Patterns of returning passengers?

[whole diary]

[CyclingSid]

Transport use up to the 4th April
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/976208/COVID-19-transport-use-statistics.ods

[IndustryInsider]

Do the cycling figures vary so wildly from day to day because they aren't very accurate figures, or do they correlate to good and bad weather days?

[Bmblbzzz]

I think – definitely open to correction – that whereas there is at least a degree of automation in counting motor vehicles, cycle traffic is counted by people with clipboards at the side of the road, so liable to distraction, boredom, bad weather, vagaries of siting, in addition to the actual numbers fluctuating. And of course the numbers are smaller (in most places) so more liable to variations.

[CyclingSid]

In places like London and Manchester with separate cycling infrastructure there are separate automatic cycle counters.
From the methodology document

sources of cycling use data including automatic cycling counters and camera-based estimates

Clip boards are probably too expensive nowadays.

[stuving]

Number of cars in the Wokingham Station car parks (capacity 531), seen at some time during 10-4.

W/S	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Notes
21/9	29	42~	42~	40	35	"stay at home" advice from Thursday
28/9	23	40	40	53~	-
5/10	23	-	43	45	37
12/10	31	29	39	46	41
19/10	37	29	-	36	26
26/10	17	22	30	37	45	Half term
2/11	23	39	27	19	18	"Lockdown 2" from Thursday
9/11	17	18	19	27	15
16/11	27	26	28	27	21
23/11	15	16	15	17	19
30/11	19	19	18	-	23
7/12	19	29	41	43	21
14/12	26	24	25	-	27
21/12	17	-	7	3	-	didn't look Xmas week
4/1/21	14	8	7	-	-	"Lockdown 3" from Tuesday
11/1	7	8	8	-	-
18/1	11	11	-	10	15
25/1	12	14	16	12	12
1/2	13	14	14	19	12
8/2	-	-	-	-	-	too cold all week!
15/2	10	16	-	16	12
22/2	15	11	12	16	9
1/3	14	13*	9*	14*	9*	*not counting Tighe's vans, but maybe a few workers' cars
8/3	17*	21*	21*	17*	19*	back-to-school week
15/3	15*	12*	9*	11*	18
22/3	15~	15	15	15	13	not counting "waiters" for schoolkids
29/3	16	16	16	12	6*	first notch of relaxation
5/4	*	12	-	15	20	* Easter
12/4	18	32	32	30	21
19/4	21	28	31	32	25	schools back

Still no great rush - or even a little one - back to the daily commute.
~ approx.
updated 25/4

[grahame]

Still no great rush - or even a little one - back to the daily commute.

Indeed ... will it ever come?

[didcotdean]

The relatively new 'cycle hub' at Didcot Parkway which has space for 600 bikes was 99% empty when I looked in it mid-morning. There were some more in the older stands closer to the station: I didn't count those but they were far from full as well.

[stuving]

Another update, following a few weeks with less complete data.

Number of cars in the Wokingham Station car parks, capacity 531 (SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)) or 424 (Ringo), seen at some time during 10 am-4 pm.

