Leisure trips - put off by bad weather?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

It's blowing a gale out there, rain's been coming down in buckets ... and I took a very deep breath before I braved the elements this morning.  Floods on the roads (have to run past the puddles to avoid being splashed by passing cars) and daren't get the camera out to take pics as it's going to drown in all the flying water.  Yuk!!

If you had been thinking about going out on a day trip for leisure today, expecting reasonable to good weather for the time of year, what's the chance that you would proceed if the weather turned out like this?

Does anyone have stats / information on the effect of the weather on rail passenger numbers, preferably broken down by sector (i.e. commuter / business / long distance leisure / local [day trip] leisure?

[LiskeardRich]

Depends on the activity. Have I paid for it already? Will I get a refund if I abandon?
If I haven't paid for the activity I will probably abandon the trip. If I've paid as long as safe to carry on I will continue.

[grahame]

Depends on the activity. Have I paid for it already? Will I get a refund if I abandon?
If I haven't paid for the activity I will probably abandon the trip. If I've paid as long as safe to carry on I will continue.

Yes indeed .. please read the question as "what percentage of times would you carry on" rather than "what probability for this particular trip".   I'm looking to get a drift (and I know I will have a biased sample amongst the rail-savvy souls here) for the effect of weather on passenger numbers on such trips.

[Lee]

Im actually due to travel from Bath to Melksham today, and I deliberately planned to do so around lunchtime based on the forecast saying the weather will improve from then.

My decision was also based on the fact that I will be outside most of the time I am in Melksham today.

[LiskeardRich]

Depends on the activity. Have I paid for it already? Will I get a refund if I abandon?
If I haven't paid for the activity I will probably abandon the trip. If I've paid as long as safe to carry on I will continue.

Yes indeed .. please read the question as "what percentage of times would you carry on" rather than "what probability for this particular trip".   I'm looking to get a drift (and I know I will have a biased sample amongst the rail-savvy souls here) for the effect of weather on passenger numbers on such trips.

I answered the survey based on the "what percentage of times would you carry on", but the above are factors which would make me decide whether to carry on.

[trainer]

I was planning a trip using trains to get to a suburb of Birmingham with another forum member on Friday 3rd Jan 2014 and we cancelled it on Thursday in view of the dire warnings issued.  It wasn't just the travel arrangements that might have gone awry, but the lack of a view from the train window and the thought of traipsing through rain and wind to/from stations to the venue that added to the decision.

I have travelled in snow and bitterly cold weather on leisure trips in the past, but this particular series of storms has meant that my annual New Year's Day visit to a heritage railway, as well as the visit to a music recital referred to here (neither paid for in advance), have been washed out this year.

I have a car, but driving was not a seriously considered option.

[onthecushions]

Most disruption is, in my experience, in the first 18 hours of the onset of bad weather and limited to the area with the most extreme conditions. After then, unless there is serious damage, like a washout, I've found that wider services recover quickly. Rail is a very resilient mode - much better than a motorway. Also Railmen (non-gender specific collective noun) are at their best when conditions are worst. This is largely true also for the USA, Sweden and Norway, often supposed to be so much better than the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Only industrial (in)action and engineering work should give customers cause to reflect on whether their journey is really necessary.

OTC

[Chris from Nailsea]

I've voted. 

A couple of observations from me, if I may? 

I was out delivery driving today: many local roads were under water at some locations - not impassable, but I was driving a Mercedes Sprinter, which is rather better at coping with such situations than a small family saloon car.  And I always slow down, in built up areas, so as to avoid splashing pedestrians. 

That was for work: if it had been a leisure trip, provided the weather was only a bit bad, I'd have carried on - but if it was a long distance, or really heavy rain, I'd have called it off.  After all, the oft-repeated official guidance is, 'please only travel if your journey is really necessary'.

(I just wish I had footage of my own drive through a watersplash in a country lane off the A38 this afternoon - I quite enjoyed that!  )

[eightf48544]

I remember a rail tour to York via some of the West Yorkshire lines with a pair of 33s sometime between Christmass and New Year some years ago> There was some snow on the ground and pretty cold. One of the 33s failed just outside York on the way back so we had no ETH (Electric Train Heat) as the single unit was hard pressed to run the train. We had ice on the inside of the coach by the time we got to Potters Bar. It's not put me off Rail tours. Not sure it answers your question.

i think it would depend on as RW says has the outing been booked what kind of outing is it, a visit to friends where you are inside would probably go ahead, whereas a walk to country pub would probably be cancelled.

There is also the consideration that the line may already be blocked. So I will refine my answer not to a percentage but to say it all depends on the activity, the actual weather, the chances of getting there and back home, how much money we might lose etc.

[grahame]

Many thanks for your inputs here ... sample unscientific and only enough to give a very general flavour indeed, but it seems to point towards 60% to 80% of leisure trips being postponed / cancelled in shocking weather.  So 5 people on a train the day I asked the question would suggest that if the weather had been OK the number might have been somewhere in the high teens.

I do like the "more likely to travel - something dry and warm to do" type answer!

[broadgage]

Most posts seem to imply a day trip, without remaining at the destination overnight.
In my case, most leisure trips are to stay a few days with friends or family, and my concerns are not the outward journey which could be postponned if needed, but the return.

Most years I visit Mother in the West country for a few days over Christmas and new year, travel dates are already constrained by engineering works and the likelyhood of these overunning, add bad weather to this and a punctual return to work can be problematic.

[LiskeardRich]

Most years I visit Mother in the West country for a few days over Christmas and new year, travel dates are already constrained by engineering works and the likelyhood of these overunning, add bad weather to this and a punctual return to work can be problematic.

This is why my mum may not have been popular with the neighbours at Christmas. At one point there when all the family were there at once, there was a minimum of 6 cars parked on the street outside her house!