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Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 15 Jan 2020, 15:25
by jamesthegill
michael_churchill wrote: 15 Jan 2020, 11:22 A transport question, inspired by yesterday's release of station usage data...
Among National Rail stations that had at least 100,000 entries/exits in 2018/19, what is superlative about Blackrod, near Bolton?
It's the only station that shares its name with a Parliamentary title?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 16 Jan 2020, 10:35
by michael_churchill
jamesthegill wrote: 15 Jan 2020, 15:25
michael_churchill wrote: 15 Jan 2020, 11:22 A transport question, inspired by yesterday's release of station usage data...
Among National Rail stations that had at least 100,000 entries/exits in 2018/19, what is superlative about Blackrod, near Bolton?
It's the only station that shares its name with a Parliamentary title?
No. Superlative meaning that it is the least / most / lowest / highest etc in some way. I've selected the minimum number of passengers so that the statistic is not skewed by little used stations.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 16 Jan 2020, 11:35
by GuyBarry
Busiest unstaffed station?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 09:03
by michael_churchill
GuyBarry wrote: 16 Jan 2020, 11:35 Busiest unstaffed station?
Whether the station is staffed or not is not listed in the usage data, so it's not that. If look at the data in the spreadsheet (don't tell me you haven't downloaded it) for Blackrod, you should notice one particular figure that stands out.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 10:51
by tubeguru
michael_churchill wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 09:03
GuyBarry wrote: 16 Jan 2020, 11:35 Busiest unstaffed station?
Whether the station is staffed or not is not listed in the usage data, so it's not that. If look at the data in the spreadsheet (don't tell me you haven't downloaded it) for Blackrod, you should notice one particular figure that stands out.
One thing I noticed is how it has a huge number of season ticket usages compared to other ticket types. A quick scan suggests to me that of all the stations in the NW region, it has a higher proportion of season ticket usages to the other two types. Bolton also has more seasons than the other two types, but by a smaller proportion.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 16:44
by michael_churchill
tubeguru wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 10:51
michael_churchill wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 09:03
GuyBarry wrote: 16 Jan 2020, 11:35 Busiest unstaffed station?
Whether the station is staffed or not is not listed in the usage data, so it's not that. If look at the data in the spreadsheet (don't tell me you haven't downloaded it) for Blackrod, you should notice one particular figure that stands out.
One thing I noticed is how it has a huge number of season ticket usages compared to other ticket types. A quick scan suggests to me that of all the stations in the NW region, it has a higher proportion of season ticket usages to the other two types. Bolton also has more seasons than the other two types, but by a smaller proportion.
You've got it! With 88.27%, Blackrod has the highest percentage of entries/exits made using season tickets in the entire country. Now I'm intrigued why - just lots of regular commuters, or perhaps a lot of school children as well?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 19:04
by GuyBarry
Busiest unstaffed station? :D

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 22:33
by tubeguru
michael_churchill wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 16:44
tubeguru wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 10:51
michael_churchill wrote: 17 Jan 2020, 09:03
GuyBarry wrote: 16 Jan 2020, 11:35 Busiest unstaffed station?
Whether the station is staffed or not is not listed in the usage data, so it's not that. If look at the data in the spreadsheet (don't tell me you haven't downloaded it) for Blackrod, you should notice one particular figure that stands out.
One thing I noticed is how it has a huge number of season ticket usages compared to other ticket types. A quick scan suggests to me that of all the stations in the NW region, it has a higher proportion of season ticket usages to the other two types. Bolton also has more seasons than the other two types, but by a smaller proportion.
You've got it! With 88.27%, Blackrod has the highest percentage of entries/exits made using season tickets in the entire country. Now I'm intrigued why - just lots of regular commuters, or perhaps a lot of school children as well?
My guess is that given its proximity to Bolton, it's a heavily-used commuter station. Maybe the relatively smaller number of ad-hoc fares are due to the station not being one which locals would travel to in order to make journeys, given its service pattern.

Also, a look at Google maps reveals that a huge distribution warehouse for Warren's bakery sits right next to the line. It could be that more people are actuually commuting TO Blackrod (and then home again) to go to work there, and in the other business scattered around. Don't forget that the site next to Blackrod station used to be the huge Horwich works, where many of the Class 08 shunters were built. As such, it has become a huge industrial estate.

That's my guess.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 19 Jan 2020, 21:53
by DavidC
Great suggestions from tubeguru. Also, a glance at the Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackrod_railway_station talks about the weekend bus replacement service between 2015 and 2018 which may hint at a methodology issue that would skew towards only weekday traffic being reported.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 02 Feb 2020, 10:12
by GuyBarry
An easy one: what happens again today after a gap of nearly eight years?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 02 Feb 2020, 11:57
by tubeguru
GuyBarry wrote: 02 Feb 2020, 10:12 An easy one: what happens again today after a gap of nearly eight years?
Palindrome date day?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 02 Feb 2020, 13:09
by GuyBarry
That's right (in DD/MM/YYYY format). 02/02/2020 is the first palindrome since 21/02/2012.

(No, it was nothing to do with Brexit :) )

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 02 Feb 2020, 15:59
by jamesthegill
What fun fact makes the following artists unique amongst UK singles chart toppers: Halsey, Michael Jackson, Prince, Liberty X, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson, and Jane Morgan?

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 19 Mar 2020, 21:16
by jamesthegill
jamesthegill wrote: 02 Feb 2020, 15:59 What fun fact makes the following artists unique amongst UK singles chart toppers: Halsey, Michael Jackson, Prince, Liberty X, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson, and Jane Morgan?
They all share part of a name with a stop on the New York subway system.

Re: Dastardly difficult trivia quiz

Posted: 19 Mar 2020, 23:18
by greatkingrat
Interesting idea for a question, although I think there must be quite a few others that meet that criterion as well.

David Essex
Tasmin Archer
Queen
Whitney Houston
Jay-Z

Depending on exactly how the question is phrased, you could add slightly more tenuous ones like Kanye West or the Manic Street Preachers as well.