Great Western Coffee Shop

Noticed that the latest Customer Panel minutes from July show strong increases on the Devon and Cornwall branches this year:-

St Ives: 36%
Falmouth: 20% (and most of this will be before the new service)
Newquay: 61%
Looe: 48%
Gunnislake: 20%
Barny: 15%
Exmouth: 10%

and further north, Severn Beach: 35% since the frequency enhancement last May.

By the way, I assumed that this year refers to the calendar year, not since the start of period 1 but it's not obvious which is meant.

Does anyone have a view on how summer holiday traffic is holding up on the branches, particularly given the summer so far has not been very helpful for branches that end at a beach resort?     

Do you have figures for TransWilts (scientific control), with no improvements?

I can't speak for the Cornish branches, but the Severn Beach passenger numbers may have something to do with the increased staffing on many services. With 2 conductors (one for doors, one for tickets) on most peak time trains, more tickets are being sold, resulting in a more accurate picture of the loadings. It is rare for me these days to travel from Clifton Down to Montpelier/Stapleton Road/Lawrence Hill (in the past an almost guaranteed free journey) without seeing nearly all pax being ticketed. The instances of me getting from Shirehampton to Clifton and beyond without the opportunity to pay my fare (AND I'm honest these days - paying for a return even if not ticketed on the outward journey) have almost dwindled to zero.

Curiously enough, loadings on that particular service were not mentioned in the Customer Panels, so the only figures available are the previous year's footfall (which are distorted by the fare anomaly that existed at the time).

My experience on Falmouth over the past month has been for extreme variances in loading during the day, some services have been skeletal others upwards of 70% full. As has been commented in another thread use between FAL - FMT - PNM - PYN does seem to be increasing considerably, a significant number of these journies especially in the up Direction are not being ticketed (and documented) as the operation of the doors and start of journey ticket issuing and checking for all passengers takes more time than the available 11 minutes between the four stations.

Those figures quoted at the Customer Panel are ones I put together from those supplied by First Great Western.  They are calendar year ones.  This is so we can continue comparing like with like from Wessex Trains days, as National Express did everything by calendar years.

Thanks to them and FGW keeping it going, I've got figures for each four week period back to the beginning of 2001.  The Tarka, Atlantic Coast, Maritime and St Ives Bay Lines (Barnstaple, Newquay, Falmouth and St Ives) are all just about twice as busy this year as they were in 2001.

The key peak Summer four week period has just ended so we should find out in a couple of weeks or so how things have gone.  I can tell you we have had full and standing trains on the Looe Valley Line this year (the 11 15 ex Liskeard last Wednesday and Thursday, for example) - that's with a Cl150 and didn't happen last year or the year before.

With the Maritime Line, the more than doubling of the train service will inevitably mean than some trains will be pretty quiet.  The figures for the last period (effectively July), second full period of the improved service, showed a 27.1% rise on last year - and extra 6554 journeys. 

Richard Burningham,
Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership 

Maritime would have increased with the Tall Ships adding a fair bit but still.....

Packed and standing on the St Ives a few days ago on a hot sunny day. I think people are understanding that leaving the car at Lelant is better than hunting for a space in St. Ives and then having to walk all the way back up the hill on the way back!

Thanks, RichardB - It's interesting to hear how well trains in the far reaches of the network are getting on - an area which I hardly ever get the chance to visit unfortunately!

Thanks for the info Richard. It's good to hear of such a success story. When I visited Looe for a week in 2006 a 153 was jammed so for a 150 to be full and standing is very encouraging. What happens when 2 cars aren't enough in the summer period?

Service cancelled or coaches layed on

Rob - Tall Ships was last September.   It will be interesting to see if the loadings on the improved service this September beat the much bigger than usual numbers seen for Tall Ships (8k extra journeys in that late Aug/Sept period in 2008 compared to 2007 - 30,850 is the figure to beat!). 

On the St Ives Bay Line, in two years time, all being well, the park and ride should have moved to St Erth with the opening of a 600 space car park there and other improvements in a scheme led by Cornwall Council. 

