High Street suffering from absence of commuters

Thousands of shops located near to city centre stations could close if they permanently lose the £30 billion per year that commuters spend on food and leisure items.

That’s according to research by the Rail Delivery Group, which says commuters are vital to city centres and High Streets.

The analysis, produced for the RDG by WPI Economics, found that two-thirds of commuters were still working from home just prior to the end of the summer holidays. Train commuting is expected to increase, but passenger numbers could take years to return to the levels recorded in 2019.

The RDG said new research found that a 20% shift of pre-pandemic train passengers to road would lead to 300 million extra hours of lost time due to traffic congestion each year. The West Midlands (5 million hours), Greater Manchester (4 million) and West Yorkshire (4 million) would be the worst affected city regions outside London (169 million). 

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