2017-2018 Estimates of Station Usage

[dk1]

The three sisters who live in one of the nearby houses popping out for some Christmas shopping in Thetford again?

Possibly. They looked like they had had more than a few buckets of mulled wine.

 

[Parallel]

It looks like a lot of stations in my local area have declined which is a shame to see. The trains are regularly full and standing so maybe people's travelling habits are starting to change. I will check the GWR network stats in more detail tomorrow. What I find interesting is Exeter Central now has more entries & exits than Exeter St David's! (Obviously the latter has a far higher interchange).

 

[PR1Berske]

Ten lowest 17/18 interchanges ( number of passengers )

1. Thetford TTF - 2
2. Burnley Central BNC - 3
3. Stratford-upon-Avon SAV - 5
4. Upper Warlingham UWL - 6
5. Poppleton POP - 7
6= Pontefract Baghill PFR - 8
6= Thorne South TNS - 8
8= Energlyn and Churchill Park ECP - 9
8= Elmers End ELE - 9
10. King's Lynn KLN - 10

Ten highest 17/18 interchanges ( number of passengers )

1. Clapham Junction CLJ - 29,604,407
2. London Bridge LBG - 7,393,223
3. Birmingham New Street BHM - 6,869,997
4. East Croydon ECR - 6,755,337
5. Victoria VIC - 6,126,428
6. Waterloo WAT - 5,859,255
7. Highbury and Islington HHY - 5,220,451
8. King's Cross KGX - 4,686,512
9. Stratford SRA - 4,556,038
10. St Pancras STP - 4,393,420

 

[yorksrob]

Interesting that Elmers End has amongst the lowest interchanges, now that the Addiscombe branch has been taken over with the tramway.

 

[Cletus]

I changed trains today at Thetford from an EMT Liverpool - Norwich service onto the following GA local service!

 

[dk1]

I changed trains today at Thetford from an EMT Liverpool - Norwich service onto the following GA local service!

That is what confuses me so much with those figures. So many people from Attleborough & Wymondham interchange at Thetford as shown in journey planners & on advance tickets.

 

[Cletus]

Two other people also changed there too.

 

[158756]

They don't actually measure the number of people changing at Thetford - the only way would be to have someone on the platform counting. Isn't it done by some sort of formula -like with group stations where they change it and you get massive swings from one station to another. People from Wymondham must be counted as changing somewhere else.

 

[Kite159]

I note Andover has a figure for interchanges, which I can only assume is calculated on say Whitchurch/Overton folk travelling from west of Salisbury during the day, with the journey planner saying to change at Andover instead of Salisbury. Maybe also for Sundays due to the skip-stop nature of the local services where someone from Grateley wanting to travel to Overton will need to change (and vice versa).

At a random guess for folk changing at Thetford wanting Attleborough & Wymondham, maybe the journey planners use Thetford as it's a same platform change (instead of having to change platform at Ely?)

 

[Esker-pades]

I note Andover has a figure for interchanges, which I can only assume is calculated on say Whitchurch/Overton folk travelling from west of Salisbury during the day, with the journey planner saying to change at Andover instead of Salisbury. Maybe also for Sundays due to the skip-stop nature of the local services where someone from Grateley wanting to travel to Overton will need to change (and vice versa).

At a random guess for folk changing at Thetford wanting Attleborough & Wymondham, maybe the journey planners use Thetford as it's a same platform change (instead of having to change platform at Ely?)

Usually Norwich to Cambridge services use platform 2. EMT trains seem to reverse in any platform.

 

[Killingworth]

Most Hope Valley services are showing a small decline, although that may be a temporary blip that would have been corrected in the current year if it hadn't been for RMT strikes.

On the same Northern line Dore & Totley shows an 8.3% rise, probably due to more use of TPE and EMT commuting services to Manchester.

However, observation on Northern trains suggests increased passenger numbers. How come? Maybe the fact that the TfGM Wayfarer extends all the way east as far as Grindleford. Dore & Totley travellers towards Manchester may buy a return to Grindleford, then a Wayfarer.

Revenue collection on many trains has not been too vigorous! TVMs have only just been installed in the Hope Valley and don't, currently, issue Wayfarers.

Some estimates may be better than others.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I wonder how split ticketing impacts the accuracy of the figures ?

For example, making a same day return journey from Slough (SLO) to Swindon (SWI) costs £33.10 with a Super Off Peak Return. However by splitting at Didcot Parkway (DID) you can get this down to £27.30 (£15.70 OP Day Return SLO to DID, plus £11.60 OP Day Return DID to SWI).

Buying the through ticket would give 1 entry/exit at Slough plus 1 entry/exit at Swindon.

