Great Western Coffee Shop

From the latest figures

Top Usage 2008

1   Truro   917184
2   Penzance   498290
3   St.Austell   360482
4   Redruth   277853
5   Liskeard   274090
6   Bodmin Parkway   203061
7   Camborne   193948
8   Par   139688
9   St.Ives   139455
10   Falmouth Town   91640

All Usage 2009

1   Truro   1140886
2   Penzance   646538
3   St.Austell   441008
4   Redruth   337188
5   Liskeard   322800
6   Bodmin Parkway   284996
7   Camborne   238480
8   Par   175694
9   St.Ives   173722
10   Newquay   126244
11   Falmouth Town   111012
12   Falmouth Docks   99304
13   Penmere   95842
14   Penryn   93488
15   St.Erth   93438
16   Looe   82614
17   Hayle   79374
18   Lostwithiel   63942
19   Saltash   50452
20   Gunnislake   49070
21   St.Germans   39722
22   Calstock   31168
23   Perranwell   13348
24   Carbis Bay   9476
25   Menheniot   4614
26   Causeland   4038
27   Bugle   2606
28   Roche   1242
29   St.Columb Road   1222
30   Luxulyan   1214
31   Sandplace   1158
32   St.Keyne   986
33   Lelant   592
34   Quintrel Downs   578
35   Lelant Saltings   554
36   Coombe   128

Interchanges 2009

1   St.Erth   119106
2   Truro   100333
3   Par   77405
4   Liskeard   38783
5   Penzance   49

Usage Increases (All Stations showed growth - Smaller stations are, of course exaggerated in this)

1   Lelant   146.67%
2   Coombe   137.04%
3   Lelant Saltings   120.72%
4   Quintrel Downs   73.05%
5   Bugle   67.37%
6   St.Keyne   60.59%
7   Saltash   57.36%
8   St.Columb Road   56.07%
9   Falmouth Docks   47.85%
10   Newquay   44.20%
11   Bodmin Parkway   40.35%
12   St.Erth   36.95%
13   St.Germans   36.63%
14   Perranwell   35.62%
15   Hayle   31.91%
16   Luxulyan   31.67%
17   Penzance   29.75%
18   Menheniot   27.81%
19   Par   25.78%
20   St.Ives   24.57%
21   Truro   24.39%
22   Lostwithiel   23.69%
23   Camborne   22.96%
24   Sandplace   22.41%
25   St.Austell   22.34%
26   Redruth   21.35%
27   Penryn   21.32%
28   Falmouth Town   21.14%
29   Penmere   20.97%
30   Liskeard   17.77%
31   Causeland   16.34%
32   Calstock   16.19%
33   Carbis Bay   15.45%
34   Roche   10.60%
35   Looe   7.95%
36   Gunnislake   0.66%

 :o reasons for large increases in West Cornwall please ? better revenue collection or really that many more passengers !!

Bit of both I'd say, there are more people travelling, but revenue collection has definately improved. More barrier checks at Penzance etc probably play a part...

Love the way Lelant Saltings shows as the 2nd least used station in Cornwall. I dont think so!!! Obviously to do with the rover tickets on the branch.....

Similarly the Calstock and Gunnislake figures don't include the Tamar Valley Line Carnet tickets.

is there anything we should be gleaning from these stats other than an overall impression that rail use continues to rise (unless better revenue protection measures account for most of the increase)?

Would it be fair to infer from these figures that our (i.e. Cornwall's, in this case) railway culture, which declined with the rise of the car and was almost killed off by the 60s cuts is showing signs of a renaissance? It'd be interesting to have an idea of the breakdown between local journeys within the plymouth-penzance section and those to/from outside the area.

Reading the Bodmin Parkway figures (82,000/40% increase), I can't help wondering about the viability of a morning/evening commuter/peak service run by the Bodmin & Wenford. 

   

Lelant Saltings parking tickets won't count either, according to the methodology used in these figures.

http://www.southwestbusiness.co.uk/cornwall/Bumper-year-Cornish-railways/article-2113184-detail/article.html

Are the figures referred to in this article publicly available for the other D&C branches? A 15% increase in the St Ives branch seems very encouraging.   

I expect the St Ives figures are quite accuarte aswell as revenue collection is very good on the branch.

I never did understand why the line was closed considering other branches in Cornwall stayed open, Bodmin has a much larger population than Looe.  There is also a case for improved transport to the station, the current bus services is hourly and generally does not connect with trains from Paddington.

A lot of the Cornish branches survived because it was near impossible to provide suitable alternative transport, Looe survived due to the appaling road network in the area, St Ives survived due to the town being gridlocked and the fact that the loss of the railway would have caused misery, Gunnislake survived due to the totally appaling road links to Plymouth and the massive detour involved to get to Plymouth etc,  whereas to replace the short distance route from Bodmin road to Bodmin with busses was easy as it is on a main road and was lightly used.

Truro, Penryn and Falmouth Town will have benefitted from the on-going expansion of University College Falmouth. :)

Is that the outpost of the University of Exeter?

OK...off topic but to reply, (I can hear a slightly cynical tone!). Yes, though they bafflingly call it "...Combined Universities Cornwall (OK so far!...a partnership including Universities of Exeter and Plymouth...weird)

Anyway, rightly, they say it widens the opportunities for students in the region.

Very fine campus at Falmouth, which now includes Dartington school of arts etc from Totnes. I wonder what the denisons of Totnes thought of that move?

Also Falmouth Docks I think has also benefited from University College Falmouth, as there is now a large student accommodation block next to the station.

the Falmouth docks rise in Pax numbers is due to the fact that most guards just sell tickets from Falmouth docks to Truro no matter where the pax get on as it's the same price but easier to issue