The peak Summer Cl150 on the Looe Valley Line is the result of a lot of lobbying and FGW taking this on board.  When Wales and West was split, there weren't enough Cl150s retained in what became Wessex Trains to put a Cl 150 on the Looe Valley Line on any weekday, even in August, with the outcome that John R mentioned.  FGW were able to change this and we've had a Cl 150 in July and August since 2007.

The two coaches are almost always just about OK - I don't think buses have been needed since the Cl 150 was brought in, but they certainly were from time to time when we only had a Cl153.

Richard

What will this mean for the existing P&R site and station? And if the new site has more car capacity, will that just result in even more crammed trains (or are 4 coaches enough).

Hopefully the Saltings will become a "parly" station and basicly disused so that Carbis bay can then have a half hourly frequency which is much needed!

John,

I understand the plan is to keep Lelant Saltings as a possible future back up.  As Vacman has just said, the station would have a "Parliamentary" service.  The move to St Erth will also mean that all trains will be able to call at Carbis Bay (and I'm sure this will happen - passenger counts have shown a big increase in the number of Carbis Bay - St Ives journeys over the last few years) and I would expect Lelant to get an hourly request stop service.

Part of the St Erth scheme is moving to five coach trains in the high peak period.  

Why not axe Lelant? It's near enough Lelant saltings.

Then you've got plenty of parking!

People wish to go to the village/golf course, not a car park!

a 2 hourly off-peak service for Lelant would sufice I bet! Carbis Bay has become extremely busy lately, far busier than the passenger figures would suggest as the 1750, 1850 and 1950 from Carbis Bay are usually packed, with in excess of 70 passengers joning (high summer) that are all going for free as most conductors don't bother and those that do can only get a few of them, there is a ticket machine there but no-one uses it at night!

Lelant is close to the villiage and beach, there is a great pub not far from the station! the Saltings is within walking distance of St Erth.

Cant see the point in a St Erth P+R, its busy enough there without the P+R traffic. Unless they are planning on building a completely new platform and ticket office for the service, I cant see it working.

Because Lelant Saltings station is a serious accident waiting to happen! the platform is only about 8ft wide and is on a curve meaning a HUGE gap, particularly on a 150. Also, the car park (well, field!!) at the Saltings is owned by the Council so they get all the car park revenue.

Thanks Richard

That all sounds very sensible and good news.

More personal anecdotal evidence ...

1020 ex Truro picked 13 passengers including myself up at Perranwell this morning. If that's not progress I don't know what is, similarly on the return from Falmouth on the 1220 no less than eight teenagers got on at Penmere with skateboards going to the new Skatepark in Truro.

One mid-afternoon train ex Falmouth today loaded as follows:
(Total number of passengers after each stop)
FAL - 1
FMT - 34
PNM - 27
PYN - 18
PRW - 13

Definately alot of journies on the bottom section of the branch. The 14:50 ex Truro left Truro with 64 on today also....

Be interesting to see if Newquay figures stay up as the Saturday HSTs have been DEAD, The 15:20 NQY to MAN today left with 25 people on board.

I suspect that's not a balanced picture, though.  For families going on holiday to the seaside by train for the week (the rump of a once-huge market), arrivals at the seaside destination from London, the Midlands and the North will be at times like 12:45, 14:42, 16:52, 18:49 and 21:13 in ... a journey that started in the early morning, and gives a seaside arrival when their B&Bs are ready for them.

Return trips start earlier - after the last B&B breakast at 09:30 or 11:22  ... or perhaps even as late as 13:14.  But - any later - you'll be hanging around having been chucked out of your room while you wait for your train, then home so late that little Tommy and James will be fractious, and bored in a train that's still trundling homewards through the dark.

So - I suspect that 15:20 is in effect regarded as something of an empty return working out of Newquay, clearing the HST that arrived from the north aty 14:42. And I suspect that the loadings on the 14:42 woul dbe much higher.

i think the TOC's need to realise that "Summer Saturdays" are no longer the busiest day, fridays and sundays are now the worst!

1135 Paddington - Newquay is never that busy, 1122 Newquay - Paddington likewise. The second XC arrival isn't either. In general, Saturdays are no longer busy. Their is little family market in Newquay anymore!!

Its stag weekends. Bet that 0906 Paddington - Newquay on Fridays is rammed, it was last year!