Station Usage figures from the ORR

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Also the swap-over between Bicester North (huge drop) and Village (significant gain)

And when you add them up, there's an overall 22% gain

[grahame]

Interesting graphic of the numbers - on a map, size by value and colour by ticket type

http://oobrien.com/2018/01/railway-station-numbers/

[lympstone_commuter]

That's a very interesting graphic!

In a similar spirit - I've been trying to teach myself more about data visualisation, and thought I could usefully use the latest ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) data as a test case. I've put together this clickable map:

http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm

which aims to summarise annual percentage rates of growth at UK^▸ (United Kingdom) stations since 2005 (there's a break in the data in 2004, and it looks as if the data collection methodology changed then anyway - see KGX!).

Some interesting clusters of dark blue (strong growth) stand out.

I'd welcome suggestions for how to improve the visualisation.

[grahame]

That's a very interesting graphic!

In a similar spirit - I've been trying to teach myself more about data visualisation, and thought I could usefully use the latest ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) data as a test case. I've put together this clickable map:

http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm

which aims to summarise annual percentage rates of growth at UK^▸ (United Kingdom) stations since 2005 (there's a break in the data in 2004, and it looks as if the data collection methodology changed then anyway - see KGX!).

Some interesting clusters of dark blue (strong growth) stand out.

I'd welcome suggestions for how to improve the visualisation.

And that is a hugely interesting graphic too!!

There is indeed a missing year of data

I would love (additionally) to see the same graphic for the last six years or so - giving more current trends.  Just a year or two's data would be subject to the vagaries of individual years which to some extent is evened out by a longer period.

It's very noticeable that a handful of services have really struggled, and that many more have grown wonderfully!

[lympstone_commuter]

That's a very good point, grahame - many thanks for the suggestion.

I have split the data to give two maps, a 'long term' one for the period 2005 - 2017 (as before) and a 'recent trend' one for the shorter period 2012 - 2017:

http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/tej202/stations.htm

It is striking how much more orange and red there is on the 'recent' map as growth rates have (generally) slowed across the country. Melksham's stunning recent growth is an honourable exception to this pattern, of course!

[grahame]

http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/publication-dates

Estimates of Station Usage - Official Statistics ...  Annual (2017-18) ... to be published on 11th December 2018.

What odds are your local bookmaker offering?  Which are going to be the big winners and losers?   Personal diary note to be around to update our station comparator and graphics

[IndustryInsider]

What's your guess/hope for Melksham this time then, Graham?

[grahame]

What's your guess/hope for Melksham this time then, Graham?

Fools rush in ....

The figure to March 2017 was 74,666 - up from 60,676 the year before and 51,858 they year before that.

I think we would be lucky to maintain the figure of 75,000 in the year April 2017 to March 2018.    

By April 2017, the peak train was full and standing to the extent that people were no longer being added to the train - there simply wasn't the capacity. The promised increase to 2 cars in May 2017 didn't happen until the New Year, still with occasional uses of a single carriage train. The last one car (153) I had the pleasure of using was on 15th June - with the train manager walking along the outside at Swindon, banging on the windows and asking people to move up.

Come summer 2017, reliability went down the tubes ... and TransWilts is such an easy service to cancel, never mind that it's a real hardship to customers as there isn't going to be another one along in 30 minutes ... and puts them off for a long time to come.

Early 2018 brought a loss of daytime services because of engineering works at Newbury and rail replacement buses that don't even connect properly at both ends are not popular.  And it brought storms that shut the TransWilts long after everything else was open.



Looking forward at the current year - results in December 2019 - we still have most of the effect of the Newbury engineering to factor in, but I'm seeing signs that thing are once again on the up.  And of course we still have a completely false sign at Melksham Station telling people of engineering from 19th to 22nd of this month (yes, I have reported it several times!) and those who read it are making other plans, and we have the 12 days of Christmas coming where Westury means that ... whatever gifts the twelve days of Christmas might bring ... none of those gifts will arrive by train!

[Western Pathfinder]

I can hardly wait to see how The Pilning stats are looking,after all the messing about that we have had to put up with this last year ?.

[0lg4]

I can hardly wait to see how The Pilning stats are looking,after all the messing about that we have had to put up with this last year ?.

The Pilning stats will look glamorous. Thank you for your concerns.

[Western Pathfinder]

A very Warm Welcome to you Olg4 it's good to see you hear at last 😉

[grahame]

I can hardly wait to see how The Pilning stats are looking,after all the messing about that we have had to put up with this last year ?.

The Pilning stats will look glamorous. Thank you for your concerns.

From http://www.wellho.net/demo/railuse.php?place=BS&baseyear=default

Pilning   245   117   159   125   130   166   178   146   130   88   68   46   230

We're wondering if it will be the best year on record?   

[grahame]

Possible figure for 2023/4, once tolls on the Severn Bridge have been removed and there are platforms available off the B road or A road, both of which will be easily reached from the bridge once the new motorway junction has gone in. Cardiff to Taunton and Taunton to Cardiff trains stopping daily, hourly.

300 parking spaces occupied on an average day, 5 days per week, 48 weeks per year. Average car occupancy 1.2 people - 173,000 journeys per annum.  72,000 days of parking at £5 = £360,000

Would it be attractive?  Come over the bridge, park up near the motorway and be in Bristol Temple Meads 20 minutes later. No congestion ...

PLUS local passengers from Pilning - what a wonderful place to live if you work in Bristol. Up go house values.   Plus - oh I won't repeat all the SEWWEB stuff ...

 

[Red Squirrel]

I always bristle slightly when I see Clifton Down showing a rise of over 200% whilst Montpelier and Redland languish at 116% and 109%... a lot of those Clifton Down tickets were actually for Redland or Montpelier, but because of the zonal fares busy guards just dial in CFN^▸ (Clifton Down station) and have done. And then there is the still significant number of journeys for which no fare is collected.

 I know FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) do occasional surveys that count real journeys, but presumably these (distorted) DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) figures are the ones that count?

[grahame]

I know FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) do occasional surveys that count real journeys, but presumably these (distorted) DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) figures are the ones that count?

The DfT are not as daft as we sometimes make out.   Their man on the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise knows pretty well where the distortions are.    But a distortion leaves the problem "so what figure do we use in any predictions / calculations" and there is no good answer; just makes for even more uncertain discussions.    Been there with Melksham discussions; I would much rather we didn't have these oddities, even if they make "our" station look better than in should be.