Official new figures show how passenger numbers at Highbridge railway station have dramatically fallen over the past year due to the pandemic and a rise in home working.
Statistics from the Office of Rail and Road for 2020-21 show Highbridge and Burnham railway station has seen 80,236 passenger entries and exits, down from 212,650 in 2019-20, a drop of 62%.
This is the lowest passenger traffic at the station since 2000-01 and Highbridge has become the 1,059th busiest station in the UK.
There have been similiar reductions in train usage across the country. Bridgwater saw 133,410 passenger entries and exits, down from 363,828 in 2019-20, a drop of 63%. Bridgwater is now the UK’s 804th busiest station.
And Weston saw 306,684 passenger entries and exits, down from 1,159,564, a drop of 73%. Weston is now the UK’s 489th busiest station.
Andy Bagnall, director-general at industry body the Rail Delivery Group, says: “The station usage figures show how the rail industry kept people moving for the first year of the pandemic.”
“Some of the entries on the list reflect where people like key workers were travelling from and also the acceleration of changes to how people are travelling after the pandemic.”
“Rail companies are working together to welcome people back and the recent increase in passengers continues to both reflect and support the nation’s recovery.”
Across Great Britain, usage of railway stations has falkeb from 3 billion in 2019-20 to 687 million – a fall of 77 per cent. The data is published on the ORR website.
