With many Covid restrictions still in place, there are encouraging signs of bus and rail patronage recovering – especially among leisure travellers

 
Scarborough’s Beachcomber buses

 
Recent statistics confirm that leisure travel is driving a post-pandemic resurgence on public transport, with the last Sunday in May seeing buses outside London carry 80% of the passengers on the equivalent Sunday in 2019. This was their highest ridership relative to pre-Covid-19 norms since mid-March 2020.

London buses carried 69% to 74% of the pre-pandemic averages over the three days of the bank holiday weekend, with Underground trains ranging between 56% and 58%.

Overall figures for National Rail services were lower, at 51% to 53% of pre-pandemic averages, but operators serving leisure areas reported significantly higher passenger numbers.

On Sunday May 30, Transport for Wales Rail gatelines were passed by 108.6% of the average passenger numbers for Sundays before the pandemic, with footfall of at least 100% at each gateline. The overall figure almost equals the private car’s 109%, recorded by the Department for Transport on the same day.

On Friday May 29, TfW’s gateline footfall was 49.5% of that on Fridays before Covid-19. Tuesday June 1’s relative footfall was 56.9%. The figures under-count, because some journeys do not involve gatelines and TfW conductors no longer sell tickets on trains.

Anecdotally, the leisure market appears to be much busier than the commuter market at the moment. We’re seeing more of our leisure customers coming back at a faster rate

Northern Railway spokesman Glyn Hellam said: “Anecdotally, the leisure market appears to be much busier than the commuter market at the moment. We’re seeing more of our leisure customers coming back at a faster rate.”

The 80% figure for buses outside London will have been helped by fine weather coinciding with the bank holiday weekend. The figures for the preceding days were 65% on Thursday, 64% on Friday and 66% on Saturday. Last weekend’s figures were 65% on Saturday and 70% on Sunday, followed by 63% on Monday June 7.

We’re pushing 70% now, which is good because last month we were around 60% … Hopefully the 21 June [further unlocking] will get us up to the 80% which people are saying could be the new norm

Bus industry commentator Roger French said: “We’re pushing 70% now, which is good because last month we were around 60%. The 17 May unlocking has given us an uplift to about 70%. Hopefully the 21 June [further unlocking] will get us up to the 80% which people are saying could be the new norm.”

Reduced travel by students was affecting some urban operators, he cautioned.

Some bus operators have innovated with new or enhanced services aimed at leisure travellers. Cardiff Bus has introduced open-top buses between Cardiff and Penarth Esplanade, and will launch a daily direct service from eastern suburbs to the beach at Barry Island on July 26. It has also produced a leaflet with ideas for days out using its own buses and those of other local operators. Many other operators are utilising open-toppers to tempt passengers back on board, with Yellow Buses running new open-top routes in Bournemouth.

French said there should be sufficient capacity on buses as demand continued to increase.

However, some train operators were under strain last week. Queues of over two hours were reported at Newport station, South Wales, on June 1. Northern came under attack from the Daily Mail for “major overcrowding” in an article which included photographs of passengers – many not wearing masks – standing and sitting close together in trains.

Hellam said Northern was doing what it could to lengthen trains where high demand was expected. “It’s difficult, because we’re still running a reduced timetable because of Covid and will continue to do that for some months yet,” he said.

The situation was compounded by a backlog of staff training and 24 of Northern’s new trains remaining out of use, after a yaw damper bracket on one of the units broke in April. Hellam said Northern had strengthened trains on routes in east Yorkshire and Cumbria and was keeping an eye on other popular routes.

 
This article appears alongside further coverage in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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