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Station Usage 2018/19

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Essexman

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Breich in West Lothian has seen a 235.3% increase in passenger numbers, and this was before the upgrade and improvement of services. Usage has jumped from 102 to 342, even though the station was closed for 12 weeks from the end of June, which is a great sign. Of course this is still a small number, and it's possible many of these visitors were enthusiasts, keen to visit a least-used station, but here's hoping that patronage increases further in the 2019-20 statistics. We'll know in December what impact the upgrade of services has made upon it's usage but I'm cautiously optimistic.

When I visited Breich in November there was one person boarding the train I alighted from and two boarding my return service. All looked to be local not enthusiasts. I'm hoping that the next set of usage figures with a regular service will show significant improvement.
 
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Cherry_Picker

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Less than 10 years ago Glasgow Central was above Birmingham New Street in ridership (albeit by a small amount).

Now New Street is sitting 5th with something like 15 million more entries and exits than Glasgow Central has (this despite GC ridership increasing by around 10m in the last decade!). What the hell has happened that has increased ridership nearly 100% in 10 years?!

Ticket barriers at New Street is definitely the main reason.
 

geml90

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Teesside Airport is up to 206. If you do want to get to the airport via public transport from Hartlepool or Stockton for flights to Amsterdam or Humberside on a Sunday it might be a useful option.

You could also get the train from Darlington rather than a taxi if you change at Allens West. Google Maps and LNER's website suggest that/has tickets - but Northern's website says no tickets are available.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
I've noticed that there are no interchanges recorded at Montrose, but the new timetable introduced in December 18 meant that people in Aberdeenshire who previously had a direct train to Glasgow/Edinburgh now had to change at Montrose.

And despite the increase in the number of trains serving Montrose from then, theres been a 3.5% drop in numbers?

Meanwhile, I see Golf Street and Barry Links have both had impressive increases.

Regarding Golf Street and Barry Links, this may partially be attributed to seeing an increase of (at the time) First Class weekly seasons when Scotrail offered compensation for the delays and cancellations either side of the December 2018 timetable change. This compensation was to travel anywhere on the Scotrail network at no extra cost if a season was held for the routes that were affected, such as Edinburgh - Glasgow via Falkirk High, and Glasgow/Edinburgh - Aberdeen.
 

iainbhx

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Ticket barriers at New Street is definitely the main reason.

Manned ticket barriers with people who won't let you through if you wave a laundry ticket at them.

However, they have been there a fair while now, so growth must be coming from elsewhere as well.
 

WatcherZero

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I'm increasingly suspicious of the figures in major PTE areas, as they don't accurately reflect actual journeys if they are zonal or "rover" in some way, which they increasingly are.
They had to rework last year's West Midlands figures upwards for that reason.
The Merseyside figures are badly skewed with the long closures of Liverpool Lime St and its approach lines, and the north generally suffered from strikes and extended disruption.
But good to see Chester has passed the 5 million mark, much the biggest TfW usage after Cardiff.

West Midlands last year has been revised up 2.3% (2.76m) as while they were using Lennon ticket from 17/18 they discovered they were using PTE data for 16/17.

Greater Manchester they now have access to Concessionary ticket data from the PTE which has led to 3.6m more journeys and 7.2m station entries/exits that were previously unrecorded, they handily provide a breakdown of sales for GM PTE products from this years infill in the methodology:

Product, 17/18 sales, 18/19 sales, Annual Change, Percentage

Traincard 3,387,129 479,328 92,199 2.65%
Countycard
1,548,081 1,462,476 -85,605 -5.85%
Wayfarer 126,983 81,438 -45,546 -55.93%
GMPTE Accompanied Child 150,958 125,845 -25,113 -19.96%
DaySaver 53,615 44,454 -9,161 -20.61%
Rail Ranger 12,902 9,078 -3,824 -42.12%
Concessions 0 3,705,977 3,705,977 100.00%

Total 5,279,668 8,908,596 3,628,928 40.74%

If you remove the concessions the GM countywide figure is only up 426,000 entries and exits on last year which is more realistic for the Northern disruption/Strikes.

