[trivia] Most used OSI in London?

[MikeWh]

Users of Oyster and contactless in London combine different legs of a journey into one when they make use of Out of Station Interchanges (OSI). They exist between stations with the same name but different paid areas (eg NR terminal to related Underground station), nearby stations where people might change between lines (eg Park Royal/Hanger Lane, Bromley North/South) and occasionally where accessible routes take you out of the paid area (eg Seven Sisters). There is a full list here on my website.

So, what do we think are the three most used OSIs, and a bonus point if you can guess the least used OSI as well? I have data over a recent 4 week period. The highest had 1.58million interchanges in both directions, the lowest was just 3 (all in the same direction).

 

[Esker-pades]

Waterloo to Waterloo East as the most used.

Whyteleafe to Upper Wharlingham as least.

 

[Mikey C]

Tower Hill to Fenchurch Street, Euston to Euston Square, Camden Town to Camden Road (albeit the latter is affected by station restrictions at Camden Town)?

Least used Sudbury Hill to Sudbury Hill Harrow!

 

[Mag_seven]

My three most used:

Waterloo NR to Waterloo LU
Victoria NR to Victoria LU
Liverpool St NR to Liverpool St LU

Least Used:

Manor Park - Woodgrange Park

 

[si404]

The busiest is going to be a terminus to its tube station - I'm calling Waterloo NR - Waterloo LU.

For the least used, I'm calling West Harrow - it seems to be for people who get on an Uxbridge train by mistake, and then have to go between gatelines to get back to HotH. It doesn't happen the other way as the trains are radically different.

 

[Ianno87]

Least used: Isn't there one between the NR and LU gatelines at Farringdon?

 

[MikeWh]

Some good guesses. 2 of the top 3 have been chosen so far. No one has the least used. A clue: it's not a same station one.

 

[Clip]

Would the least used be herons quay to Canary Wharf? Is that even an OSI?

 

[swt_passenger]

Waterloo to Waterloo East as the most used...

I’d have expected that to be much less than Waterloo main NR to Waterloo LU. It’s possible many passengers on Waterloo to Waterloo East are using London Terminals validity, or other point to point rail seasons, I’d assume they aren’t counted as OSI use, it’s just an Oyster thing.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

I'd guess that West Hampstead clocks up high figures. It always busy when I'm there.

 

[si404]

London Bridge NR-LU is the missing one of the top 3.

As its not a same-station one, I'd imagine a large distance, a sleepy area or a pointlessness to the least-used OSI. And some reason for the uni-directional nature of use. West Ruislip to Ickenham with the reason being a tube challenge team used it comes to mind, but they use travelcards to avoid maximum fares.

 

[Kite159]

Mansion House LU to Cannon Street for least used?

I can't see many folk doing that now that Cannon Street LU is open 7 days a week.

 

[adrock1976]

I would have a few guesses for the least used ranked in order.

1) Dalton Junction - Dalston Kingsland
2) The various Wembley stations
3) Bayswater and Queensway on London Underground (both the subsurface and Central Line meet each other at Notting Hill Gate and Liverpool Street)

 

[MikeWh]

So, congrats to @Mag_seven and @si404 who got the most used between them. They are:

Waterloo LU-NR 1.58m
Victoria LU-NR 1.47m
London Bridge LU-NR 1.27m

Liverpool Street LU-NR is 4th and Vauxhall LU-NR 5th, but neither top a million.

Whyteleafe to Upper Wharlingham as least.

With 89 it's in the bottom 10.

Least used Sudbury Hill to Sudbury Hill Harrow!

It has 77.

Manor Park - Woodgrange Park

354.

For the least used, I'm calling West Harrow - it seems to be for people who get on an Uxbridge train by mistake, and then have to go between gatelines to get back to HotH. It doesn't happen the other way as the trains are radically different.

757. It does work both ways, people get on a Met instead of Pic at Rayners Lane. I know, I know, the size!

Least used: Isn't there one between the NR and LU gatelines at Farringdon?

There's one between the integrated ticket hall and other entrances which was used 4948 times.

Would the least used be herons quay to Canary Wharf? Is that even an OSI?

