Editorial - 107

Why do the days, weeks and months go by so quickly, especially as one gets older?

Life has not been very easy since I retired at the end of October since, as many of you know, my wife has been unwell since mid October. This made my retirement even more important as I have become head cook and bottle washer which has restricted the time I have had available for the page. I do, however, much appreciate the continued support from so many of you with photographs and new snippets to keep me up to date.

So much has happened since the last issue and I mention a few of the major items which have helped to fill this issue.

The Westgate Shopping Centre opened in late October, being proceeded by frantic efforts on the part of the builders to get everything ready for the grand opening. some of you have provided photographs of the changed street layout and the new bus stops. These are included below and certainly show the resultant changes.


Oxford nr 7 threads its way through Westgate on September 23rd by Gavin Francis. work was still in progress at this date.


Arriva 5466 threads its way through Westgate on September 24th by Gavin Francis.


Stagecoach Gold 10788 passing the soon to be open Westgate on August 26th by Richard Sharman.


A month or so later and two Oxford Company buses pass at the new stops in Castle Street on October 29th again by Gavin Francis.


Here 652 on a 5 road duty turns by Norfolk Street and Thames Street on its way round to St Aldates on October 29th again by Gavin Francis.


Oxford tube 50271 threads its way through Westgate on September 23rd by Gavin Francis.

The battle for Westgate


The scene in Bond Sq./Queen St. on October 28th as seen by Gavin Francis.

Pedestrianisation in Oxford’s city centre is a matter for heated discussion in many quarters.£440 million has been spent on rebuilding and redesigning the Westgate Shopping Area with the intention of making Oxford a destination for thousands of shoppers and visitors alike.

However, plans by Oxfordshire County Council to ban all traffic from Queen Street have run into problems after the two main bus companies serving the city appealed to the government. The present hold up is the latest in a series of annoying delays for the County and Oxford City Council, in which the city has described the situation in Queen Street as dangerous.

The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has now advised that a survey must be carried out before a ban could be enforced. This is despite the reduction of buses movements to 29 per hour from 55 previously.

One of the problems, from the bus operators point of view, is that the surrounding streets and pick up points are already congested and there is no alternative and suitable route for some services to operate, without leaving potential users a much longer distance to walk. This is apart from the increased running times which could result in additional buses being required.

Now the survey cannot be carried out before February, so that figures reflect normal traffic levels and not those of Christmas and January sale traffic.

A comment on this, is that people need buses and in general we want to see a reduction in congestion caused by cars, so surely there must be a middle path in this question.

Other factors in the overall issue of pedestrians.

In addition to the above and to improve the pavement space for the expected increased number of visitors to the city centre, widened pavements and reduced road space was introduced in High Street but this caused unbelievable congestion for traffic and especially the buses bringing the expectant shoppers to the new Westgate. Delays of up to 30 minutes resulted and inbound east origin coach services re-routed at the worst times via Marston Ferry Road and the Banbury Road. Many words must have been exchanged between the operators and the councils but it is said nothing can be done until after Christmas. It begs the question does no one in the planning of such changes have any idea of the outcome?

A few pictures below can give some idea of the congestion caused.


The latest road placing's in the centre of Oxford have meant that buses now stop opposite each other and cause lengthy tailbacks.
I wonder how the planning people talk their way out of this?

However I know hear that stop L1 is to be closed and buses will be removed to L2 thus removing the clash of stops for the time being. This should happen on Friday November 9th.

I also hear that the Park & Ride services are being filled to over flowing following "Westgate".

Another item of significance is the re-branding of the Thames Travel routes to Reading and Wallingford with a new through service to Henley. Full details will be found in the Go-Ahead section but hereunder are some pictures of the branding.

 
252 on the new X38  waits time in St Aldates with new branding on October 26th seen by Gavin Francis.

 
879 on the X39 with full River Rapids branding in St Aldates on October 23rd by Gavin Francis.
These three Citaros are retaining red livery as they were only repainted earlier this year.