However using the split tickets gives the possibility of 2 entry/exits at Didcot, when in reality you probably stayed on the train and never made it onto the platform, let alone passed through the ticket gates !

You could argue that in one sense it's correct that that entries at Didcot should be counted in this case: That's because split tickets are only valid as long if the train you're on calls at the place you are splitting. Thus, someone doing as you suggest is choosing specifically to travel on a train that calls at Didcot: Stopping at Didcot a requirement of their journey. As opposed to someone who just buys a straight Slough to Swindon return, who would therefore not really care if their train stops at Didcot (or might even prefer the train not to if they are concerned to have the fastest possible journey).

But in any case, I'm pretty sure the proportion of passengers who know about split ticketing and take the trouble to learn about split ticketing options for their journey is tiny (although probably growing), so it won't have that much impact on reported numbers.

 

[clagmonster]

I'd love to know the logic of 7 interchanges at Poppleton - surely everything is all shacks at the north of the Harrogate loop. Most of the others at least look like plausible interchanges.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

If you want to travel from e.g. Manchester to Harrogate via York, for fun, and then return via Horsforth, the sometimes cheapest option is to buy a return to Poppleton. I have done it in the past. Manchester to Harrogate via York is not a permitted route but you can go either way to Poppleton.

 

[whhistle]

I wonder if the general decline can be attributed to many people working from home on certain days of the week these days.
I'm sure there are many car parks that are full on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but only half full on Monday and Fridays, let alone the weekends.

 

[37047]

Ten lowest 17/18 interchanges ( number of passengers )

1. Thetford TTF - 2
2. Burnley Central BNC - 3
3. Stratford-upon-Avon SAV - 5
4. Upper Warlingham UWL - 6
5. Poppleton POP - 7
6= Pontefract Baghill PFR - 8
6= Thorne South TNS - 8
8= Energlyn and Churchill Park ECP - 9
8= Elmers End ELE - 9
10. King's Lynn KLN - 10

Ten highest 17/18 interchanges ( number of passengers )

1. Clapham Junction CLJ - 29,604,407
2. London Bridge LBG - 7,393,223
3. Birmingham New Street BHM - 6,869,997
4. East Croydon ECR - 6,755,337
5. Victoria VIC - 6,126,428
6. Waterloo WAT - 5,859,255
7. Highbury and Islington HHY - 5,220,451
8. King's Cross KGX - 4,686,512
9. Stratford SRA - 4,556,038
10. St Pancras STP - 4,393,420

Surprised King's Lynn has any interchanges given it's the end of the line - does changing for the bus to Hunstanton count? Maybe I'm missing something with the definition of 'interchange'.

Purely by rail, the only reason I can see to change at KLN would be to get from Downham Market to Watlington when the service leaving DOW is one of the (very infrequent) services that is 8-car and not SDO at WTG so goes direct to KLN. Would then do KLN-WTG on the next 4-car service. I can't imagine anyone would bother.

 

[yorksrob]

If you want to travel from e.g. Manchester to Harrogate via York, for fun, and then return via Horsforth, the sometimes cheapest option is to buy a return to Poppleton. I have done it in the past. Manchester to Harrogate via York is not a permitted route but you can go either way to Poppleton.

It's lunacy that Manchester - Harrogate isn't permitted via York.

 

[dk1]

I wonder if the general decline can be attributed to many people working from home on certain days of the week these days.
I'm sure there are many car parks that are full on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but only half full on Monday and Fridays, let alone the weekends.

Friday's have always been a much quieter day for commuter, business travel & of course car parks. Probably a good thing as allows more space for the usual Friday afternoon/evening getaway.

 

[Kite159]

Surprised King's Lynn has any interchanges given it's the end of the line - does changing for the bus to Hunstanton count? Maybe I'm missing something with the definition of 'interchange'.

Purely by rail, the only reason I can see to change at KLN would be to get from Downham Market to Watlington when the service leaving DOW is one of the (very infrequent) services that is 8-car and not SDO at WTG so goes direct to KLN. Would then do KLN-WTG on the next 4-car service. I can't imagine anyone would bother.

I would assume changing for the bus counts if you can buy through tickets?

 

[greatkingrat]

If they counted interchanges to the bus it would surely be a lot more than 10 a year.

I think 37047 has the right idea - journey planners do give one option where Watlington - Downham Market via Kings Lynn is quickest.

