Confusion over 'Busiest station in Devon' (Exeter)

mrdon · 5 Jan 2020

While looking up some info on Wikipedia about Exeter St Davids/Central, I noticed some very conflicting stats, which left me quite confused;

'Exeter St Davids is the second busiest station in Devon, handling around 2,605,166 passengers a year in 2016/17. This is just behind nearby Exeter Central station (2,607,502)'

This would suggest that the number one busiest station is Exeter Central, however;

'Exeter Central is the third busiest station in Devon, but handles around 400,000 fewer people than St David's.'

Also, I can't for the life of me actually find what the number 1 busiest station in Devon actually is.

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Jorge Da Silva · 5 Jan 2020

mrdon said:
While looking up some info on Wikipedia about Exeter St Davids/Central, I noticed some very conflicting stats, which left me quite confused;

'Exeter St Davids is the second busiest station in Devon, handling around 2,605,166 passengers a year in 2016/17. This is just behind nearby Exeter Central station (2,607,502)'

This would suggest that the number one busiest station is Exeter Central, however;

'Exeter Central is the third busiest station in Devon, but handles around 400,000 fewer people than St David's.'

Also, I can't for the life of me actually find what the number 1 busiest station in Devon actually is.

the latter quote is based off numbers from the 2016/17 NOT 2017/18 that’s why. Exeter Central is the busiest station in Devon

Exeter Central 2016/17: 2.566 million
Exeter St David’s: 2.643 million

pdeaves · 5 Jan 2020

Have an explore in https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/estimates-of-station-usage/

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

However at the other end of the spectrum, both Chapelton and Sampford Courtenay BOTH had 188 entries and exits last year, so we don't have a definitive least used station as such.

There is a piece of analysis of the stats on the website in my signature.

Parallel · 5 Jan 2020

LUSOwner said:
However at the other end of the spectrum, both Chapelton and Sampford Courtenay BOTH had 188 entries and exits last year, so we don't have a definitive least used station as such.

There is a piece of analysis of the stats on the website in my signature.

Although both have the same number of entries and exits over the year, Chapelton gets two trains in each direction M-S and about 4 on Sundays. Sampford Courtenay gets a handful of trains on summer Sundays only!

It’d be interesting to know average passenger entries/exits per service, I’d assume Chapelton would be by far the lowest (though it’s in a beautiful area!)

Aictos · 5 Jan 2020

Jorge Da Silva said:
the latter quote is based off numbers from the 2016/17 NOT 2017/18 that’s why. Exeter Central is the busiest station in Devon

Exeter Central 2016/17: 2.566 million
Exeter St David’s: 2.643 million

I disagree, those figures show St David’s as being busier then Central even if the difference is only 0.1 million passengers.

mrdon · 5 Jan 2020

Jorge Da Silva said:
the latter quote is based off numbers from the 2016/17 NOT 2017/18 that’s why. Exeter Central is the busiest station in Devon

Exeter Central 2016/17: 2.566 million
Exeter St David’s: 2.643 million

Did you write the Wikipedia entries because this reply makes about as much sense as they do.

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

OFFICIAL 2017/18 FIGURES:

Exeter Central: 2, 607, 502
Exeter St Davids: 2, 605, 166
Digby & Sowton: 630, 560

OFFICIAL 2016/17 FIGURES:

Exeter St Davids: 2, 642, 898
Exeter Central: 2, 566, 082
Digby & Sowton: 588, 944

Note: This is for Exeter, NOT Devon.

GlosRail · 5 Jan 2020

I expect Plymouth will be the busiest if Exeter is 2 and 3.

fairysdad · 5 Jan 2020

LUSOwner said:
However at the other end of the spectrum, both Chapelton and Sampford Courtenay BOTH had 188 entries and exits last year, so we don't have a definitive least used station as such.

The interesting thing about that is (apologies for taking this further OT!) the next station down the North Devon Line is Umberleigh, which according to Geoff Marshall's map, is the most used request stop in England.

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

fairysdad said:
The interesting thing about that is (apologies for taking this further OT!) the next station down the North Devon Line is Umberleigh, which according to Geoff Marshall's map, is the most used request stop in England.

I was in the belief that such title is associated with Conwy, in North Wales?
Conwy - 48, 832
Umberleigh - 37, 076

Kilopylae · 5 Jan 2020

LUSOwner said:
OFFICIAL 2017/18 FIGURES:

Exeter Central: 2, 607, 502
Exeter St Davids: 2, 605, 166
Digby & Sowton: 630, 560

OFFICIAL 2016/17 FIGURES:

Exeter St Davids: 2, 642, 898
Exeter Central: 2, 566, 082
Digby & Sowton: 588, 944

Note: This is for Exeter, NOT Devon.

Total side note, but as a local I'm really shocked that Diggers gets that much more traffic than, say, St Thomas or Topsham, both of which are at about 250,000 for 2017/18.

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

Kilopylae said:
Total side note, but as a local I'm really shocked that Diggers gets that much more traffic than, say, St Thomas or Topsham, both of which are at about 250,000 for 2017/18.