In High Wycombe competition hots up between Arriva and Carousel as the much heralded joint route between Wycombe and Chesham was divided into two separate services in September.

Carousel Buses’ agreement with Arriva to jointly run the One service on the High Wycombe, Amersham and Chesham corridor ended on Monday 25th September. A message on the Go-Ahead Group owned operator’s website said: “We regret to inform our customers that Arriva have advised us that they do not wish to continue the agreement that currently exists between our companies.”Joint operation of the route One will end on Monday 25 September. Following this date, the Red One and Blue One will be operated as separate services. This will also mean return tickets purchased on one service will no longer be accepted for travel on the other. The joint ‘One weekly’ ticket will cease to exist.

A statement on Carousel’s website said: “We will be introducing a new and improved Route One timetable from 29th October 2017 and we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused by these changes, which unfortunately are outside of our control.

MD of Carousel Buses, Phil Southall, said: “The jointly operated One service was a great example of operators working together to do things in the best interests of customers. Since the partnership began in 2013, we have worked together to expand the service through the introduction of a two-operator weekly ticket. We were very surprised and disappointed when Arriva advised us of their intention to withdraw, as up until that point we were always of the opinion that the partnership was strong. Arriva’s decision will negatively impact our customers, which is a great shame. The good news is that from the end of October, we will be increasing the frequency of our Monday to Friday services to reduce the impact on our customers."

An Arriva Midlands statement said: “Arriva Midlands has announced changes to the company’s bus services on the number 1 route between High Wycombe and Chesham from Monday, September 25. The moves are designed to improve punctuality and minimise reliability issues with the number 1 route and provide an improved service which offers better value for money to customers."

On a recent visit to Amersham Hospital with my wife there now seems to be a procession of buses around that town with Red and Blue Ones following each other.


Arriva 3013 on the 1 in High Wycombe on October 3rd seen by Gavin Francis. The branding continues not to indicate the route being served!


Arriva 3926 BG59FCV agin on the 1 and even more removed from its indicated branded route in Milton Keynes. Taken by Gavin Francis on September 9th.


Carousel's 553 on a 1 working on October 3rd seen by Gavin Francis. The route was by now a separate operation.

Other matter which conspired to interrupt operations in Oxford were road works on Folly Bridge resulting in single line working over that bridge.


Oxford's 352 heads across Folly Bridge on September 23rd seen by Gavin Francis.


Heading in the opposite direction we see 667 on a 300 working to Redbridge on September 23rd seen by Gavin Francis.


Working the 16 to Minchery Farm, 36927 crosses Folly Bridge on September 23rd seen by Gavin Francis.

The second item was the annual St Giles Fair which results in St Giles being closed and buses diverted via Broad Street.


Heading in from the Airports, white 41 comes off Broad Street and heads down to Gloucester Green on September 3rd as seen by Gavin Francis.


Unusually a double decker on the 6 sees 367 leaving Broad Street on September 3rd as seen by Gavin Francis.


Diverted services in Broad St during St Giles Fair on September 3rd as seen by Gavin Francis. Another decker on the 6 !!


Having worked into Oxford via Banbury Road, 50269 turns into Broad Street on September 3rd as seen by Gavin Francis.


 Stagecoach's 10687 on a route 2 service turns into Broad Street on September 3rd as seen by Gavin Francis.

So as one can see above much has happened to cause delays and diversions to Oxford City services but hopefully in the New Year things will return to normal and a better level of service to the public. It seems that the Queen Street situation is on hold for the time being with some 30 services remaining using Queen Street with many others diverted away.

For those interested I append a map of the revised stopping points of services within the city and especially around Westgate.

 

The link for this in full detail is below:

http://portal.oxfordshire.gov.uk/content/publicnet/council_services/roads_transport/public_transport/timetables_maps/WTCYB_in_oxford.pdf

As always now, the pages in the index on the left will be uploaded over the next few weeks but this gives you something to be going on with.

 

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