Charlbury and Hanborough Stations - service improvements and car parking

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

8 disabled spaces being created instead of the former 3.  In effect this takes up about 11 normal spaces.  On my last two visits to the station, none of these disabled spaces was in use.

I'm not sure what the exact circumstances are in terms of requirement by law, but I believe the number of disabled car parking spaces has to be 6% of the total allocated in new car parks- which has always seemed very high to me.  When Hanborough is completed the number of disabled spaces will be 12, which completely takes up the area in front of the station.  Chiltern's plans for Water Eaton Parkway incorporate a massive 50 disabled bays which take up a large part of the parking near where the entrance to the platforms will be.

As you say, I rarely see them anywhere near full, and often completely empty!

[grahame]

I'm not sure what the exact circumstances are in terms of requirement by law, but I believe the number of disabled car parking spaces has to be 6% of the total allocated in new car parks- which has always seemed very high to me. ...

If you can trust what you read online:
2 spaces up to car parks with 34 spaces
then 6% of car parking spaces (not 6% of the car park space) up to a total of 200 spaces
then 4% of car parking spaces if the car park is larger

I also read that only 1.4% of the population is registered disabled. I'm sure the intent is that they can get spaces even when the place is full for other parkers.  However, the metrics of travel will differ for the disabled, meaning that there will be some places they naturally go, and others they won't so I expect that the requirement as it's rawly set out leads to the sights we see at times of loads of empty spaces.  I would love to know what percentage of train commuters into Paddington who park at stations are registered disabled.  On the other hand, an able bodied person can park in a disabled bay if accompanying a disabled person, so that will tilt the balance the other way. It probably is correct to balance the parking so that the final disabled bay is usually the last to fill ... but these things can sometimes go too far


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252452/Revealed-Why-disabled-bays-stay-empty.html

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the First Great Western press release:

David Cameron welcomes investment made at Charlbury Station

Prime Minister David Cameron has today opened Charlbury Station car park following the completion of ^470,000 works.

Accompanied by First Great Western Managing Director Mark Hopwood, Mr Cameron said: ^I was delighted to be able to open our new and much needed station car park at Charlbury. Following the success of the redoubling on the Cotswold Line I am glad to see that we now have the facilities to match. 

^First Great Western were quick off the mark to apply for funding allocated by the Department for Transport for sustainable travel projects and I am so pleased that we were able to secure the money and that the project has now been delivered quickly and effectively. 

^Not only will this enable many more local people to take the train to work, it will also help in our fight to cut carbon and will ensure that this train line goes from strength to strength.^

The work sees 77 additional spaces added to the car park, funded through the Station Commercial Projects Fund, launched in 2011 by the Department for Transport.

Mark Hopwood said: ^We have a significant programme of station improvement works and are continually looking to improve the customer experience, whether it is through our knowledgeable, informative staff or better station facilities, we are happy to make the investment. I am delighted to see this work complete, and in such a short space of time.^ 

Work to the car park adds to a ^67million four-year project to double much of the North Cotswolds route in August 2011, with the Charlbury section opened 6 June 2011.

As part of the doubling Charlbury gained a new platform, waiting room and footbridge.

Mr Cameron was welcomed by Charlbury Primary School Choir singing Train of the Future, before unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of the new cark park.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

re Hanborough new car park, legal problems have delayed a contract start date, originally said to be 1 October with a completion date of 21 December. However I understand that there is to be a site meeting on 11 November at Hanborough station when perhaps better information on the progress of this needed investment may become available.

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks for the update, Andrew.  Keep us informed of any developments you hear.

[IndustryInsider]

There's a snippet in the latest RAIL magazine, saying that Alex James, of Blur fame, has said they can use some of his land as an overflow car park at Kingham.  Do any of our CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) members know anything about that?  Such as where this land is - is it the adjacent land to the car park, part of the former goods yard I assume, or the other side of the road?  I've noticed Kingham, which always used to have a dozen or so spaces available in the far corner, is now getting busier and if growth continues it will soon be a common problem finding a space. 