1659 Watlington - Kings Lynn 1707
1716 Kings Lynn - Downham Market 1728

 

[DavidGrain]

I wondered about the 5 interchanges at Stratford-upon-Avon being as it is a terminal station then realised that it is actually served by three separate services, Birmingham via Whitlocks End (WMR), Birmingham via Dorridge (WMR)and Leamington Spa (Chiltern)

 

[fishquinn]

I wondered about the 5 interchanges at Stratford-upon-Avon being as it is a terminal station then realised that it is actually served by three separate services, Birmingham via Whitlocks End (WMR), Birmingham via Dorridge (WMR)and Leamington Spa (Chiltern)

I'm actually surprised it's as low as it is. I've used Stratford to interchange at a few times in the last couple of years (Chiltern to WMT via Whitlocks End and vice versa) because it makes more sense to continue into Stratford and have a nicer place to wait than Wilmcote or Stratford Parkway, along with more time in the warm of a train. I suppose many people don't consider this if they don't have an 'above average' knowledge of railways and instead just alight at Wilmcote because it's the first station both services have in common.

 

[Esker-pades]

Bit of stuff on the Far North Line:
Scotscalder is now the least used station on the Far North Line. I'm actually surprised that Scotscalder has such a low patronage given that it actually services some houses. Kildonan has posted the highest patronage it's had for years.
Kinbrace has plopped down to under 400. Given that it was posting around 1000 5 years ago, that's not great. And it serves a clump of houses.
Altnabreac has a surprising number of people visiting it. Over 600 for a station serving virtually nothing is pretty good.
Both Culrain and Invershin dropped, the latter by nearly 50%.

Overall patronage on the full length increased from 394844 to 405030 (+2.6%)
For stations north of Dingwall increased from 182478 to 187312 (+2.6%)
For the commuter stations (up to Tain) the increase was from 300512 to 310978 (+3.5%)
Finally, for stations north of Tain, there was a decrease from 94322 to 94052 (-0.3%)

The increase was most significant on the commuter section of the line. That says (to me) that more trains are required in order to even out the gaps in service that still exist in order to promote more growth. The decline north of Tain is a symptom of an unreliable and slow service (in comparison to the road). Investment please!

 

[Kite159]

I'm actually surprised it's as low as it is. I've used Stratford to interchange at a few times in the last couple of years (Chiltern to WMT via Whitlocks End and vice versa) because it makes more sense to continue into Stratford and have a nicer place to wait than Wilmcote or Stratford Parkway, along with more time in the warm of a train. I suppose many people don't consider this if they don't have an 'above average' knowledge of railways and instead just alight at Wilmcote because it's the first station both services have in common.

Although IIRC the WMT services which go via Dorridge don't call at Wilmcote so that won't necessarily be the best interchange station

 

[greatkingrat]

It's a bit odd, the data has 0 interchanges at Wilmcote, 2168 at Stratford Parkway and 5 at Stratford-upon-Avon.

I can understand some trains don't call at Wilmcote, but there should be some journeys where it is the given interchange.

There is one train a day (2315 Stratford-upon-Avon - Oxford) that misses both Stratford Parkway and Wilmcote, which is presumably where the 5 interchanges come from.

 

[fishquinn]

Although IIRC the WMT services which go via Dorridge don't call at Wilmcote so that won't necessarily be the best interchange station

I can't comment about people interchanging off that service as I've only ever used it to go into Stratford but I'd imagine most people would alight at Stratford Parkway coming off that one. I've used Stratford Parkway a few times before and it isn't the nicest of stations to wait at, particularly compared to Stratford-U-A, where you have some proper facilities and the town centre not far away. The interchange statistics clearly don't take into account the 'human' aspect of it because I'm sure more than 5 people in a year would see that changing at Stratford UA is the better option in many cases.

 

[J-Rod]

If they counted interchanges to the bus it would surely be a lot more than 10 a year.

I think 37047 has the right idea - journey planners do give one option where Watlington - Downham Market via Kings Lynn is quickest.

1659 Watlington - Kings Lynn 1707
1716 Kings Lynn - Downham Market 1728

Thanks for clearing that up, I was wondering the same thing!

 

[Essexman]

Bit of stuff on the Far North Line:
Scotscalder is now the least used station on the Far North Line. I'm actually surprised that Scotscalder has such a low patronage given that it actually services some houses. Kildonan has posted the highest patronage it's had for years.

I used Scotscalder last year and met the lady who lives in the station house. I think she and her husband make up a fair proportion of the users. It's a remote spot, although not as remote as Altnabreac, but that has become a bit of a celebrity station so attracts enthusiasts as well as walkers.

 

[urbophile]

I note Andover has a figure for interchanges,

Well it would wouldn't it?

 

[Esker-pades]

I used Scotscalder last year and met the lady who lives in the station house. I think she and her husband make up a fair proportion of the users. It's a remote spot, although not as remote as Altnabreac, but that has become a bit of a celebrity station so attracts enthusiasts as well as walkers.

When I went there in Feb of this year I didn't meet the owners of the house. Although someone did get on as I got off.