Least popular journeys made between two stations served by a direct train? Based on tickets sold?

pompeyfan · 26 Sep 2020

Worplesdon to Netley or Woolston

RailUK Forums

Whistler40145 · 26 Sep 2020

Kirkham & Wesham/Preston to Salwick with a handful of trains per day

Llandudno · 26 Sep 2020

There may be 14 trains per hour on the Liverpool Loop line but how many people actually buy any of the following tickets:

James Street to Moorfields
James Street to Liverpool Central
Lime Street to Liverpool Central

People travel between these stations for interchange purposes, but I guess not many buying individual tickets for the journey in isolation

Ianno87 · 26 Sep 2020

Llandudno said:
There may be 14 trains per hour on the Liverpool Loop line but how many people actually buy any of the following tickets:

James Street to Moorfields
James Street to Liverpool Central
Lime Street to Liverpool Central

People travel between these stations for interchange purposes, but I guess not many buying individual tickets for the journey in isolation

Deansgate to Oxford Road similarly.

You can actually buy First Class TPE only tickets between Piccadilly and Victoria, including a Season Ticket at £42.70/week. I'd love to know if one had ever been sold!

65477 · 26 Sep 2020

Harlow Town to Harlow Mill? I once bought such this ticket but only as an excess on a season ticket as I had an evening meeting near Harlow Mill so could return there.

peters · 26 Sep 2020

Llandudno said:
There may be 14 trains per hour on the Liverpool Loop line but how many people actually buy any of the following tickets:

James Street to Moorfields
James Street to Liverpool Central
Lime Street to Liverpool Central

People travel between these stations for interchange purposes, but I guess not many buying individual tickets for the journey in isolation

Those tickets might get sold for the wrong reasons. A Merseyside Police Officer, on the local news the other day, said when they are looking to crack down on drug gangs using children that they keep an eye out for children who make very short train journeys. He said sometimes a child they'd seem leave Lime Street on a train can be back at Lime Street trying to make the same journey 10 minutes later, which raises alarm bells.

Ianno87 · 26 Sep 2020

Altrincham to Navigation Rd (given pretty much everybody would use the parallel tram)

peters · 26 Sep 2020

Ianno87 said:
Altrincham to Navigation Rd (given pretty much everybody would use the parallel tram)

Possibly also Hale to Altrincham as while a lot of people make that journey if they are doing it to connect with the tram they'll be buying a through ticket to a Metrolink destination. Probably others use the train because they think they can get a free ride, while if they use the bus the bus won't leave if they don't pay!

OMGitsDAVE · 26 Sep 2020

Tees-side Airport to Allens West!

Statto · 26 Sep 2020

Llandudno said:
There may be 14 trains per hour on the Liverpool Loop line but how many people actually buy any of the following tickets:

James Street to Moorfields
James Street to Liverpool Central
Lime Street to Liverpool Central

People travel between these stations for interchange purposes, but I guess not many buying individual tickets for the journey in isolation

Or most likely use Merseytravel/Merseyrail passes both day & longer term connecting between these stations, James Street to Liverpool Central is a bit a hike too.

Qwerty133 · 26 Sep 2020

Birmingham Moor Street- Snow Hill or Worcester Shrub Hill to Foregate Street probably get very few passengers that aren't making a longer journey as it'd often be quicker to walk than wait for the next train.

sk688 · 26 Sep 2020

Sudbury and Harrow road - Sudbury Hill Harrow can't have many , or Northolt Park to the Sudbury stations

Noone probably does Bath Spa to Oldfield Prk tickets either , a 2 mins journey duplicated by several bus services and it's not that far I'm walking terms

ChrisC · 26 Sep 2020

yorkie said:
Anyone who travels between (say) Sheffield & East Midlands Parkway who is savvy will be using a splitting site and will therefore be sold a Long Eaton <> East Midlands Parkway ticket (if not they will likely be offered splits at Beeston it Derby)

So, while no-one may actually travel from Long Eaton to EMD, you will find the number of fares actually sold won't be as low as you expect

I completely agree. Fares for days out from East Midlands Parkway travelling anywhere to the north are very highly priced in comparison to fares from Long Eaton, Beeston, Derby and Nottingham. This is due to there being very few Off Peak Day Returns available from East Midlands Parkway. Therefore anyone in the know would split tickets at Long Eaton etc.

