Good day my good friend.
As I shared last week, in a change to the usual programming, this week’s newsletter is a bit of fun. Its a short quiz, transport-focussed of course, and mainly confined to things that happened in the last year, just to test your knowledge and maybe give you some random facts to drop over Christmas lunch. I did enjoy researching them, so I hope that you enjoy answering them!
Note that the answers can be found at the end of the newsletter.
London Liverpool Street was the busiest railway station in the UK in 2023/24, with 93,499,824 passengers passing through the station. But where did most of its passengers travel from or to?
Stratford
Shenfield
Tottenham Hale
Tottenham Court Road
Look at the below pause screen for a video game, which uses British Road Signs as an influence to its art style. What is the game?
From what game is this pause screen?
City Skylines
Euro Truck Simulator
Untitled Goose Game
Stardew Valley
What is quirky about Borders Bus Route 477?
Its timetable depends on the times of high tide.
Its the only bus service from Berwick-upon-Tweed that runs into Scotland.
It regularly has a cat on board that has been given the job of conductor.
Its the only local bus route in England that travels on a ferry.
According to the Department for Transport, what was the busiest domestic sea ferry crossing in the UK in 2024?
Liverpool to Belfast
Cairnryan to Belfast
Poole to Jersey
Heysham to Douglas
Another trains question now. This year saw the railway celebrate its 200th year. But which of these railways was the first to be built?
Stockton and Darlington Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
Warrington and Newton Railway
Across London, how many “cycling stages” (i.e. trips) were made by Londoners and the average day in 2024?
1.55 million
1.44 million
1.33 million
1.22 million
In total, how many local bus routes are now covered by franchising in Greater Manchester?
543
591
522
577
What well-known cycle path (ok, technically a shared use path) in the UK is shown in the below picture?
Its a well-known cycle way, but which one?
The Camel Trail
The Spen Valley Greenway
The Tarka Trail
Bristol and Bath Cycle Path
Oxford became the third city in the UK, after Durham and London, to implement a congestion charge this year. But how much does it cost to drive in the zone in Durham?
£5
£10
£15
£20
On Saturday 16th August, 30 Routemaster buses travelled to the village of Imber. But what is (somewhat) unique about Imber?
The local pub is, in fact, an old Routemaster bus
Due to local byelaws, only Routemaster buses are allowed to operate in the village
Nobody lives in Imber
The village is located on a sand bank in the River Ber, hence “Im-ber”
And here are your answers:
London Liverpool Street was the busiest railway station in the UK in 2023/24, with 93,499,824 passengers passing through the station. But where did most of its passengers travel from or to? Its Tottenham Court Road - 8.217 million passengers!
Look at the below pause screen for a video game, which uses British Road Signs as an influence to its art style. What is the game? Its Untitled Goose Game.
What is quirky about Borders Bus Route 477? Its timetable depends on the times of high tide. The brilliant Bus and Train User Blog shares more.
According to the Department for Transport, what was the busiest domestic sea ferry crossing in the UK in 2024? Its Cairnryan to Belfast. For those of you shouting its ferries to the Isle of Wight or the Scottish Islands, yes, they carry more passengers, but they are classified as Inter-Island Ferries and not Domestic Sea Routes by the Department for Transport.
Another trains question now. This year saw the railway celebrate its 200th year. But which of these railways was the first to be built? An easy one this. Its the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825. The second was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opening 5 years later in 1830.
Across London, how many “cycling stages” (i.e. trips) were made by Londoners and the average day in 2024? 1.33 million. Which is 5% up on the year before, and 26% up on 2019.
In total, how many local bus routes are now covered by franchising in Greater Manchester? 577. It also covers 1600 buses and around 160 million trips a year.
What well-known cycle path (ok, technically a shared use path) in the UK is shown in the below picture? Its the Tarka Trail.
Oxford became the third city in the UK, after Durham and London, to implement a congestion charge this year. But how much does it cost to drive in the zone in Durham? You can access it for the princely sum of £5 a day. Which is the same price as the congestion charge in Oxford.
On Saturday 16th August, 30 Routemaster buses travelled to the village of Imber. But what is (somewhat) unique about Imber? Nobody lives there. Its been uninhabited since 1943, when the Army evicted the villagers. So, in a sense, answer 2 is also true, in that the military allows the annual Imberbus event to happen, where you can visit the village.