Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi,
Just to let everyone know today the latest station usage stats have been released by the Office of Rail Regulation for April 2008 - April 2009.

The files can be downloaded here: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529 (http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529)

I have however noticed that the total entries and total exists (and full, reduced and season) for most stations are the same figure.

Mark

The point re entries and exits is mentioned in the Report (5.2) so is not a mistake.

A quick look shows significant increases for many stations in the West, eg North Somerset line stations aggregate an increase of over 13%. Bear in mind that at least half of the period in question was after the recession started and it is a startling result.

It appears to make a mockery of the projections built into the RUS re growth and the number of additional carriages required in the West.

I note the availability of this data ... which I will build into our comparator here in the near future.   I have a lot on my plate with a major meeting tomorrow evening and other things too that must take priority.

Thanks for the link, Marky7890

Always an interesting read, even if the figures are always open to interpretation - especially with grouped stations and, ever increasingly, stations that accept Oyster cards.

Still, here's a snapshot of some of the noticeable changes from FGW-land since last years report:

Avonmouth from 44000 to 62000
Bicester Town from 51000 to 60000
Bodmin Parkway 203000 to 285000
Falmouth (Town and Docks combined) from 159000 to 210000
Hanborough (spelt Handborough in the file!) from 84000 to 105000
Melksham from 38000 down to 27000 - no doubt Graham will provide some reasons for the decline!
Newquay from 87000 to 126000
Saltash from 32000 to 50000
Severn Beach from 54000 to 75000
Tiverton Parkway from 304000 to 451000

I'll be interested to see Bicester Town's figures for next year after the full impact of the 'Bicester Link' branding has taken effect, as numbers have swelled considerably since then!

I'm very pleased with the Severn Beach Line figures.  Just goes to show that if an improved service is offered, people are willing to use it:

Lawrence Hill 55730 to 67702
Stapleton Road 72182 to 104348
Montpelier 60629 to 86406
Redland 61394 to 88214
Clifton Down 204397 to 284220
Sea Mills 33222 to 36878
Shirehampton 30893 to 34742
Avonmouth 44468 to 62400
St Andrews Road 3183 to 3616
Severn Beach 54034 to 74864

Total for all these stations 620,132 to 843,390.  An increase of around 36%.

The Severn Beach Line figures are interesting with as brucey say around a 36% increase in usage over the 07/08 figures.

Although it's worth bearing in mind that the increase in frequency was 60%, from 15 return weekday trips to 24, as far as Avonmouth.

Of course that 36% increase could potentially be a lot higher if all fares were able to be collected. Just yesterday 3 people who sat in seats near me from Redland to Stapleton Road got away with no tickets issued, one even commented to another that there was a good chance they'd travel for free as their return journey would be on a busy evening service.

More thoughts:-

The overall increase of 8% is stated to be largely attributable to inclusion of PTE tickets which were not included in previous years. Without that the increase would have been less than 2%. Given the increase on West Country services appears well in excess of 8% on many routes, (with no inclusion of PTE to distort our figures), surely it follows that the west has significantly outperformed the national picture. So why do we get so little of the crumbs available for additional rolling stock (bearing in mind that the forthcoming cascade won't result in any additional stock once other stock is handed back).

Have analysed from extracted data Cornwall's figures, See the relevant thread in the Local Forum. If I'm at a loss over the weekend, I'll do Devon as well.

As the GW RUS put it, "This is due to an earlier discrepancy with ticket purchases at Melksham station for travel between Trowbridge and Bath which was rectified in September 2008."

Thanks, Lee!  ;) :D ;D

There's an acknowledgement of this point on page 11 in the RUS (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/great%20western/great%20western%20rus.pdf).

And also on Pages 85 and 86 - http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8080.msg13089#msg13089

Have now done Devon CC, Plymouth UA and Torbay UA.

Thanks very much for that, RailCornwall!  ;)

page 250 Appendix G ^ Stakeholder Aspirations... interesting!

... by any chance?

;D

.... any similar exercises to the 'Devon' and Cornwall ones wanted? PM me with the Counties AND if relevant UNITARY AUTHORITIES needed to check and I'll give it a bash. My template can more or less be used with any reasonably sized subset of around up to 80 stations. Also tell me where to post the result.

thats one of them but also under stations....minehead? staverton!

How difficult would it be to reinstate a service to Minehead?  Roughly what extreme cost would it be, if the WSR were interested in joining up the network with the mainline again, to generate an income for their other projects?

A nice little dream which would never happen, but all I can say is that the bus to Minehead is always packed on the way from taunton station

Having a quick look at the "figures" looks to me that Coombe Junc (on the looe Branch) had a 100% increase in passengers.

Mind it still shows useage at Lelant Saltings as very poor, I can only say in Mid Summer when Lelant Saltings platform is full to busting, there's one heck of a lot of "twitchers"  watching the sea birds,  ;D ;D ;D

I think the problem with the St Ives branch is that the journey is so short, and there are so many people on the train that there is not enough time for the conductor to get to everyone to sell and check tickets, especially in summer when its 2 150s, which are full. What is really needed are portable ticket office buildings at all the intermediate stops. And sometimes you don't see any conductor at all,  not even walking through the train.
I believe this used to be a problem on the Falmouth branch, but I think they have two people selling tickets (well they did a while back anyway).

The PROBLEM on the St Ives Branch is that  tickets between St Erth and St Ives are ROVER tickets so don't seem to count to station usage.

At peak times there are now two Conductors and I've seen barrier checks at St ives.