9.6% rise with adjusted figures
0.53% rise like for like
 
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paulmch

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Good to see Cambridge North doing so well at 800,000 - anecdotally it has always seemed to be quite busy even at unsociable hours. I suppose it probably caused the fall of 70,000 at Waterbeach over the last 2 years, but nevertheless it points to a healthy, growing market. Here's hoping that Stagecoach can get their act together and provide it with a half-decent bus service!
 

Ianno87

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Good to see Cambridge North doing so well at 800,000 - anecdotally it has always seemed to be quite busy even at unsociable hours. I suppose it probably caused the fall of 70,000 at Waterbeach over the last 2 years, but nevertheless it points to a healthy, growing market. Here's hoping that Stagecoach can get their act together and provide it with a half-decent bus service!

I wonder if the 800k for Cambridge North might still be an underestimate, with people using Cambridge tickets there still.
 

Ianno87

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Possibly the through trains via the Thameslink service to North of London and out into Kent? Better revenue protection?

Completion of LB work and restoration to pre 2014 service levels. Near doubling of passengers since 2010 though in places with no extra services compared to 2014. The whole Greenwich line seems to be seeing spectacular growth.

Remember that from August 2016 to Jan 2018, one could not travel from Deptford/Greenwich to London Bridge. Was Cannon Street or nothing.
 

camflyer

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I wonder if the 800k for Cambridge North might still be an underestimate, with people using Cambridge tickets there still.

The official figure for Cambridge is flat year on year which maybe suggests the station is at capacity and the growth is coming from people using North. I personally know a number of commuters from Cambridge will now get on services to London at the North station as it means getting a seat.
 

MatthewMan

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Interesting that there are two joint least used stations this year (Stanlow & Thornton and Denton each got 46). Has that ever happened before?
 

Kite159

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IIRC it was the May 2018 timetable change that introduced the possibility of making a return journey to Redcar British Steel with a short wait rather than an awkward walk past the steelworks security and along the road to Redcar, making ticking it off that bit more accessible.

Certainly that would have helped things. Thirty minute wait in the morning or a 90 minute wait in the evening so possible to visit the station without leaving the footprint.

Although it probably also benefited from a few people buying tickets there but not using them to bump the stats up. My visit last February probably wouldn't have counted as I was using an Cleveland Coast and Whitby Day Ranger.

--------

I
wonder if there has been any impact of Denton switching to a Saturday, as previously on a Friday if you wanted to do the line you needed to buy a ticket as the train departed Stockport at 09:23, arriving at Denton for 09:31 when GM rail ranger products became valid. These days on a Saturday you can do it both ways on a GM rail ranger without it counting towards the stats.

Of course the strikes which meant it lacked a service for a few months wouldn't have helped
 
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deltic

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What happened at Ilkeston, over 250,000 in first year of opening down to 130,000 in 2018/19?

Aberdeen has lost a million passengers in the last 5 years, and Bolton has lost 600,000.
 

Kite159

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Teesside Airport is up to 206. If you do want to get to the airport via public transport from Hartlepool or Stockton for flights to Amsterdam or Humberside on a Sunday it might be a useful option.

You could also get the train from Darlington rather than a taxi if you change at Allens West. Google Maps and LNER's website suggest that/has tickets - but Northern's website says no tickets are available.

Average of 3.95 passengers per train, which seems to be high considering the station is useless.
 

PeterY

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It seems like Stanlow & Thornton and Denton are the stations to visit, this year
 

evergreenadam

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How have other recently reopened stations been doing, interesting to see if the investment was worth it.
 

