The passenger transport watchdog, Transport Focus, has continued surveying 2,000 people over the past year, to gauge attitudes on public transport use. The latest results, the final figures of 2021, are available here. We have been regularly summarising the figures for Community Rail News over the past year.

• One in nine people (11%) had used rail in the past seven days, a similar figure to previous weeks. The highest percentage of passengers (40%) were aged between 18 and 34;
• More than two-fifths of people (44%) had other options to make their journeys, but chose to take the train;
• The proportion of journeys made for commuting dropped (29% down from 33%) while the proportion of journeys made for leisure increased (59% up from 50% the previous week). This reflects people’s changing travel patterns in the run-up to the Christmas period;
• Overall satisfaction with rail journeys remained high and relatively stable at 85%, down only slightly from 88% the previous week;
• Satisfaction with the number of people wearing face coverings rose to 64%, up from 63%. Overall satisfaction with COVID-19 measures at stations and on trains remained stable at 65%.