Railway passenger numbers fall to lowest levels since mid-1800s
The number of people using the UK’s railways fell to the lowest levels in almost 200 years between April and June as the coronavirus lockdown decimated passenger demand.
Just 35m journeys were made in the three month period, down more than 400m on the same quarter in 2019.
According to the Office of Road and Rail (ORR), the number of passengers was the lowest since the middle of the 19th century.
As a result, passenger revenue fell to £184m over the period, just 6.9 per cent of the £2.7bn taken the year before.
The three month period coincided almost exactly with the UK’s lockdown period, with restrictions on general use of public transport only lifted in mid July.
Separately, a survey on public attitudes to travel conducted by the Department of Transport showed that 86 per cent of respondents were concerned about their health when using public transport.
The National Travel Attitude survey suggests that even when restrictions are lifted, almost two-thirds of respondents would avoid using such means of travel if they were crowded.
Over the quarter, the most journeys were recorded in London and the south-east. Commuter rail group Govia Thameslink recorded 7.5m passengers in total, the most of any operator.
The fewest journeys were recorded by Transport for Wales, which said there were a mere 369,000 trips during the lockdown period.
Graham Richards, director of railway planning and performance at the ORR, said: “These figures include the period of lockdown and reassuringly we’re now seeing passenger numbers slowly increase.
“ORR has worked closely with the industry, and continues to do so, to ensure the necessary health and safety advice and guidance is in place.”
Katy Taylor, franchise operator Go-Ahead Group’s chief strategy and customer officer, said:
“There is a large body of evidence indicating that the infection risks on public transport are very low compared with other activities.
“People who have gone back on one journey since the lockdown have enjoyed the experience and found services to be clean and reliable with plenty of space.
“This reflects the additional cleaning, hand sanitiser at stations and information about seat availability that customers can use to travel with confidence.”
As of yesterday, DfT figures showed that the number of rail passengers stood at 32 per cent of pre-pandemio levels.
He went on to say that rail was one of the safest ways to travel.
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said that it was looking to introduce flexible season tickets to get more people back on the railways after the switch to home working.
Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions at the RDG, said: “Fares reform is a crucial component of wider industry proposals to enable train operators to better respond to the rapidly evolving needs of their local customers.”