According to the label, it's year on year. The slider should have two control points so you can view any interval.
Many stations are white at the end, but have no reason for the increase to have been in the final year. Picking one I used to travel through [1], it's white on the map, last year's increase was <10%, but the increase since 1997 is huge.
(Also, this is Great Britain, since Northern Ireland isn't included.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Bridge_railway_station