Use of the five Hope Valley stations increased by 14% last year, according to official statistics released recently by the Office of Road and Rail. Total entries/exits from Hope Valley stations was just over 581,000 people. All stations experienced strong growth, ranging from Edale and Hathersage at 18%, Grindleford 15%, Hope 8% and Bamford at 5%.
Edale is the busiest station in the Valley with nearly 172k customers, followed by Grindleford (126k), Hathersage (112k), Hope (98k) and Bamford (73k).
Overall usage has more than doubled over the last ten years (increase of 105%), with largest overall growth at Bamford (154%), followed by Edale (125%) and Grindleford (118%). 10-year growth was lower at Hathersage (83%) and Hope (67%). Usage at Grindleford and Bamford has quadrupled over the last 20 years.
Overall usage has more than doubled over the last ten years (increase of 105%), with largest overall growth at Bamford (154%), followed by Edale (125%) and Grindleford (118%). 10-year growth was lower at Hathersage (83%) and Hope (67%). Usage at Grindleford and Bamford has quadrupled over the last 20 years.
What’s driving the change, and what can we learn? Perhaps it’s all to do with HVCA: train travel has really taken off since we started campaigning for sustainable travel in 2018. But there might be other factors:
- Much better trains [remember the draughty old Pacers?]
- A regular hourly service stopping at the same time every hour, and calling at all stations
- Cheap advance purchase fares to and from Manchester and Sheffield
- Big demand for leisure travel, particularly post-COVID.
What next? HVCA wants more people to travel by train, reducing the need for private car use with the resulting congestion and climate impact. There’s still scope for rail improvement: better reliability, no gaps in services on Sunday. Some trains are now full to capacity. We need more trains, ideally every half hour, and with more carriages.
Bus services remain the Cinderella of public transport. We need buses that are frequent, reliable, high-quality quality and linked up with the trains. That’s what HVCA’s ‘Switzerland in the Peak District’ project aims to achieve. More of that in the New Year.
