Traffic filters will divide Oxford into six '15 minute' neighbourhoods

a1ex2001 said:
Research actually shows that great public transport has very little effect in car journeys. Making cars massively expensive to use is the only thing that will get us out of them!
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The problem with making them massively expensive is that some people, like me, NEED to use a car to get to and from work because there is no public transport available UNTIL I get to work. I'm a bus driver and when I'm on earlies, there are no buses until I take one out and there are none when I finish when I'm on lates as I've just taken the bus back to the garage.

Buses are expensive to operate too but people still have this idiotic notion that they should cost 10p per journey. For a start, just to purchase one modern double deck bus with mod-cons you're talking nearly half a million for ONE.
Buses, even the hybrid ones, can go through about 50-60 LITRES of fuel a day (based on 16hr run time) and companies still pay fuel duty & VAT (altough the VAT is claimed back). Times that by 300 buses daily and that's a LOT of fuel.
 
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If public transport were better, more people would use it. Because it’s not, people don’t, and this is used as an excuse for not investing in it. Despite this, we build new roads all the time, with the excuse of creating additional capacity, that in 5-10 years become just as congested. It’s unbelievably stupid. London is seemingly the only city in the U.K. that does it differently.
 
One More Solo said:
If public transport were better, more people would use it. Because it’s not, people don’t, and this is used as an excuse for not investing in it. Despite this, we build new roads all the time, with the excuse of creating additional capacity, that in 5-10 years become just as congested. It’s unbelievably stupid. London is seemingly the only city in the U.K. that does it differently.
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The research doesn’t support your supposition about more people using it if it is better.

The reason we don’t invest in public transport outside London is because it is not state owned, we might call it public transport but it is run by private companies for profit not for the good of the country. Unlike in London where TFL runs everything. We should as a country be investing massively in public transport while simultaneously making driving and owning a car massively expensive if we are in anyway serious about hitting climate targets (which we aren’t judging by government inaction on so many things including this)
 
One of the biggest contributors to human progress was the Oxford bypass. It meant that for thousands of journeys I've made north to south and vice versa, I have never had to set foot or tyre inside the place.
 
Resident said:
The problem with making them massively expensive is that some people, like me, NEED to use a car to get to and from work because there is no public transport available UNTIL I get to work. I'm a bus driver and when I'm on earlies, there are no buses until I take one out and there are none when I finish when I'm on lates as I've just taken the bus back to the garage.

Buses are expensive to operate too but people still have this idiotic notion that they should cost 10p per journey. For a start, just to purchase one modern double deck bus with mod-cons you're talking nearly half a million for ONE.
Buses, even the hybrid ones, can go through about 50-60 LITRES of fuel a day (based on 16hr run time) and companies still pay fuel duty & VAT (altough the VAT is claimed back). Times that by 300 buses daily and that's a LOT of fuel.
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Your employer would need to subsidise your journey to work or provide company transport, we’ve seen the end of cheap energy and the end of cheap motoring is coming. Car numbers have increased well beyond sustainability and realistic need and the only way to reduce that is to make it cost more than people are willing to pay.
 
Getting around London using TfL for work and to visit shows etc. was usually a very positive experience.

However, unless you equip the entire family with 70 litre rucksacks before boarding the bus, you can’t do a weekly family shop using public transport.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
Getting around London using TfL for work and to visit shows etc. was usually a very positive experience.

However, unless you equip the entire family with 70 litre rucksacks before boarding the bus, you can’t do a weekly family shop using public transport.
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The weekly shop was born out of needing to use a car to get to out of town supermarkets. More local shops and buying fresh produce as you go past removes the need for a big weekly shop and a monthly delivery can also replace the need to carry bulky (toilet roll) and heavy items (beer, baked beans).
 
What we need is proper intermodal transport systems. Mobility as a Service if you like. One fare, one ticket and PAYG structure with a daily cap. It means that whether you take a train, uber-style service, escooter, bus, community shuttle, tram or whatever you are interconnected and regardless of the system you use there will always be an alternative to take you onto your last bit of the journey. However the collaboration and investment and buy-in needed unfortunately kills those opportunities.
 
