Oxford Station - improvements, incidents and events (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Shame the park & ride buses appear to be excluded from that list above!

The service 7 is apparently the Park & Ride Bus from Oxford Parkway. It's been combined with the service to Woodstock.

There might have been logical to include the S6 bus to Swindon

Hmm. I suspect the RRS/Fast service to Didcot plus the train is still quicker than the S6...

I have had it confirmed that you can alight or join these services in & around the city centre, and do not need to travel to the vacinity of the station (unless that's where you are headed)

[ray951]

More updates from Network Rail https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/oxfordshire/oxford-corridor-phase-2#upcoming-work

Including the news that Botley Road is likely to be shut for the whole of 2023 to vehicle traffic except for emergency services.

[paul7575]

This must be one of the most consulted and well documented works proposals I’ve ever followed in te forum.

With real work starting next week we must soon be at the stage where the local paper will run scary headlines with a few people objecting on the basis they didn’t know… 

Paul

[ChrisB]

It'll be interesting to see how they cope with the loss of the popular park & ride in Botley. Or whether the bus will take a diversionary route.

[ray951]

Presumably the bus will terminate on the west side of the station, passengers will get out and walk to the other side of the station and, if necessary, get on another bus.

[ChrisB]

It could happen, but turning the bus around will be difficult. Mill Street will remain open, but not really suitable for buses

[didcotdean]

The Oxfordshire CC statement says: "it is planned that buses will operate to either side of the closure so those on through-journeys will need to do a short walk and change buses."

[ChrisB]

Do you have a link for that please?

[Richard Fairhurst]

Oxford Clarion report: https://twitter.com/OxfordClarion/status/1587063276395020291

OCC statement: https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/plans-for-botley-road-closure/

[ray951]

It could happen, but turning the bus around will be difficult. Mill Street will remain open, but not really suitable for buses

If the cafe at the bottom of Roger Dudman Way is being closed then there could be room to turn buses around there, and they may of course be able to use part of Botley Road as well.

[ChrisB]

Thanks for the links above.

When talking to the planning engineer from Keir at the last drop-in event, he referred to turning minibuses around, rather than single/double deckers with shuttles of these running from the park & ride. The road will need to be shut well before Roger Dudman way as that area is the first to be redesigned to allow access to it while work then continues elsewhere.

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is promising further detail in the middle of November with further drop-in sessions. WE'll need to await that info methinks to get a full picture.

[IndustryInsider]

I must admit I'm surprised Oxford City Council are prepared to allow such a long full closure of Botley Road to cars.  They cycle and footpath routes are going to be very busy!

[ray951]

I must admit I'm surprised Oxford City Council are prepared to allow such a long full closure of Botley Road to cars.  They cycle and footpath routes are going to be very busy!

Maybe they will use it as an experiment to see what happens when one of the major routes into Oxford is shut.
After all there aren't really any alternative routes that vehicles from West Oxford can use to get into Oxford with Botley Road shut, as they either have to go north via the A34 to Peartree or south via the Southern Ring Road, both are which are a very long way round.

[TonyN]

The Orange army have boots on the ground in Botley Road. Attached photo taken 11am today.

[ChrisB]

According to their e-newsletter received today, they are standing practically on top of where they are about to drill a borehole.