A0wen · 26 Sep 2020

A couple I imagine on the GN mainline which are probably quite low - Welwyn North to Ashwell & Morden, Welham Green to Brookmans Park, Watton At Stone to Bayford.

norbitonflyer · 26 Sep 2020

Barnes Bridge to Mortlake (39 minutes "direct" (via Hounslow), 20 minutes via Barnes, 15 minutes on foot)

Deptford to New Cross (63 minutes "direct" (via Abbey Wood & Bexleyheath), 22 minutes via London Bridge, 9 minutes on foot)

hermit · 26 Sep 2020

Fishguard & Goodwick and Fishguard Harbour.

faltskog36abba · 26 Sep 2020

Ianno87 said:
Deansgate to Oxford Road similarly.

You can actually buy First Class TPE only tickets between Piccadilly and Victoria, including a Season Ticket at £42.70/week. I'd love to know if one had ever been sold!

I used to get a single from Deansgate to oxford road every Friday for 70p, My drinking mate was on the inbound Southport train.

unlevel42 · 26 Sep 2020

Qwerty133 said:
I imagine another candidate for zero sales would be tickets between a parkway station and stations either side of them (where that station isn't the city for which the station was designed). I can't think of a singular reason why anyone travelling to Long Eaton would park at East Midlands Parkway for instance and as the station is in the middle of nowhere it's not as though there's a local demand for the journey (the only possible exception being staff members working at East Midlands parkway but these wouldn't be buying tickets as the service is operated by the same company asE the station is staffed by meaning they would be entitled to free travel).

Long Eaton is a boundary of the Derbyshire Wayfarer zone and on one side of a complex of rivers and canals with East Midlands Parkway on the other. The area is a very popular with walkers, cyclists, boaters, bird watchers etc
We frequently buy Derbyshire Wayfarer tickets from Sheffield which enables free access travel to EMA airport and then from there throughout the area and often ending up at East Midlands Parkway, Willington (free), Beeston or on the airport bus route(free).
From Beeston or East Midland Parkway we would buy ticket to Long Eaton.

So over the years we I have bought hundreds of East Midlands Parkway to Long Eaton singles and returns for myself and others.

route101 · 26 Sep 2020

Glasgow Central to Argyle St.

Ayrshire Roy · 26 Sep 2020

I don't think Prestwick Town to Prestwick Airport will be very popular.

route101 · 26 Sep 2020

Ayrshire Roy said:
I don't think Prestwick Town to Prestwick Airport will be very popular.

Pretty sure i seen someone do that journey a few months ago.

Fokx · 26 Sep 2020

Wakefield Westgate to Wakefield Kirkgate must be a candidate surely?

A short walk between both, and there’s free Wakefield bus that shuttles between them and the town.

matt_world2004 · 26 Sep 2020

Paddington (Hammersmith and city line) Paddington Praed Street.

alangla · 26 Sep 2020

route101 said:
(Talking about Prestwick town to airport)
Pretty sure i seen someone do that journey a few months ago.

Yeah, last time I was down that way I remember someone in a Ryanair crew uniform doing that journey. Presumably either lived in Prestwick or parked their car somewhere around there.

61653 HTAFC · 26 Sep 2020

Fokx said:
Wakefield Westgate to Wakefield Kirkgate must be a candidate surely?

A short walk between both, and there’s free Wakefield bus that shuttles between them and the town.

Westgate to Kirkgate is fairly quick on the free bus, but Kirkgate to Westgate can take ages in rush hour (pre-COVID). Still agree that probably not many bother with the train though.

StephenHunter · 26 Sep 2020

Maryland to Stratford. Quicker to walk.

Dr Hoo · 26 Sep 2020

matt_world2004 said:
Canary wharf to heron quays. They are practically in the same building

Does the DLR do 'point to point' tickets?

mjmason1996 said:
Id have a guess that Newcastle to Manors is little used.

I suspect that quite a few tickets like this are bought (usually from a machine, anonymously) to get through the barriers without attracting attention before the passenger 'chances it' on a train to (say) London ready to wheel out the "I seem to have lost my ticket" excuse if challenged. Even more so in the 'new normal' of reduced on-board ticket checks.

Howardh · 26 Sep 2020

Kearsley or Moses Gate to Farnworth - would anyone do such a short journey as at Farnworth it's quite a walk into town - much easier and quicker by the much more frequent buses? Especially from Moses Gate.

frediculous · 26 Sep 2020

Kemsley to Crofton Park

Megafuss · 26 Sep 2020

Bletchleyite said:
I think enthusiasts will buy the obscure ones like that (or say Reddish South to Denton) because they can, with no intention of travelling. For zero sales we need to look at obscure, uninteresting stuff.

Fair comment
I'd imagine the numbers travelling between Manors and Wetheral (Cumbria) must be close to zero

Least popular journeys made between two stations served by a direct train? Based on tickets sold?

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