Passenger Surveys June 1st to June 7th 2009

 

FoDS executed a survey on the above dates.  The 18 surveyors collected the data-set for each of the 235 services as follows:

 

Date, Time, Punctuality, Total Boarding (and destinations), Total Alighting, Public Address Announcements (or lack of) and Any Other Comments. Ticket purchase options were recorded where possible

 

The full data will be available at www.dronfieldstation.org.uk/June09SurveyDataFULL.htm. Below is given a quick precise of that data.

 

Train Punctuality

Of the 235 trains, 1 left a minute early (13:15 6th June – passenger missed train), 180 were on-time, 36 where less than 10 minutes late,18 were over 10 minutes late and 2 were cancelled (12:15 & 13:59 6th June - no reason given).  Problems in the Chapeltown area on the 2nd caused delays of 20 to 50 minutes.  PA announcements were, on the whole, good – though on one or two occasions they were spectacularly useless. E.g. telling waiting passengers their train was 20 minutes late just as it was arriving – 20 minutes late!

 

Boarding and Alighting

D

E

S

T

I

N

A

T

I

O

N

S

Alfreton

1

East Kilbride

1

London

13

Scunthorpe

4

Barnsley

1

Edinburgh

1

Long Eaton

3

Sheffield,

397

Bath

1

Exeter

1

Manchester

27

Sowerby Bridge

2

Beeston

5

Frodsham

1

Manchester Airport

5

Stockport

1

Beverley

1

Greenbank

1

Meadowhall

129

Stoke-on-Trent

1

Birmingham

11

Harrogate

1

Middlesborough

1

Syston

1

Bradford

2

Horwich

1

Newcastle

3

Uttoxeter

1

Cambridge

2

Huddersfield

3

Normanton

5

Wainfleet

2

Chapeltown

1

Lancaster

1

Northampton

1

Wakefield

3

Chesterfield

74

Langley Mill

2

Norwich

2

Widnes

2

Cleethorpes

5

Leeds,

87

Nottingham

71

York

12

Derby

15

Leicester

3

Ormskirk

1

Unstated

78

Doncaster

2

Liverpool

4

Rotherham

9

 

 

Total Boarding:         1002         Total Alighting: 925         Total patronage     1,927

 

Ticket Purchase options

These were not recorded in detail but figures suggest a greater proportion intended to buy tickets on the train.  It was not recorded how many succeeded in so doing.  Quite a few were travelling on passes of some sort or another (?2-3%) and also on pre-purchased tickets (mostly on-line)

 

Extrapolated patronage.

The total numbers on and off trains for the period was 1,927 which on a simple extrapolation (x52) equates to a patronage of over 100,000 service users per year using Dronfield Station.  Weakening factors during the survey period included: Severe weather Friday-Sunday, local college exams – less students, beginning of the holiday season, severe delays and two cancellations.

 

Comparison to last Survey January 25th-31st 2009

The previous survey was just 7 weeks after the service started and recorded a total patronage of is an increase of nearly 13%.  The majority of this increase appears to be on journeys to Sheffield, Chesterfield and Nottingham. Further analysis will be made.

 

Comments received

There were many comments made about the service and the station – the vast majority were positive – alluding to the greatly improved frequencies.  However, ticket purchase arrangements and car parking problems featured largely in the brick-bats category and these two together with the request for more outdoor seating seemed to be the biggest issues.

 

 

Below are shown some graphical analysis

 

 

 

 

 

Tidal Flows North