Heavy Rail Census 2022

Poxyshamrock

Not sure this has been mentioned on here but I see that the Heavy Rail Census for 2022 was (quietly?) published in May.

This is the first Census since lockdown restrictions were lifted in early 2022 so numbers are up from 2021 but despite the introduction of the 90-minute Leap Card fare of €2.50 and the 20% cost of living fares reduction, numbers still appear to be down compared with 2019 figures, particularly in the Great Dublin Area.

Numbers along the Western Rail Corridor and Cork Commuter Rail appear to be up on 2019 figures.

NTA National Rail Census Report 2022 (nationaltransport.ie)

TravelCounty

Interesting for sure. Any thoughts on why the numbers for stations after Hazelhatch & Celbridge (or even Sallins & Naas) are fairly low? I know there's more frequent busses in these areas though I would've thought the train would've been a quick way to get into the city centre easily? Especially because stations from Hazelhatch & Celbridge are served by a very regular PPT service straight to Grand Canal Dock (whereas Newbridge and Sallins & Naas have a bit spottier PPT service - though understandable).

My guess is it's the bus services but even still - with the density of some of these areas compared to Newbridge and Sallins & Naas I expected a bit more.

DUBLINBUSGUY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304786/heavy-rail-census-2022

Figure 2 Dublin Commuter Network is quite an old map that they're still using. Has the 111, 114 and 102 buses on it which are still correct but also the 90 which is long gone.

namloc1980

There's a line in the report that says the numbers on the Cork commuter line were considerably higher on census day than a normal day as there was the Munster and South Africa rugby match on in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Counting on the day of an exceptional event like that feels pointless.

A major sporting event took place in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork City on the evening of the census day, 10th November. This also would have contributed to a considerable increase in passenger numbers in the late afternoon / evening.

lordleitrim

Remember as well that essentially all of January 2022 was under the Omicron lockdown restrictions and were only lifted late in that month so that skews the figures.

Also, WFH was still fully embraced by the majority of white collar workers throughout 2022 and even this year. It would still only be used by a minority of such workers in 2019 so I'm not surprised to see 2019 figures (at least for commuting) not being exceeded. My personal anecdotal observation is my local train station carparks in Dunboyne and M3 Parkway are still largely empty as most catchment area commuters still WFH for much of the week. They'd have been quite busy back in 2019 pre Covid.