger products included after being included for the first time the previous year.

In total station usage is up 3.3% of which 2.3% is the underlying growth discounting methodology changes.

GM/WY new infill formula is based on a new revenue/demand model developed for Rail North by Mott Mcdonald (Steer Davies Gleave writes this report), SY was also part of this model but SYPTE didnt release complete local statistical data in time for inclusion in this years report, they did manage to provide data for a few larger stations but it was discounted as incomplete data was incompatible with the model so SY uses previous model in this report.

As a result of the change comparing the old and new method both using this years data:
West Yorkshire PTE went from 6.83m to 8.67m entries/exits, a 27% adjustment
Greater Manchester PTE went from 5.05m to 5.10m showing the previous model was accurate for this area.

Ten largest changes resulting from change of methodology

Leeds 24,450,682 26,200,916 7%
Huddersfield 4,022,672 4,656,700 16%
Manchester Airport 3,414,466 3,136,816 -8%
Bolton 3,313,742 3,583,392 8%
Bradford Interchange 2,782,466 3,004,718 8%
Dewsbury 1,389,050 1,603,702 15%
Manchester Piccadilly 23,358,295 23,158,477 -1%
Guiseley 945,722 1,134,560 20%
Shipley 1,497,954 1,666,542 11%
Castleford 413,318 537,898 30%

Freedom Pass data now included resulting minor increases at some London and Croydon terminals, except at West Croydon which saw a 10.8% increase.


Following Liverpool stations manual count last year a large number (All?) group stations were recalibrated with counts. This could not be done at three groups, Manchester BR, Wigan BR and Warrington BR as Lennon data showed these station groups had highly fluctuating usage levels (so that a average days count couldnt be extrapolated), these three groups use existing methodology.

I wont list all the group changes but the most significant ones:

Farnborough (Main) 3,149,316 2,859,700 -9%
Farnborough North 328,684 618,300 88%

Bedford Midland 3,448,926 3,303,270 -4%
Bedford St.Johns 9,320 154,976 1563%

Maidstone East 1,796,012 1,343,900 -25%
Maidstone West 529,796 834,293 57%
Maidstone Barracks 120,150 267,765 123%

Deepdene 389,786 454,909 17%
Dorking 1,354,864 1,234,007 -9%
Dorking West 40 55,774 139435%

Dorchester South 533,304 469,294 -12%
Dorchester West 66,828 130,838 96%

Colchester 4,574,692 4,291,055 -6%
Colchester Town 459,380 743,017 62%

Portsmouth & Southsea 2,352,460 1,965,324 -16%
Portsmouth Harbour 1,809,936 2,197,072 21%


Rover tickets included for the first time:

Anglia Plus, Devon Evening Ranger, Devon Day Ranger, Ride Cornwall, Freedom Travel Pass (West of England).

top 10 changes

Norwich 3,949,610 4,126,012 4.5%
Ipswich 3,202,062 3,348,394 4.6%
Bury St.Edmunds 501,966 566,110 12.8%
Plymouth 2,530,000 2,579,316 1.9%
Lowestoft 411,536 459,166 11.6%
Exeter St. David's 2,361,172 2,401,276 1.7%
Stowmarket 897,376 927,856 3.4%
Thetford 264,318 287,024 8.6%
Bristol Temple Meads 9,076,954 9,099,332 0.2%


New stations
6393 Conon Bridge New station
6680 Fishguard & Goodwick New station

Merseyside again showing a decline in usage like last year, down 5.8% overall, they are still investingating to find where theyve gone either on to PTE tickets or something else.... however Dfts own independent figures for central liverpool stations also show a similar decline of -1.8%.