157,036. That's the recommended OSI when travelling south on the DLR.

As its not a same-station one, I'd imagine a large distance, a sleepy area or a pointlessness to the least-used OSI. And some reason for the uni-directional nature of use. West Ruislip to Ickenham with the reason being a tube challenge team used it comes to mind, but they use travelcards to avoid maximum fares.

I like you're thinking, but 1637 uses is testament to the lack of local bus services in the area.

Mansion House LU to Cannon Street for least used?

I can't see many folk doing that now that Cannon Street LU is open 7 days a week.

Still get 536 uses, but it is a bit pointless.

I would have a few guesses for the least used ranked in order.

1) Dalton Junction - Dalston Kingsland
2) The various Wembley stations
3) Bayswater and Queensway on London Underground (both the subsurface and Central Line meet each other at Notting Hill Gate and Liverpool Street)

Dalstons 9536 (used to avoid doubling back at Canonbury)
No OSI between Wembley stations
Bayswater 2538 (it's only been there since June)

Another clue: It's in zone 1.

 

[swt_passenger]

Aldgate to Tower Gateway.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Aldgate to Tower Hill?

 

[Kite159]

I'm surprised with 536 uses of Cannon Street - Mansion House.

Marylebone to Edgware Road?

 

[si404]

Marylebone to Edgware Road?

That's rather useful as Baker Street doesn't offer trains to Kensington, Earls Court, etc. I've done it several times. It is perhaps a little-known secret and numbers are suppressed by that.

Embankment to Waterloo East strikes me as the most pointless of the OSIs in zone 1.

 

[si404]

Aldgate to Tower Gateway.

Jubilee takes a lot of Met-Docklands traffic, and it's not publicised, but I can see it being relatively well used as it is still a useful link.

Aldgate to Tower Hill?

Not an OSI, though it would serve a purpose (not having to wait for a 6tph service). Though an OSI to Aldgate East would probably serve that purpose better.

 

[hassaanhc]

My choice for least used would be Liverpool Street NR to Fenchurch Street as most people would probably use London Underground between Liverpool Street/Stratford and Barking when changing between the two lines.

 

[MikeWh]

Aldgate to Tower Gateway.

3190

Marylebone to Edgware Road?

3610

Embankment to Waterloo East strikes me as the most pointless of the OSIs in zone 1.

127

There's not many left, so the answer will be here this evening.

 

[MikeWh]

My choice for least used would be Liverpool Street NR to Fenchurch Street as most people would probably use London Underground between Liverpool Street/Stratford and Barking when changing between the two lines.

Along the right lines, but this one has 382.

 

[InterCity:125]

Embankment to Waterloo east?

 

[InterCity:125]

Fenchurch Street to monument?

 

[Mag_seven]

Paddington to Marylebone looks like a possible contender.

 

[MikeWh]

Fenchurch Street to monument?

1704

Paddington to Marylebone looks like a possible contender.

And we have a winner!!!

 

[MikeWh]

At this point I ought to confess that after setting the question I found one which had zero use. I'm therefore taking the definition of least actually used OSI. The not used one is Woodford step-free NB-SB.

The data from TfL includes multiple entries for some OSIs and a few obsolete entries too, most notably with Waterloo NR (P20-24) at one end. I'll add some analysis to my site later on.

 

[si404]

Which direction PAD-MYB? I kept coming back to it, and kept rejecting it as, if you were going to do it one way, why wouldn't you do it the other?

And Woodford is surprising, but I guess its step-free access between branches, one of which has infrequent service, in a not-very accessible part of the tube network.

 

[MikeWh]

Marylebone to Paddington. It's a long way and 99.999% of people would use the tube. Never understood why that one existed to be honest, especially as both NR routes charge TfL fares so using the tube doesn't add anything.

 

[PeterC]

I had to stop and think before remembering that changing between gatelines within the same station complex was also regarded as "out of station". What are the top transfers between two DIFFERENT stations?
I would guess Euston to Euston Square (both directions) and Marylebone to Baker Street, busier from people taking the first southbound from places like Amersham or Ricky.