Interesting statistics for last year - national but have some implications for our service, so I'm posting them here.

The time that people START their journeys



The middle of the morning peak is around 07:45 to 08:00; in the evening there's a very high peak at about half past five.

Conclusion: Our morning train is now much too early, and our evening train is much, much too late (nice to see the data confirms what we knew).

By origin and destination region



Note that the majority of journeys that start in the South West also end int he South West. Only 16 are to / from London so why are the South West to London services given such a priority (could it be because they're high pence-per-mile routes?)

Ticket Types used



Only Apex and some of (most of?) the other ticket types listed are advanced purchase.  The majority of customers / user cannot (or do not) buy ahead.   So a fares policy that hikes buy-on-the-day fares and reduces advanced purchase prices will look good in adverts,, but rake in the money.

Advanced purchase tickets are especially hard to use from stations like Melksham, where there is nowhere tickets can be bought ahead of time.   It seems a bit nonsensical to travel up to Chippenham, or to Bath, a few days ahead to buy tour tickets there, doesn't it?