Tube/rail network interchanges up 5.2% to 200.6 million, 78% increase at Stratford due to Olympics


Other large movers:
Southend Airport, 340,814 57,208 496% (recent opening)
Broughty Ferry 23,180 9,288 150% (increase in services Dec 2011)
Buckshaw Parkway 225,250 91,630 146% (recent opening)
Angel Road 63,040 28,240 123% (part of trend of increased usage in Lea Valley)
Digby and Sowton 742,622 374,488 98% (new houses)
Northumberland Park 415,526 213,458 95% (annual trend)

Dalmarnock 21,506 79,558 -73% (closed for works)
Bogston 29,902 62,992 -36% (unknown anomaly)
Lealholm 11,422 20,010 -26% (unknown, possibly ticketing related)
Glaisdale 11,194 18,564 -23% (unknown, possibly ticketing related)
Tackley 20,934 34,374 -22% (unknown)
Bedhampton 171,554 249,212 -21% (unknown, possibly related to Havant station)
Grosmont 16,376 23,662 -21% (unknown, possibly ticketing related
Pwllheli 44,520 62,590 -19% (unknown)
Doleham 28,102 38,666 -19% (unknown, possibly exceptional usage previous year)

by PTE

London Travelcard Area 1,168,302,924 1,229,517,048 5.2%
Greater Manchester 68,802,620 69,804,168 1.5%
Merseyside 91,535,354 86,196,056 -5.8%
South Yorkshire 19,764,478 20,058,546 1.5%
Strathclyde 112,807,982 115,574,690 2.5%
Tyne & Wear 8,972,648 9,128,070 1.7%
West Midlands 88,257,934 90,038,668 2.0%
West Yorkshire 62,509,470 64,473,940 3.1%

by Region
London 1,155,958,212 1,216,779,288 5.3%
South East 355,396,414 361,089,813 1.6%
East 181,806,848 189,184,958 4.1%
South West 68,000,416 69,307,542 1.9%
East Midlands 38,540,996 38,752,850 0.5%
West Midlands 119,379,578 121,953,360 2.2%
North East 20,028,448 20,057,944 0.1%
North West 200,131,616 196,617,966 -1.8%
Yorkshire And The Humber 102,899,546 105,107,634 2.1%
Wales - Cymru 47,132,262 47,633,884 1.1%
Scotland 166,645,886 171,475,598 2.9%

by station operator

Arriva Trains Wales 54,928,144 55,538,820 1.1%
c2c 47,761,568 50,961,140 6.7%
Chiltern Railways 36,007,544 38,447,304 6.8%
East Coast 33,740,070 34,000,624 0.8%
East Midlands Trains 39,547,914 39,453,813 -0.2%
First Capital Connect 115,835,036 119,381,500 3.1%
First Great Western 119,988,034 124,222,049 3.5%
First ScotRail 121,343,698 124,692,896 2.8%
First TransPennine Express 22,366,630 22,813,920 2.0%
Glasgow Prestwick Airport 336,980 343,782 2.0%
London Midland Trains 76,340,722 78,939,822 3.4%

London Overground 98,484,224 116,516,158 18.3%
London Underground 50,117,748 56,799,898 13.3%
Merseyrail 72,145,769 67,792,053 -6.0%
Abellio Greater Anglia 161,548,972 171,614,865 6.2%
Network Rail 628,812,528 641,782,294 2.1%
Northern Rail 112,216,659 113,900,464 1.5%
South West Trains 266,241,056 274,433,125 3.1%
South West Trains (Island Line) 1,668,384 1,543,278 -7.5%
Southeastern 180,265,478 183,268,488 1.7%
Southern 177,574,974 181,788,363 2.4%
Stobart Rail 57,208 340,814 495.7%
Virgin Trains (West Coast) 38,590,882 39,385,368 2.1%

348,838% annual growth for Dorking West due to changes in how they calculate usage.

The timetable change for South Bank appears to have had a postive effect, usage figures up 2,000 for 2012/13 and the change only happened in December 2012 so that bodes well for a full years figures.

Teesside Airport down to 8 now... I'm almost tempted to purchase a few Child returns Teesside Airport - Dinsdale to boost the figures

I'm getting a 404 page not found error when I try to look at the data though. Is the link correct?

Cherry_Picker said:

I'm getting a 404 page not found error when I try to look at the data though. Is the link correct?

Click to expand...

Orr originally posted a broken link, theyve fixed it now.