With the station miles from anywhere (including Kingham itself!) and with little opportunity to park alongside the B4450 that serves the station as it has very narrow verges, it's important that spaces are available to accommodate growth.

[Richard Fairhurst]

There was a piece recently in the Newsquest papers: http://www.cotswoldjournal.co.uk/news/10020540.Rock_star_solution_to_railway_parking_/

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks for that, Richard.

The painting of double-yellow lines might partly explain why the car park looks fuller than ever these days, as those looking to escape from the car park charges would have headed there.  If that's no longer an option then it wouldn't take long to fill up the spare capacity.  From my observations I never used to see the car park completely full (unlike that article claims) up until about the time those yellow lines were painted, but extra capacity (at the same charge as the main car park) without freeloaders endangering themselves and others by parking on verges would be very good to see.

[CLPGMS]

Car parking is becoming a real problem on the Cotswold Line.

On Thursday 22nd November, I travelled to Worcester and noted that Charlbury car park was absolutely full (including the 75 spaces on the recently opened extension), Kingham was absolutely full, as was Pershore.  Just one space was vacant at Honeybourne and, no doubt Hanborough was full as well.  In fact, it was the second time in 3 days that Charlbury's extension was full. There was some space available at Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Hanborough New Car Park - latest report on progress:
Site clearance was expected to be undertaken during September with a construction start in October. However several problems have arisen. First it was reported that unforeseen legal problems had arisen that prevented a start. The latest report I have received is that unforeseen levels of asbestos have been found in the existing buildings on the site that have to be demolished. This probably means that a specialist contractor will have to be engaged to deal with the removal of the asbestos before full scale construction can start.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Hanborough new car park - latest report. I understand that work is now scheduled to start on 8 January 2013 - but don't hold your breath as we all know how the railways usually work on non urgent projects.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Witney Gazette:

^400,000 Hanborough station car park extension work starts


Cars parked on a verge alongside the A4095 at the entrance to Hanborough station

Work to build a 191-space extension to the car park at Hanborough railway station will start on Monday.

The ^400,000 project, which was initially expected to be completed as early as last month, was delayed awaiting the removal of asbestos from disused buildings on the site that are to be demolished. This work was due to be completed today.

Contractors working for train operator First Great Western are now expected to have the extra parking ready for rail passengers to use by late April or early May. The land being used was previously occupied by a plant hire depot.

The Cotswold Line station's existing 50-space car park is too small to cope with demand and is often full by 6.45am, with many commuters leaving their cars on verges alongside the A4095 Main Road outside the station.

A ^470,000, 83-space extension to the car park at Charlbury station opened last October.

[martvw]

I called in at Pershore station the other day it was quite busy, I was thinking how good it would be if the twin track could be extended to just west of Pershore station and rebuild the second platform and extend them both to take six car trains plus a new foot bridge, as was done at Charlbury and Honeybourne stations! Perhaps network rail could consider this in there future spending spree for the cotswold line !!

