Most used/least used stations with fewest/most facilities

NSB2017 · 6 Jun 2020

Was just reading about a few stations in the south east with nothing more than a ticket machine and platforms - but with annual usage in the low 20,000s. Made me wonder what station has the most passengers but the fewest facilities and which has the least passengers with the most facilities?

Are there any unstaffed stations with more than a million passengers a year? Are there any staffed stations with under 10,000?

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willgreen · 6 Jun 2020

Thurso (~40,000 passengers in 18/19) and Wick (~18,000) have got to be contenders in the most facilities-per-passengers category. Both have got staffed ticket offices, toilets, waiting rooms, cycle storage etc. Very generous compared to their usage (although they do form an important public transport option in the north Highlands so can be expected to be slightly over-furnished).

Taunton · 6 Jun 2020

NSB2017 said:
Are there any unstaffed stations with more than a million passengers a year? Are there any staffed stations with under 10,000?

Canary Wharf DLR has 20 million a year and is completely unstaffed. No info booth, no security staff, no toilets, nothing. It might actually be a world record.

Metal_gee_man · 7 Jun 2020

Shepherds Well near Dover has 50k in passengers a ticket machine and a part time ticket office 6.30am till 1pm 6 days a week, a bit silly really

Mcr Warrior · 7 Jun 2020

Chassen Road on the Liverpool to Manchester (via Warrington Central) CLC line is fairly similar to Shepherds Well station and has annual usage stats of c. 53,500 passengers in 2018/19 and a part time ticket office open just 0655-1000 (Mondays - Fridays only).

Mcr Warrior · 7 Jun 2020

Glazebrook, three stations previously on the same Liverpool to Manchester (via Warrington Central) CLC line, has an even smaller annual patronage than Chassen Road of c. 49,500 passengers in 2018/19 and a part time ticket office only open 0710-1010 (Mondays - Fridays).

Sure that we had a thread on least used staffed stations (both part time and full time) a year or so ago. May need to be slightly updated to reflect latest available passenger usage statistics.

lordbusiness · 7 Jun 2020

Berney Arms?

alangla · 7 Jun 2020

Bellgrove has over 750k a year and now has a couple of ticket machines in the shelter. Up to a couple of years ago it had no ticket buying option at all and the shelter was basically just a roof. The Wikipedia page for it shows the layout before the recent improvements

NSB2017 · 7 Jun 2020

Metal_gee_man said:
Shepherds Well near Dover has 50k in passengers a ticket machine and a part time ticket office 6.30am till 1pm 6 days a week, a bit silly really

Is there any reason? Nearby Kearsney seems to be the same in terms of numbers and facilities.

It seems so hit and miss. I was fairly surprised when went to West Malling a couple of years back to see there was a coffee bar, ticket office, toilets, etc, but passenger numbers were 800,000 (had assumed lower).

G Broughton · 7 Jun 2020

Spalding ? Would be interesting to know annual passenger numbers. Ticket office staffed from 06:30 to 14:30, nice waiting room on Up platform and toilet available for passengers until 14:30.
Also passenger lifts being installed!

dk1 · 7 Jun 2020

lordbusiness said:
Berney Arms?

Don't think you can count this station. It has few passengers & no facilities.

Mcr Warrior · 7 Jun 2020

G Broughton said:
Spalding ? Would be interesting to know annual passenger numbers. Ticket office staffed from 06:30 to 14:30, nice waiting room on Up platform and toilet available for passengers until 14:30.
Also passenger lifts being installed!

Spalding had c. 193,000 passengers in 2018/19 according to latest available stats.

G Broughton · 7 Jun 2020

Many thanks for the stats Mcr Warrior

NSB2017 · 7 Jun 2020

I think Newington, Kent, still has a part-time ticket office with 137,000 passengers.

As does Chestfield and Swalecliffe for similar numbers.

Ted172 · 7 Jun 2020

Ledbury?

Parallel · 7 Jun 2020

Hayle has around 83,500 entries and exits and National Rail seems to think the station has no facilities, including no ticket office, no ticket machines, no toilets and no waiting room. There is a help point however.

Carbis Bay has 228,000 entries and exits and has no facilities at all except a help point.

Digby & Sowton has 666,000 entries and exits and has just a ticket machine.

matchmaker · 7 Jun 2020

NSB2017 said:
I think Newington, Kent, still has a part-time ticket office with 137,000 passengers.

As does Chestfield and Swalecliffe for similar numbers.

Dunblane has a part-time ticket office with 519,000 passengers per annum. Alloa has a ticket machine only with 317,000 passengers per annum.

greyman42 · 7 Jun 2020

alangla said:
Bellgrove has over 750k a year and now has a couple of ticket machines in the shelter. Up to a couple of years ago it had no ticket buying option at all and the shelter was basically just a roof. The Wikipedia page for it shows the layout before the recent improvements

Good one, I would never have thought about Bellgrove. I assume the majority of passengers use it for the Celtic matches?

Tomos y Tanc · 7 Jun 2020

All the Valley Line stations are very basic and some have high passenger numbers. Porth on the Treherbert line, for instance, has 370k passengers and a morning only ticket office. Radyr has 740k and, again, a morning only office and a couple of ticket machines.