Edit: Now looks like their website is additionally falling over from demand.

Overground figures are healthy, but no crazy jumps as I'd thought on the ELL, especially with the SLL section having a full year. But I've noticed even more recently it's busier than 6 months ago, and took a little while longer to grow than the NXG routes.

Highbury & Islington absolutely on fire, and truly Finsbury Park is eclipsed (no tube stats for there though).

Vauxhall fighting Wimbledon off - I imagine that will continue as the whole Nine Elsm area develops.

Big Liverpool declines. Cannon St a bit odd too, were there many works which affected it? Thought that was mainly to come!

London and Anglia growth (4-5%) outstrips everywhere else.
1-2% in the regions is not spectacular.
East Coast and EMT rather poor; Merseyrail has fallen down a hole*.
Scotland doing better than Wales.
This won't help the "bursting at the seams" debate in the north.

* Maybe the successive 4-month closures of the Liverpool city centre stations for refurbishment had a effect.

Bit of an Olympic bounce and rest of the country outside London was pretty much still in recession in 2012, regional recovery should filter through to the 2013 figures, also the discrepancy of Freedom Pass on Oyster being included for the first time. Also in November 2012 London extended coverage to over 60's rather than the womens retirement age which is the elligibility requirement in the rest of the country.

LNW-GW Joint said:

London and Anglia growth (4-5%) outstrips everywhere else.
1-2% in the regions is not spectacular.
East Coast and EMT rather poor; Merseyrail has fallen down a hole*.
Scotland doing better than Wales.
This won't help the "bursting at the seams" debate in the north.

* Maybe the successive 4-month closures of the Liverpool city centre stations for refurbishment had a effect.

Click to expand...

Southend airport is doing wonders for stobart!

What are the start and end dates of the data collection? The notes mention that the Olympics and Paralympics have an effect on this data set, so it must include August 2012?

The data is for the financial year isn't it, so April 2012-March 2013

The tiny seaside resort of Pwllheli is interesting,but it wont be as good next time, no trains for over half a year.

Just noticed, if you discount the 4.3m 6% drop in Merseyrail the rest of the North West grew 800,000 or about 0.4% (and that doesnt include the drops at non Merseyrail Merseyside stations).

How are usage stats worked out when the majority of customers use zonal tickets and don't have to touch in or out? Thinking of minor stations in London here.

Partly by looking at the stations where those zonal tickets were sold.

merlodlliw said:

The tiny seaside resort of Pwllheli is interesting,but it wont be as good next time, no trains for over half a year.

Click to expand...

Figures are down per se on Cambrian coast but July and august 12 we're appalling wet.

I don't think Digby & Sowton's substantial increase is down to new houses - I think Exeter Chief's continuing success is a more significant factor.

WatcherZero said:

Bit of an Olympic bounce and rest of the country outside London was pretty much still in recession in 2012, regional recovery should filter through to the 2013 figures, also the discrepancy of Freedom Pass on Oyster being included for the first time. Also in November 2012 London extended coverage to over 60's rather than the womens retirement age which is the elligibility requirement in the rest of the country.

Click to expand...

It might make a bit of off peak difference - but as a 20+ year traveller on Thameslink North , I assure you there are very few in the peak. Basically , London drives the economy - more jobs , more residential building in the Centre and in Zones 2-5+ , and the Shire Counties. ergo more commuters. Hendon now nearly a million, St Albans well over 6 !

Commuting regionally on the go - as Gareth pointed out - the North has an element of growth (especially on some lines) , but nothing like the Anglia , Chiltern and FCC routes. Note how flat Inter City is !

Liverpool falling for the third year running ?

Interestingly how Ryde Esplanade has 44,191 'season entries'. I'd guess that it's calculated at 5 entries a week over 48 weeks so 184 season tickets in total

WatcherZero said:

Bit of an Olympic bounce and rest of the country outside London was pretty much still in recession in 2012, regional recovery should filter through to the 2013 figures, also the discrepancy of Freedom Pass on Oyster being included for the first time. Also in November 2012 London extended coverage to over 60's rather than the womens retirement age which is the elligibility requirement in the rest of the country.

