The total number of passenger journeys reached 385 million, an increase over both the corresponding period last year and the second quarter of 2012-13. Services in London and the south east witnessed 5.1% year-on-year growth, rising to 262 million journeys, while long-distance services saw a 1.8% increase to 32.6 million journeys. Regional services carried 90.4 million passengers, a 1.1% increase compared with the third quarter of 2011-12.
The total distance travelled in the third quarter increased 2.8% year-on-year to 14.6 billion passenger-km.
Total revenue for the franchised operators increased 8.3% compared with the third quarter of 2011-12 to £1.96bn, which the ORR says is the highest revenue generated within any quarter since privatisation. Revenues among open-access passenger operators also increased 16.1% year-on-year to £12.7m.
The ORR is due to publish statistics for third quarter freight traffic on March 21.
