*It's diagram and timetable related i would say but feel free to move if you think it's better suited elsewhere*
With recent announcements that Whitwell (my home station) and Langwith (2 stations south) is to change to a 1 train per 2 hour service from hourly on the line from next month, i wonder if this will be the start of bigger reductions on the grossly unprofitable line. Having opened again before the turn of the century it never really makes any money from stations north of Mansfield Woodhouse and i believe at least used to be subsidised by local authority. After attempting a Sunday service on the northern half of the line a few years ago with almost zero interest (after locals went out of their way to complain about it) it has sat at an hourly service with an extra at peak time Monday to Saturday only for some time.
Whilst the official word is skipping these stops is due to low passenger numbers and to help reliability, there has been talk on and off for years about them being little more than a hindrance and suggesting they'd be better off closed.
Passenger numbers are VERY low, although i can't help thinking that the current reduced numbers are exaggerated by the removal of the evening services forcing people back into their cars, and as we are seeing in many places, people are seeing the light so to speak and realising that, particularly if you went as a typical group of 4, it is cheaper to drive and use the park and ride in Nottingham, and unless you use Hucknall or Phoenix Park at the end of the tram lines, it's almost as quick.
A cynic would suggest that, as they would prefer Whitwell and Langwith, and likely Newstead although that has operational advantages, to be closed, that reducing the service should reduce the numbers just low enough for them to consider closure.
Interestingly, they claim that passenger usage data is very accurate, though i'm not entirely sure how they can show any useful data with passenger numbers based on the last 6 months, given you couldn't leave Nottingham later than 1800 for 3 of them, barely acceptable for a commute with a city transfer by tram. Showing the number of tickets from Whitwell is all well and good, but it gives no indication of what time people want to travel, and as such there is no way of knowing what passengers require, and with no (local) advances and no seat reservations (at any time) most people buy at the machine or on board so there's no real information for timing data. Particularly for return journeys.
The most ridiculous part of course is the timings. It seems they've made no effort to slot in the timings at 1tp2h with anything else around. A frequent (not at the moment) journey of mine and several others in the village is a London trip, either for a day, or usually a few days. This is generally for work purposes, and i usually get a super off peak return. I normally go via Worksop and Retford as that is the quickest journey time despite being an extra change.
The trains that call at Whitwell are the oposite ones to those that connect with the retford trains that connect with the London or York trains.
Whitwell to London via the ECML is now 5 (five) hours thanks to the 1hr50 wait at Worksop, and 1hr5 wait at Retford.
The trains are either missing out Langwith or Whitwell, but it appears they do the other one on the way back. Should there be an easement in place to allow a double back? I actually do Langwith to Whitwell or the other way around a fair bit as the garage where my vehicles are serviced is in Langwith so it's an ideal service, expecting passengers to travel 4 minutes 1 stop, wait an hour and then 4 minutes one stop shows a complete lack of care and consideration for passengers. I'm only 1 passenger so cannot expect the railway to revolve around myself or any of the other small number of people making that journey but frankly the whole thing hasn't been thought about as far as i can see and it's disappointing that an operator that i've generally considered passenger friendly has taken this step**
**NOT the reduction in services. I actually fully appreciate that passenger numbers are low, and whilst i'd prefer a 2tph service i know it can't be justified, and perhaps neither can 1tph, but the idea that local journeys can't be made anymore, and that journeys travelling via Retford (my usual complaint for low frequency services) are offset making a 2h15 journey into a 4hr58 one, making it utterly impractical to use the station. This WILL reduce passenger numbers further which will give them the excuse to close it.
I'd consider if they used the OPPOSITE train in the 2hr span to call at Whitwell (and Langwith) and the current one to call at Neither, this problem would be almost solved allowing long distance journeys to remain and having no difference on the shorter journeys.
With recent announcements that Whitwell (my home station) and Langwith (2 stations south) is to change to a 1 train per 2 hour service from hourly on the line from next month, i wonder if this will be the start of bigger reductions on the grossly unprofitable line. Having opened again before the turn of the century it never really makes any money from stations north of Mansfield Woodhouse and i believe at least used to be subsidised by local authority. After attempting a Sunday service on the northern half of the line a few years ago with almost zero interest (after locals went out of their way to complain about it) it has sat at an hourly service with an extra at peak time Monday to Saturday only for some time.
Whilst the official word is skipping these stops is due to low passenger numbers and to help reliability, there has been talk on and off for years about them being little more than a hindrance and suggesting they'd be better off closed.
Passenger numbers are VERY low, although i can't help thinking that the current reduced numbers are exaggerated by the removal of the evening services forcing people back into their cars, and as we are seeing in many places, people are seeing the light so to speak and realising that, particularly if you went as a typical group of 4, it is cheaper to drive and use the park and ride in Nottingham, and unless you use Hucknall or Phoenix Park at the end of the tram lines, it's almost as quick.
A cynic would suggest that, as they would prefer Whitwell and Langwith, and likely Newstead although that has operational advantages, to be closed, that reducing the service should reduce the numbers just low enough for them to consider closure.
Interestingly, they claim that passenger usage data is very accurate, though i'm not entirely sure how they can show any useful data with passenger numbers based on the last 6 months, given you couldn't leave Nottingham later than 1800 for 3 of them, barely acceptable for a commute with a city transfer by tram. Showing the number of tickets from Whitwell is all well and good, but it gives no indication of what time people want to travel, and as such there is no way of knowing what passengers require, and with no (local) advances and no seat reservations (at any time) most people buy at the machine or on board so there's no real information for timing data. Particularly for return journeys.
The most ridiculous part of course is the timings. It seems they've made no effort to slot in the timings at 1tp2h with anything else around. A frequent (not at the moment) journey of mine and several others in the village is a London trip, either for a day, or usually a few days. This is generally for work purposes, and i usually get a super off peak return. I normally go via Worksop and Retford as that is the quickest journey time despite being an extra change.
The trains that call at Whitwell are the oposite ones to those that connect with the retford trains that connect with the London or York trains.
Whitwell to London via the ECML is now 5 (five) hours thanks to the 1hr50 wait at Worksop, and 1hr5 wait at Retford.
The trains are either missing out Langwith or Whitwell, but it appears they do the other one on the way back. Should there be an easement in place to allow a double back? I actually do Langwith to Whitwell or the other way around a fair bit as the garage where my vehicles are serviced is in Langwith so it's an ideal service, expecting passengers to travel 4 minutes 1 stop, wait an hour and then 4 minutes one stop shows a complete lack of care and consideration for passengers. I'm only 1 passenger so cannot expect the railway to revolve around myself or any of the other small number of people making that journey but frankly the whole thing hasn't been thought about as far as i can see and it's disappointing that an operator that i've generally considered passenger friendly has taken this step**
**NOT the reduction in services. I actually fully appreciate that passenger numbers are low, and whilst i'd prefer a 2tph service i know it can't be justified, and perhaps neither can 1tph, but the idea that local journeys can't be made anymore, and that journeys travelling via Retford (my usual complaint for low frequency services) are offset making a 2h15 journey into a 4hr58 one, making it utterly impractical to use the station. This WILL reduce passenger numbers further which will give them the excuse to close it.
I'd consider if they used the OPPOSITE train in the 2hr span to call at Whitwell (and Langwith) and the current one to call at Neither, this problem would be almost solved allowing long distance journeys to remain and having no difference on the shorter journeys.