For Topsham & Exeter St Thomas:
2017/18:
Exeter St Thomas: 250, 980
Topsham: 249, 628

2016/17:
Exeter St Thomas: 251, 170
Topsham: 250, 282

fairysdad · 5 Jan 2020

LUSOwner said:
I was in the belief that such title is associated with Conwy, in North Wales?
Conwy - 48, 832
Umberleigh - 37, 076

Hence why I said England

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

fairysdad said:
Hence why I said England

Ah, sorry, didn't read that!!

Donny_m · 5 Jan 2020

GlosRail said:
I expect Plymouth will be the busiest if Exeter is 2 and 3.

Plymouth hovers around the 2.4m figure.

LUSOwner · 5 Jan 2020

Donny_m said:
Plymouth hovers around the 2.4m figure.

I was looking particularly at Exeter as mentioned above.

221129 · 5 Jan 2020

Kilopylae said:
Total side note, but as a local I'm really shocked that Diggers gets that much more traffic than, say, St Thomas or Topsham, both of which are at about 250,000 for 2017/18.

Not really that surprising given the proximity to Sandy Park.

Cowley · 5 Jan 2020

221129 said:
Not really that surprising given the proximity to Sandy Park.

And also Sowton Industrial Estate, Exeter Park and Ride, and all the housing that’s developed in that area.
We used to do our school cross country runs around Digby and it was all just fields and a derelict psychiatric institution. It’s completely unrecognisable now.

Hadders · 5 Jan 2020

Digby & Sowton is due in no small part to having Exeter Chiefs Premiership Rugby team nearby. It sees a lot of use on match days.

Grecian 1998 · 5 Jan 2020

The 2017-18 figures show Exeter Central as marginally ahead of St Davids - both just over 2.6 million. Plymouth in contrast is less than 2.5 million despite being well over twice as large as Exeter and only having one major station.

Digby & Sowton and Newcourt are both used by rugby fans - the latter is used by fans from Exmouth - but also has a sizeable use from the new local housing areas into Exeter as it only takes about 10 minutes to get to the city centre compared to the tedious gridlock on Heavitree Road.

The reason Exeter Central is so well used despite having only 3 trains per hour (now 4 but 3 then) is due to having far better local services (i.e. at least hourly) than Plymouth. It's easily accessible from Axminster, Honiton, Exmouth, Barnstaple, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, Torquay and Paignton plus stations in the Exeter region. Plymouth in contrast has a sporadic service from Ivybridge, a 2 hourly service from Gunnislake and Bere Alston and had a sporadic service from East Cornwall, leaving Liskeard, Totnes and Newton Abbot as the only places with frequent services (given Bodmin Parkway is a long way from Bodmin. The stations within the city of Plymouth also have a poor service.

Now there's a half hourly service into Plymouth from Cornwall giving some of the smaller stations an hourly service e.g. Saltash, it'll be interesting to see if this leads to an increase in usage.

Busaholic · 5 Jan 2020

Grecian 1998 said:
The 2017-18 figures show Exeter Central as marginally ahead of St Davids - both just over 2.6 million. Plymouth in contrast is less than 2.5 million despite being well over twice as large as Exeter and only having one major station.

Digby & Sowton and Newcourt are both used by rugby fans - the latter is used by fans from Exmouth - but also has a sizeable use from the new local housing areas into Exeter as it only takes about 10 minutes to get to the city centre compared to the tedious gridlock on Heavitree Road.

The reason Exeter Central is so well used despite having only 3 trains per hour (now 4 but 3 then) is due to having far better local services (i.e. at least hourly) than Plymouth. It's easily accessible from Axminster, Honiton, Exmouth, Barnstaple, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, Torquay and Paignton plus stations in the Exeter region. Plymouth in contrast has a sporadic service from Ivybridge, a 2 hourly service from Gunnislake and Bere Alston and had a sporadic service from East Cornwall, leaving Liskeard, Totnes and Newton Abbot as the only places with frequent services (given Bodmin Parkway is a long way from Bodmin. The stations within the city of Plymouth also have a poor service.

Now there's a half hourly service into Plymouth from Cornwall giving some of the smaller stations an hourly service e.g. Saltash, it'll be interesting to see if this leads to an increase in usage.

Plymouth is such an unwelcoming station, stuck a fair walk from the city and no longer with a bus possibly waiting outside to take you there. The walk is dodgy in the dark, windswept and you're liable to collide with one of the cyclists who have the right to share the pavement. I used to use it a lot, but not for years now. If I can't go there by car, I won't go.

Donny_m · 6 Jan 2020

Yep I always hated Plymouth station and the area between the city and the station. It’s one of those stations that you actually have to ask someone the way to the centre, a bit like temple meads.

Kilopylae · 6 Jan 2020

And the area through which you walk, with the strange 1960s park and the dodgy old Sainsbury's, isn't the most salubrious place.

Parallel · 6 Jan 2020

The ‘local’ service around Plymouth is diabolical. 1tp2h from local stations nearby will not encourage many to use the train into the city. It makes Bristol’s services look good!

Exeter’s will also improve with the half hourly Exmouth to Paignton trains. The line to Axminster could probably do with an extra stopping service each hour. I don’t think there’s any need for a service increase to Barnstaple, but Okehampton could do with at least a few trains per day at convenient times (I.e, one leaving Okehampton at 07:30 and returning at around 18:30) and then a couple more throughout the day and maybe a late evening return service.

All subject to the stock being available, of course.

Confusion over 'Busiest station in Devon' (Exeter)

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