Metal_gee_man · 7 Jun 2020

Waterloo East is used by 10.5m people, has a couple of ticket machines, no ticket office and toilets on the island platform for B & C only.

alangla · 7 Jun 2020

greyman42 said:
Good one, I would never have thought about Bellgrove. I assume the majority of passengers use it for the Celtic matches?

I wouldn’t say so. The big upswing at Dalmarnock since the Commonwealth Games probably is related to dramatically improved access to Celtic Park, if anything Bellgrove’s football use is probably down. It has a fair bit of 2-way commuter traffic, both from people living in the Dennistoun & Bellgrove areas going to offices on the far side of the City Centre around Charing Cross and arrivals going to work at places like City Park (old cigarette factory, now offices) on Alexandra Parade. No doubt some local residents might commute to Edinburgh as well. It’s a busy wee place with an intense (6TPH) service.

Mcr Warrior · 7 Jun 2020

Ted172 said:
Ledbury?

Ledbury had c. 220,000 passengers in 2018/19 according to latest available stats.

Ticket office is open most mornings (except Sundays) but there must be numerous other staffed stations on the network with significantly lower patronage.

greyman42 · 8 Jun 2020

alangla said:
I wouldn’t say so. The big upswing at Dalmarnock since the Commonwealth Games probably is related to dramatically improved access to Celtic Park, if anything Bellgrove’s football use is probably down. It has a fair bit of 2-way commuter traffic, both from people living in the Dennistoun & Bellgrove areas going to offices on the far side of the City Centre around Charing Cross and arrivals going to work at places like City Park (old cigarette factory, now offices) on Alexandra Parade. No doubt some local residents might commute to Edinburgh as well. It’s a busy wee place with an intense (6TPH) service.

Interesting, cheers.

Class195 · 8 Jun 2020

Least will be Bradford Forster Square - no toilets, bus shelters on the platforms and the ticket office is part-time.

Absolutely disgraceful for a station with over 2,000,000 passengers a year.

Halish Railway · 8 Jun 2020

Class195 said:
Least will be Bradford Forster Square - no toilets, bus shelters on the platforms and the ticket office is part-time.

Absolutely disgraceful for a station with over 2,000,000 passengers a year.

It has a full time ticket office (I think), a small shop, ticket barriers and a lift to street level.

Class195 · 8 Jun 2020

Halish Railway said:
It has a full time ticket office (I think), a small shop, ticket barriers and a lift to street level.

The lift has been broken for weeks a d the ticket office isn't full time.

Carry on trying to defend the totally inadequate facilities though.

Halish Railway · 9 Jun 2020

Class195 said:
The lift has been broken for weeks a d the ticket office isn't full time.

Carry on trying to defend the totally inadequate facilities though.

Is there really much need for more facilities?

Class195 · 9 Jun 2020

Halish Railway said:
Is there really much need for more facilities?

A toilet and waiting room would be nice, rather than having to walk ten minutes to McDonald's and back.

With the ticket office being part-time, somewhere nice and dry when the weather is inclement would also be good.

Like I said, name me another station with over 2,000,000 Passengers annually having such primitive facilities?

MidnightFlyer · 9 Jun 2020

Mcr Warrior said:
Ledbury had c. 220,000 passengers in 2018/19 according to latest available stats.

Ticket office is open most mornings (except Sundays) but there must be numerous other staffed stations on the network with significantly lower patronage.

Ledbury is staffed on an agency basis if I remember correctly (i.e. not by the rail franchise's own staff; quite a few in Wales are similar and there's a few dotted around England), though indeed there are many quieter.

Class195 said:
Least will be Bradford Forster Square - no toilets, bus shelters on the platforms and the ticket office is part-time.

Absolutely disgraceful for a station with over 2,000,000 passengers a year.

Forster Square is a prime example of a 1980-90s station rebuild: everything replaced by a single building with not much in it. Not the most inviting gateway to many places across the country. As for the booking office, it seems to only be an hour or so shorter than Interchange, and similar to the likes of Halifax and Harrogate; certainly a hell of a lot longer than what many other 'part-time' operations. Would be genuinely interested to know which Bradford station handles more of the journey planning and complex enquiries you really need booking offices for.

Class195 · 9 Jun 2020

MidnightFlyer said:
Ledbury is staffed on an agency basis if I remember correctly (i.e. not by the rail franchise's own staff; quite a few in Wales are similar and there's a few dotted around England), though indeed there are many quieter.

Forster Square is a prime example of a 1980-90s station rebuild: everything replaced by a single building with not much in it. Not the most inviting gateway to many places across the country. As for the booking office, it seems to only be an hour or so shorter than Interchange, and similar to the likes of Halifax and Harrogate; certainly a hell of a lot longer than what many other 'part-time' operations. Would be genuinely interested to know which Bradford station handles more of the journey planning and complex enquiries you really need booking offices for.

The opening hours of the ticket office are more part-time than full time, that was my argument further up.

Do you know which other train stations on the network with over 2,000,000 passengers a year - don't have toilets or waiting rooms? With the ticket office not being open to match the station, the passengers are unfortunately left to the elements.

Most used/least used stations with fewest/most facilities

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