Click to expand...

Not sure I agree really. From all the evidence I've seen, the rail network has not been that affected by this recession. Others ones have been so much worse. Business on the GEML is very very buoyant now from what I witness & was less so during the Olympic period.

Slight drop (just under 1000 lower) for the station in the village, but still 237K entries/exits for a unstaffed station is quite reasonable (GRT)

I wonder how much more it would be if there was car parking available after 7am

thebigcheese said:

Interestingly how Ryde Esplanade has 44,191 'season entries'. I'd guess that it's calculated at 5 entries a week over 48 weeks so 184 season tickets in total

Click to expand...

There was a time when a season between the 2 Ryde Stations was bought remotely to get you a Network Goldcard ...

SWT_USER said:

How are usage stats worked out when the majority of customers use zonal tickets and don't have to touch in or out? Thinking of minor stations in London here.

Click to expand...

The report goes into LOTS of detail about methodology

ainsworth74 said:

The timetable change for South Bank appears to have had a postive effect, usage figures up 2,000 for 2012/13 and the change only happened in December 2012 so that bodes well for a full years figures.

Teesside Airport down to 8 now... I'm almost tempted to purchase a few Child returns Teesside Airport - Dinsdale to boost the figures

Click to expand...

Like I posted before, the only reason it appears that South Bank has lots of passengers is because of the South Bank-Newcastle open return. It is sold in vast amounts at Eaglescliffe, Thornaby, Middlesbrough.

Forgive me for skim-reading, but why are the entry and exit figures always identical?

Also, do the figures account for people who are waved through by a gateline attendant while using a season ticket at a station where it doesn't work the barriers?

Like a checksum, if people were arriving at a station but never leaving it something strange must be going on in your figures somewhere.

Yes, season ticket usage is one of the easiest things to calculate as you know where they start and where they end their journey, you only have to estimate how often each year they use the ticket.

Single Journey Ticket 1
Return Journey Ticket 2
Return Journey 2 Persons 4
3 Day Return/ 6 Single Journeys 6
4 Day Return/ 8 Single Journeys 8
5 Day Return/ 10 Single Journeys 10
6 Day Return 12
5 Day Single 5
1.5 Journeys 1.5
Weekly Ticket 10.3
10 Day Return/ 20 Single Journeys 20
2 Weekly Ticket 22
Seasons-Variable Periods ***
Monthly Ticket 45
Not Used 0
3 Monthly Tickets 135
Not Used 0
6 Monthly Tickets 270
Summary Group Codes ***
Annual Ticket 480
8 Day Ticket 22
22 Day Ticket 44
14 Day Ticket 30
50 Journeys 50
10 Weeks 103

Following data is ignored:
Car Parking
Railcard Sales
Penalty/Excess Fares
Seat Reservations
Sleeper Supplements.
Rover and Ranger Tickets (except those included in the new ‘Other’ Infill in 2011/12)
BritRail Tickets
Gate passes usually used by staff
Passenger Charter Discounts
Headquarters Input Items, other than those which can be identified as TfL or PTE
Irish station codes

Private codes are partially included:
PTE tickets and TfL sold London Travelcard records from LENNON are removed, and replaced with an estimate of all rail travel using these tickets via ‘infill’s to the MOIRA2 demand matrix
Plusbus, significant flows are included, minor flows are excluded.

Bluewater Shopping Centre

Alton Towers

Whipsnade

Chatsworth House

I can't see any of the Heathrow stations nor Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway.

The figures cover 1st April 2012 until 31st March 2013. Stratford upon Avon Parkway opened in May 2013 so it won't be included in the figures until next years report.

Merthyr Tydfil is showing a healthy increase from 452k to 481k. Would be far better when electrified I reckon.

I will be interested how Fishguard and Goodwicke does next year. Pyle is on 104k too, and deserves a greater service!

I‘m a but dissappointed that Doleham‘s metioric rise up the charts hasn‘t continued