NEW figures have revealed the sheer impact the pandemic has had on rail travel in Bradford with those entering and exiting the district’s stations down by almost 75 per cent.

The data from the Office of Rail and Road shows that nearly 15 million fewer people travelled to and from stations in Bradford between 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Estimates derived from LENNON, the rail industry’s ticketing and revenue system, together with some local ticketing data, give an idea of how many people are using specific stations across the country.

Overall, there were 20,414,166 entries and exits at stations in the Bradford district in 2019/20, compared to 5,540,388 in the following year - a drop of 73 per cent.

The T&A analysed the national dataset and focused on figures for 23 stations across the city and suburbs.

This included some stations considered to be in different local authority areas, but might be frequented by Bradford rail users.

These were: Batley, Bramley, Brighouse, Guiseley, Horsforth, Kirkstall Forge, New Pudsey and Skipton.

All 23 stations experienced significant decreases across those time periods, with none going below a 50 per cent drop.

New Pudsey had the biggest percentage decrease (86 per cent), while Frizinghall experienced the lowest percentage drop (54 per cent).

The two main stations in Bradford city centre - Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square - lost 3,344,910 visitors combined together - a drop of 72 per cent.

It is a similar picture right across the region and country.

Leeds Railway Station dropped by a huge 81 per cent from 31,020,744 entries and exits in 2019/20 to 5,853,754 in the following year, while London Kings Cross lost 86 per cent of its visitors between the years, dropping from 32,532,404 to 4,667,820.

James Vasey, Chairman of the Bradford Rail Users Group, said he understands the decline, but reminded people that the figures don’t necessarily show the whole picture and remains optimistic moving forward.

He said: “Any season ticket bought through National Railway doesn’t count and doesn’t show regional travel in the area.

“Hopefully we’re turning a corner now.

“I’m looking out over Crossflatts now and it’s busier than it used to be.

“Not as busy as 2019, but it’s slowly getting back to normal.”

Mr Vasey hopes for a return to similar levels from before the pandemic but said it has caused a “technological shock” to us all, that may have changed our habits for good.

He added: “I think a technological shock occurred through the pandemic and will have an impact.

“Skype has existed since the mid 90s and all of a sudden people have gone ‘oh’.

“You might make two calls a week, but we’ve thought actually we will open Microsoft Teams and Google Meets more happily and it’s convenient.

“There will be a shock impact for quite a while to come.”

A Northern Rail spokesperson said: “Station usage is down year on year because of the impact of the pandemic on numbers travelling.

“Numbers are however increasing, especially at leisure locations and we are working hard to make sure customers who travel with us can do so with the confidence.”