Yes I remember doing Blackpool to Colne a few years back. Mill Hill was quite an eye-opener, everyone who got on there looked malnourished, a whole family got straight in the toilet and re-emerged the moment the train stopped at Blackburn, whilst the rest who got on all sat looking shifty.
Jokes aside though, the London area operation isn’t going to be supported by Jeremy Kyle families, which was what I saw last Saturday. For the simple reason that there aren’t actually that many of them.
South Manchester trains and trams are like London in terms of the suited types pre-COVID.
From Tuesday last week, here is some feedback from the West Midlands:
15:31 from Wolverhampton to Birmingham - only around 4-5 in my carriage and lightly-loaded in general. 8-car London North Western Railway service
16:04 from Birmingham to Coventry - around 10 in my carriage and again not well-loaded. 9-car Cross Country service
18:47 from Canley near Coventry to Birmingham - me and a friend were the only ones in our carriage until Birmingham International whereupon one other boarded. 8-car London North Western Railway service
19:30 from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton - around six or seven in our carriage. 9-car Cross Country service
22:14 from Wolverhampton to Stockport - around ten in my carriage until Stoke-on-Trent then around half a dozen thereafter. 8-car Cross Country service
23:20 from Stockport to Heaton Chapel - think us two were the only ones in the front 3 carriages and one or two in the rear three carriages. 6-car Northern service
On Monday I did two very brief train journeys plus some other transport:
08:14 Heaton Chapel to Manchester Piccadilly - a fair few seats taken but
nowhere near as busy as it would have been pre-COVID given it's a 6-car service and gets people into the city centre perfectly comfortably for a 9am start.
A National Express coach from Manchester to Birmingham was reasonably well-loaded - we were mandated to sit in window seats which didn't bother me in the slightest. Most window seats were occupied.
15:59 Duddeston to Four Oaks - up to ten in my carriage between some of the stops but I was in the very front coach of a 6-car train so coaches further back may have been a little busier
Midland Metro (actually a tram!) from Bilston to Wednesbury was almost dead - maybe ten on the entire tram. Mind you it was after 20:00 on a Monday evening.
Buses around the West Midlands over the two days were lightly-loaded but some around Walsall were saying Full around 5-6pm on Monday.