W/S	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Notes
21/9	29	42~	42~	40	35	"stay at home" advice from Thursday
28/9	23	40	40	53~	-
5/10	23	-	43	45	37
12/10	31	29	39	46	41
19/10	37	29	-	36	26
26/10	17	22	30	37	45	Half term
2/11	23	39	27	19	18	"Lockdown 2" from Thursday
9/11	17	18	19	27	15
16/11	27	26	28	27	21
23/11	15	16	15	17	19
30/11	19	19	18	-	23
7/12	19	29	41	43	21
14/12	26	24	25	-	27
21/12	17	-	7	3	-	didn't look Xmas week
4/1/21	14	8	7	-	-	"Lockdown 3" from Tuesday
11/1	7	8	8	-	-
18/1	11	11	-	10	15
25/1	12	14	16	12	12
1/2	13	14	14	19	12
8/2	-	-	-	-	-	too cold all week!
15/2	10	16	-	16	12
22/2	15	11	12	16	9
1/3	14	13*	9*	14*	9*	*not counting Tighe's vans, but maybe a few workers' cars
8/3	17*	21*	21*	17*	19*	back-to-school week
15/3	15*	12*	9*	11*	18
22/3	15~	15	15	15	13	not counting "waiters" for schoolkids
29/3	16	16	16	12	6*	first notch of relaxation
5/4	*	12	-	15	20	* Easter
12/4	18	32	32	30	21
19/4	21	28	31	32	25	schools back
26/4	31	42	50	29	27
3/5	-*	28	37	32	28	*Mayday BH; some use visibly for part days now
10/5	37	30	-	28	28	Sat 28
17/5	30	42	64	48	39	"step 3 easements" from Monday
24/5	39	38	41	-	49~	Sat 58, Sun 38
31/5	27*	37	42	49	37	* BH
7/6	-	-	-	-	-
14/6	42	56	62	57	-	Sat 40. Ascot week (test event)
21/6	-	-	62	61	46	Sat 74
28/6	-	47	64	69~	36	Sat 42
5/7	-	-	60	75	49	Sat 71

~ approx.
updated 12/7/21

There was just a little rush from the step 3 relaxation in May, but note that "work from home if possible" remains the official "rule" (in effect guidance). Part of the increased usage seems to be down to people realising that this car park is not expensive at weekends.

[Sixty3Closure]

My company has put the return to the office back to September. Couple of reasons for this including the need to return the building and facilities back to normal, still working on what hybrid/flexible working means for a lot of teams and also the general vagueness of the government advice. A lot of staff still don't feel comfortable on public transport.

[jamestheredengine]

My company has put the return to the office back to September. Couple of reasons for this including the need to return the building and facilities back to normal, still working on what hybrid/flexible working means for a lot of teams and also the general vagueness of the government advice. A lot of staff still don't feel comfortable on public transport.

Yours seems to be moving at lightning speed. Mine has been trying to do a phased return from September, but basically working on the assumption that 50% of work will continue to be done from home. The scale of the task in this size of organisation means that it's been made pretty clear that the September phase doesn't mean us, and January 2022 might be a more realistic time to be thinking about the odd day in the office.

[TaplowGreen]

Just been put back to October in my case, however with an expectation that those who previously did a 5 day week in the office will do no more than 2 going forward.

[stuving]

The rail minister, Chris Heaton-Harris, has been talking to PA^▸ (Public Address (broadcast loudspeaker announcements) or Passenger Assist (railway staff providing physical assistance to passengers with mobility issues), depending on context) news, reported in The Times this morning. This is a slightly longer version, from without walls, in the Express & Star:

Demand for train travel will return to pre-pandemic levels despite currently lagging behind car use, a minister has insisted.

Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) figures show the number of journeys being made by train in Britain is approximately 57% of what it was before the coronavirus crisis, while car use has fully recovered.

Asked if train passenger numbers will return to normal, rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris replied: “I think we will but I don’t think there’ll be the numbers at the same times of day that there used to be.”
...
Mr Heaton-Harris added that demonstrating the attractiveness of train travel is an important factor in encouraging people who have switched to home working to return to offices.

“Rail needs to do what people expect it to do,” he said...

[eightonedee]

I am surprised it is that high.

On Friday last week I had my first peak morning rail journey since March 2020, a trip from Goring to Reading at 08-06 for a hospital appointment. There were only 11 cars in each of Goring, Pangbourne and Tilehurst station car parks, and about that number of passengers joined the train at each station, with just 7 in my coach by the time it arrived in Reading. All this in a 12 car train.

There were more on the return journey - at least by the time I got back to Goring at 11-30, as the first train only got as far as  Tilehurst before it failed, meaning a wit for the next (now one hour later) train there     

[TaplowGreen]

Car use back to pre lockdown levels.

Rail/Bus use at around 60%

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58274806.amp

[IndustryInsider]

Not a bad effort from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)…only 3 days behind Stuving!