Yeah this weekly shop thing is nonsense in 2022.

Every supermarket delivers and if you're one of these people that moans you get wonky parsnips then go by there and get that stuff yourself with a 35 litre rucksack...


I just got back from Berlin. My friend wanted donuts so she went on the app, bought 4 and they arrived on an e scooter 13 minutes later.. Thats ****ing insanity. I have missed living in a decent big city tbh.
 
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One bus an hour here, when it turns up, and if it does turn up it takes nearly an hour to get to the local town six miles away. A local village has two buses a day.
Yeah no one needs a car...
 
Efour said:
Yeah this weekly shop thing is nonsense in 2022.

Every supermarket delivers and if you're one of these people that moans you get wonky parsnips then go by there and get that stuff yourself with a 35 litre rucksack...


I just got back from Berlin. My friend wanted donuts so she went on the app, bought 4 and they arrived on an e scooter 13 minutes later.. Thats ****ing insanity. I have missed living in a decent big city tbh.
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Or we could just drive?

The whole, you shouldn't drive and have it delivered thing is nonsense in 2022.
 
Begbie said:
Or we could just drive?

The whole, you shouldn't drive and have it delivered thing is nonsense in 2022.
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Sure you can drive too i dont care. Im saying public transport has its limits for some people.
Me personally id take a delivery every time way too convenient.
 
Efour said:
Yeah this weekly shop thing is nonsense in 2022.

Every supermarket delivers and if you're one of these people that moans you get wonky parsnips then go by there and get that stuff yourself with a 35 litre rucksack...
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No you cycle to your local supermarket with a 15L cycle basket and a small rucksack or panniers. Do a small shop every couple of days.
Controls your spending and wastage, environmentally sound as well as good exercise. You can still build up a tin or dry goods cupboard for the nuclear war or pandemic event just around the corner.
 
Hagar said:
No you cycle to your local supermarket with a 15L cycle basket and a small rucksack or panniers. Do a small shop every couple of days.
Controls your spending and wastage, environmentally sound as well as good exercise. You can still build up a tin or dry goods cupboard for the nuclear war or pandemic event just around the corner.
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Sure you can cycle too i dont care. Im saying pedal power has its limits for some people.
Me personally id take a delivery every time way too convenient. (lol)
 
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Uther said:
One bus an hour here, when it turns up, and if it does turn up it takes nearly an hour to get to the local town six miles away. A local village has two buses a day.
Yeah no one needs a car...
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There’s school buses between the villages and there are stories of a mythical bus that runs into the nearest town on market day, but I’ve not seen it in 4 years of living here.

If you live in a rural area, you either rely on others (La Poste do a great meal and pharmacy delivery service for the elderly) or you have a car.
 
I love the discussion of solutions that work in international metropolis, like that is going work in rural market towns. The density of customers and money in London, Berlin, Paris is just in no way comparable with Boston (lincs) or Shrewsbury. Even tight, rich cities like Oxford or Cambridge can barely scrape to anything close to a second rate version of what is being discussed. I use my local butchers on a weekly basis but the idea of using something other than supermarket for groceries and on a daily basis just doesn't fly. It's 6 minute drive to the nearest (very) small town and the idea that I and everyone else for who it is the local shopping precinct can just pop in on a daily basis won't work. Not enough car parking spaces too many people. Supermarkets are a reflection of the structure of the modern World. When we've robotised everything and we're all redundant on handouts we'll be able to usher in this distributed Utopia.
 
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Hades said:
I am utterly fed up wih the way this country is going. It does indeed sound like a tax grab and/or a way to restrict personal movement. My kids are 16 and 18 and I am encouraging them to consider moving abroad when they are able to.


Well **** you!
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Nothing will change as long as people continue to elect a government committed to dismantling the state and infrastructure.

The result of cutting funding is **** services and money being clawed back any way possible. This is what people have voted for the last 12 years.
 
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