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Work is proceeding well on the new Hanborough Station car park. I have prepared an item for local circulation in the parish magazine, Hanborough Herald, that other Cotswold Line members of this forum may like to read:
Hanborough Station Car ParK:
The construction of Hanborough Station's new 191 space car park is now nearing completion and it is hoped will be available for use from June. There will be a short cut from the new car park by way of a ramp from the rear of the car park down to the station platform. However this will not be completed in time for the opening of the car park so users will have to walk back along Main Road and down to the station by the existing drive until the short cut has been completed. The vehicular entrance will be from Main Road between the Daffodil Nursery and the North Oxford garage.
The car park is costing over ^400,000 to construct on land for which a ground rent also has to be paid. The funding for this project has come from a fund for revenue generating projects so it will be necessary to impose parking charges for the first time. The level of charges has been fixed at less than the normal rate imposed at other Cotswold Line stations and much lower than for charges at Oxford station and stations beyond towards London. The charges will be ^3.00 a day but for vehicular arrivals after 10.00 am will be ^1.80. The facility to pay by phone will also be available and for those people who choose this method of payment (the choice preferred by many people) , the all day parking charge will fall to ^2.70. It should however be noted that mobile phone coverage in the station area is very variable depending on your network. There will however be pay machines located in the car parks. There will be a short term free "Set Down & Pickup" facility also available for people being brought to the station in a vehicle not staying.
The new car park will remove the need for people to park outside the station precincts as there should be plenty of room for all rail users including more spaces reserved for blue badge holders. However there would inevitably be a number of  existing rail users who would be reluctant to pay for car parking after having free parking until now and seek to park elsewhere on the public highway around the station causing an increase in the already current significant traffic congestion. Parking controls will therefore be introduced along Main Road and in the nearby Lodge Road (Hanborough Business Park) to prevent highway parking. These controls will apply not just to the carriageway but also to the adjoining footway and grass verges that have in many areas been completely destroyed by rail users cars. A small number of people have complained  about the introduction of parking charges at the station so I have written an article on the "pros and cons" of the various methods available from Hanborough for commuters travelling regularly to Oxford for work.

Commuting from Hanborough to Oxford - the alternatives considered:
With the introduction of parking charges at Hanborough station car park a number of people have raised objections, particularly those people who use the low rail fare method to travel to Oxford regularly, so here is a comparison of costs with the main alternative methods of such commuting. 
As the benchmark, the rail costs will consist of a daily parking charge of ^3.00 plus the rail fare of ^4.20, i.e. ^7.20. The main "pro" is that the rail journey takes only about 10 minutes each way and is by far the fastest way to travel to central Oxford. However there is a short walk from Oxford station to the centre so that overall journey time is about half an hour. The main "con" is that rail services off peak are no more than hourly although there are 6 train departures towards Oxford and London before 09.00 on weekdays.
The main lowest cost alternative for car users is to drive to the outskirts of Oxford and use the Park and Ride Car parks and bus service into Oxford. This means adding about ^2.00 of fuel, to the cost calculation. The car park charge is ^2.00 and the bus fare into town is ^2.70 return making a total cost of around ^6.70. The existing Watereaton car park currently has free parking for stays up to 11 hours but charges will be introduced here. However additional indirect costs such as greater wear and tear and maintenance would make the overall cost greater than the rail journey costs. The major "con" of using the Park and Ride is the much longer overall travel time of over an hour at peak travel congestion times. The major "pro" is the flexibility of travel time and higher frequency of bus services into Oxford.
Also to be considered is use of the No. 11 bus service from Hanborough to Oxford. This costs ^5.10 return with the advantage of being able to board the bus in Long or Church Hanborough. The major disadvantage is the long journey times and very infrequent service at peak commuting hours with small low capacity buses incapable of taking a significant number of commuters. In short, not a viable option for regular commuting.
The final major alternative would be driving by car all the way from home to central Oxford. The big advantage is maximum flexibility but this comes at a high cost of at least ^22.30 for an 8 hour plus stay at a city centre car park plus about ^3.00 of fuel. Travel on the roads to Oxford at peak hours is extremely congested and slow so at least one hour each way should be allowed plus longer travel times on frequent occasions. 
There  are various other options that produce differing costs such as when several people travel together but this cuts down on flexibility. The use of season ticket fare reductions for both bus and rail that can produce slightly different comparative costs. Rail travel off-peak is also cheaper with a rail fare of only ^2.90 plus parking charge of ^1.80 making only ^4.70. By using a Cotswold Line rail card (cost ^7.50 a year) an off-peak fare falls to only ^1.90 return,  My conclusion is that commuting by rail from Hanborough to Oxford will remain a very viable "best buy" when all factors are considered and with the new car park providing adequate parking facilities for motorised rail users.

[martvw]

Good to see things moving along with the car park at Hanborough station, lets hope that something can be sorted out at Pershore Station soon.