please empty your brain below
Brilliant work breaking down all this data and making it all so interesting. I LOVE Anorak Corner!

One tiny typo - it was Blackhorse Road and not Blackhorse Lane that just misses out in 11th place.

dg writes: fixed thanks

JP | 13.09.24 - 7:28 a.m. | #

If they only survey one week’s data then Wembley Park’s figures could be massively distorted by whether there is a series of concerts going on that week not typical of the rest of the year.

Brian | 13.09.24 - 7:38 a.m. | #

What multiplier do they use? Do they count a “typical week in autumn” and multiply by 52? So Roding Valley’s 258000 is actually something like 5153 in seven days, with some rounding?

Or have they done some statistical work for each station to work out how to scale up that “typical week” to a year under local circumstances?

dg writes: download the spreadsheet and you can investigate further.

Andrew | 13.09.24 - 7:50 a.m. | #

Ah, Lancaster Gate. I'll be one of the 10% then. No longer do I traipse there from Paddington to get to St Pauls for Aldersgate St, its now Lizzy to Farringdon (east exit), under the Old Red Cow's first floor and Bartholomew Close for me.

Colly | 13.09.24 - 8:30 a.m. | #

Any idea what is driving the reduction at Seven Sisters and to a lesser extent Finsbury Park?

David | 13.09.24 - 8:44 a.m. | #

Something fishy about the movements in those rankings - according to that, Tottengham Court road and Oxford Circius were both in 7th place last year.
The rankings also don't agree with what you posted last year (28/6/23, which had Waterloo first). Did TfL revise last year's figures at some time?

dg writes: fixed thanks

timbo | 13.09.24 - 8:51 a.m. | #

Reading your list of least used Overground stations I realised I hadn't any idea from the station names alone where the lines run to and from.

mikeH | 13.09.24 - 9:00 a.m. | #

I was suprised to see North Greenwich ranking so high. I can only conclude this is down to the huge popularity of the Dangleway which it was built to serve. (I know the Millennium Tent is still there but thats not in the same league)

Keith the Kraut | 13.09.24 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Kings Cross/St Pancras - when you think that the suburban trains don't terminate here, compared with Victoria and Waterloo, then the top place is even more impressive.

Finsbury Park/Seven Sisters - decline might be due to passengers staying on the train and changing at Farringdon, Liverpool Street or Moorgate for the Elizabeth Line rather than cramped together on the Victoria Line?

Acton Main Line - once it gets a useful train service it gets 'discovered'.

Still Anon | 13.09.24 - 9:50 a.m. | #

For the tube station figures, I am wondering just what "interchanges are not counted" means. Clearly interchanging without going through a gate will not be counted. But what about arriving at Victoria on a mainline train on a paper ticket which includes use of the tube?

dg quotes: “this is gateline data”

Malcolm of Kent | 13.09.24 - 10:08 a.m. | #

Curious that Seven Sisters has lost so many passengers, dropping it below Tottenham Hale and Walthamstow Central. I wonder if there had been any disruption to the Overground service there, meaning that connecting passengers chose Tottenham Hale instead.

Mikey C | 13.09.24 - 10:22 a.m. | #

Keith: North Greenwich is served by ten buses, the terminus of nine of them, and the railhead for a good chunk of south-east London. For many journeys the bus + Jubilee line is quicker and cheaper than rail with a change at London Bridge.

HTFB | 13.09.24 - 11:19 a.m. | #

If you add both D&P and H&C stations of Hammersmith the result puts it at 15th busiest between Euston and Green Park. Higher up the list than I expected.

Luke H | 13.09.24 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Abbey Wood at 14m is very impressive - before Crossrail this was much lower and lower still before being properly gated/staffed.

Nathan | 13.09.24 - 11:25 a.m. | #

Tufnell Park is busier owing to the lengthy, and on-going closure of Kentish Town. Mickey, Still Anon's analysis seems right to me. Why change on to the hot and crowded Vic when the you can switch to the cooler EL.

Peter T | 13.09.24 - 11:50 a.m. | #

Lancaster Gate being closed frequently last year can't have helped and must have started putting passengers off.

Same with your NB about Kensington (Olympia), that too was closed for many weekends last year so would definitely help it beat Roding Valley due to a points failure on the District Line (which wasn't deemed fixing that urgently).

matthieu1221 | 13.09.24 - 12:37 p.m. | #

Lancaster Gate gatelines no longer accept paper travelcards, requiring manual staff override (which isn’t counted). This will also have affected numbers to some extent or other. I have no idea why these particular gates have been reprogrammed, but they have.

Nick | 13.09.24 - 1:01 p.m. | #

HTFB, thanks for the feedback. That will upset the people planning the new cable car for Bonn linking thw Rhines east and west banks based on the success of the Dangleway.(sadly not a joke) Who says germans have no sense of humour.

Keith the Kraut | 13.09.24 - 1:02 p.m. | #

I wondered how they dealt with places like Wimbledon and Clapham Jn which have shared NR/TfL gatelines, but I see they use manual counts, 'Scaled' and 'Loadweigh' for certain stations. I'm guessing that weighing the load is done by the trains' suspension systems.

Peter | 13.09.24 - 2:24 p.m. | #

Dangleways are fine, as a tourist attraction, and one at Bonn might thrive on that basis. The big objection to the London one was that it was built with public money which should have gone to a proper piece of transport infrastructure.

Malcolm of Kent | 13.09.24 - 3:37 p.m. | #

Seven Sisters.There has been a lot of closures on what we must soon call the Weaver Line over the last two years, including this year's long shutdown to replace the bridge in Hackney. This means no TfL trains at Seven Sisters, so this year's figures may show continuing lower use.

Wylde Green | 13.09.24 - 4:55 p.m. | #

Does Emerson Park have 0.3 mil or 247000 - to 1 significant figure that would round to 0.2 mil.

dg writes: fixed thanks

Felix | 13.09.24 - 4:55 p.m. | #

Some of the reduction in numbers at Seven Sisters may be due to losing its rush hour Greater Anglia services in May '23 which now go via Tottenham Hale.

HW | 13.09.24 - 5:18 p.m. | #

Keith: having spent a very pleasant ten days in Bonn last month, can I'd suggest the important thing is to site your cable car for access by buses, which may turn up, rather than by trains, which don't.

HTFB | 13.09.24 - 6:04 p.m. | #

Passengers interchanging from the Overground (Weaver) at Seven Sisters do not go through a gate line, though those on paper rail tickets might touch in, so perhaps there’s something in HW’s suggestion about GA services.

Nick: lack of acceptance of paper tickets is most likely due to the difficulty / expense of keeping readers in working order.

Graham | 13.09.24 - 6:41 p.m. | #

Seven Sisters used to be the starting point for many Victoria line trains pretty much guaranteeing a seat for commuters heading into town. That's no longer the case. I wonder if that's put some people off using the station.

JP | 14.09.24 - 7:35 a.m. | #

Didn'r Lancester Gate have a serioes of closures for staff shortages, amoungst other things?

Finsbury Park - wondering if National Rail industrial action has played a part here with fewer passengers using the station.

Also, at Finsbury Park during covid and for a long time after passengers changing from National Rail to the Underground could not use the spiral staircase, they were forced to exit and re-enter after a route march round the locality. This would've inflated the numbers during covid as passengers with paper tickets would exit and re-enter. Now they just nip down the stairs again.

Hadders | 14.09.24 - 8:20 a.m. | #

I take some satisfaction in being a fairly regular user of the 12th and 16th least busy tube stations.

Alan S | 14.09.24 - 10:38 a.m. | #











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