Bevan Price

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I'm increasingly suspicious of the figures in major PTE areas, as they don't accurately reflect actual journeys if they are zonal or "rover" in some way, which they increasingly are.
They had to rework last year's West Midlands figures upwards for that reason.
The Merseyside figures are badly skewed with the long closures of Liverpool Lime St and its approach lines, and the north generally suffered from strikes and extended disruption.
But good to see Chester has passed the 5 million mark, much the biggest TfW usage after Cardiff.
Yes - some drops of around 50% at some Northern stations served by trains to/from Liverpool Lime Street -- and not easily blamed on how Merseytravel passes or concessions are assessed, because figures at Merseyrail Electrics stations do not show similar changes. So Lime St. closure, industrial action and post May 2018 timetable changes probably to blame. Figures at St. Helens Junction particularly poor, probably due to loss of fast services to/from Manchester.
 

Glenn1969

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I guess we have to wait another year to be able to tell how well Northern stations recovered from the timetable carnage. Presumably most of 2019 will be in the 2019/20 stats
 

Bald Rick

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Increase of around 60% at Carnoustie to 200,00, following the introduction of more services.

More likely to be the Open in July 2018.

An anomaly I think. When you look at other commuter stations operated by Northern the figures are very poor - many in decline no doubt as a result of the May 2018 timetable fallout. Little surprise the franchise is in trouble financially.

The strikes surely.

Less than 10 years ago Glasgow Central was above Birmingham New Street in ridership (albeit by a small amount).

Now New Street is sitting 5th with something like 15 million more entries and exits than Glasgow Central has (this despite GC ridership increasing by around 10m in the last decade!). What the hell has happened that has increased ridership nearly 100% in 10 years?!

Ticket barriers at New Street is definitely the main reason.

Over the last decade it has become increasingly difficult to drive into Birmingham, partly because of roadworks, partly because of policies to discourage car use. I know several Birmingham commuters who have all abandoned their cars for the train in the past 3 years. Muc( moreof this to v9me in .burmingham, as announced yesterday.
 

paulmch

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The official figure for Cambridge is flat year on year which maybe suggests the station is at capacity and the growth is coming from people using North. I personally know a number of commuters from Cambridge will now get on services to London at the North station as it means getting a seat.

Not sure I'd describe it as flat at CBG - except 17/18 there's been annual growth of a few percent for at least the last 5 years. It's also worth noting that the latest stats include the calamitous May 2018 timetable change that affected TL/GN very badly, no doubt there could have been a bit more of an increase had that gone smoothly.
 

Killingworth

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An anomaly I think. When you look at other commuter stations operated by Northern the figures are very poor - many in decline no doubt as a result of the May 2018 timetable fallout. Little surprise the franchise is in trouble financially.

From memory I'd say Starmill is right. Glossop became gated about 2 years ago. I think it was stations in that area where a lot of schoolchidren previously escaped payment when travelling together.
 

dk1

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What happened at Ilkeston, over 250,000 in first year of opening down to 130,000 in 2018/19?

Aberdeen has lost a million passengers in the last 5 years, and Bolton has lost 600,000.
Aberdeen would most certainly be due to the decline in the offshore industry. Bolton however I would say would be down to the major disruption caused during electrification works and diversion of several services. That will all recover.
 

Ianno87

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What happened at Ilkeston, over 250,000 in first year of opening down to 130,000 in 2018/19?

Aberdeen has lost a million passengers in the last 5 years, and Bolton has lost 600,000.

Bolton would be heavily affected by weekend closures and blockades for electrification, plus Northern's strikes/woes. Basically didn't have a meaningful weekend train service for over a year.
 

Killingworth

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Aberdeen would most certainly be due to the decline in the offshore industry. Bolton however I would say would be down to the major disruption caused during electrification works and diversion of several services. That will all recover.

There's a footnote to explain the stats about Aberdeen. Station improvement work.

Ilkeston may be realism setting in after the first year novelty of the new station wore off. With many cancelled trains in recent weeks popularity won't be improving.
 
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