Trams part of Oxfordshire transport plans

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Trams part of Oxfordshire transport plans


A "boulevard piazza" is suggested for the centre of Oxford

City centre trams and a new train station are included in proposals for the future of transport in Oxfordshire.

The county council's Connecting Oxfordshire plans are designed to cope with the growth in population expected up to 2031.

Council Leader Ian Hudspeth said the proposal would "start a debate" on the county's transport infrastructure.

He added he would not rule out ideas that "might seem fanciful" such as a monorail around the city's ring road.

A new park and ride service for Bicester and a new Oxford Parkway station at Water Eaton, as part of East West Rail, are included in the document which the council is opening to consultation.

Suggestions also include a new A40-A44 link road as well as improvements to the Junction 9 of the M40.

A car-free "boulevard piazza" with trams is suggested for St Giles in Oxford.

Mr Hudspeth said it would "really give a different feel to the whole city centre".

"If you don't have the ambition then we'll continue to have a system which isn't adequate for the future."

Funds would come from City Deal private sector investors and transport operators, he said.

He added: "Connecting Oxfordshire is about starting the debate on how we can work together to make it happen."

[ChrisB]

All Oxford-centric, when there are BIG problems elsewhere in the County.

Awaiting the full document before commenting further.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

It is all pie in the sky. Where is the money coming from to pay for this.Ian Hudspeth says he would like to see trams in Oxford.
If he were to go to Nottingham he could see trams on the street with a major extension of the system under way. It has however to be paid for and Nottingham has introduced a Workplace Parking Levy to pay for it. This has recently been set at ^362 for 2014/15. Oxford has more private off-street parking places than any other town or city of similar size, the high number probably due to the many university parking spaces tucked away all over the city, so the potential revenue to pay for major transportation projects, such as those discussed at County Hall, would be significant, 10,000 spaces @ ^362 a year would produce over ^3.5M a year, more than enough to service the debt charges on over ^70M capital spending.  In addition, workplace parking levy would encourage many city workers to use public transport instead of driving by car thus reducing the road congestion in and around the city and make public transport more viable and probably reducing the need for expensive subsidies paid by council tax payers. You only have to look at the public car parking provision in Oxford that has been capped for 40 years. The ^25 a day or so cost of parking has sent many previous car users onto public transport. Think what a workplace parking levy would do!
 
Incidentally, Nottingham was the first city to introduce Park and Ride car parks with Oxford following on about 6 months later. How about Oxon C.C. following Nottingham again with a workplace parking levy? The problem is that Ian Hudspeth has publically stated in the past that the council would not have anything to do with such a levy. Did he mention anything about this today?
 
Ian Hudspeth wants his cake but is not prepared to pay for it!

[ChrisB]

He does need to state how he is intending to fund it....I hope that is in the full document.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Further details - including the briefing document - are available on the Oxfordshire County Council website.

[ChrisB]

Seems we have to await the launch of the updated Local Transport Plan now.....

Why not await that *then* hold this briefing???

[paul7575]

"...ideas that "might seem fanciful" such as a monorail around the city's ring road"

Do they really think they are being clever by including this sort of rubbish?  To me it just devalues the whole thing...

Paul

[didcotdean]

There is someone campaigning for a monorail apparently.

Maybe they have read Konrad Smigielski's 1960s plans for Leicester. That was all monorails and wide boulevards.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Nothing new in the briefing to what we have already heard apart from a vague reference to trams and a monorail for which the county would not want to provide the fiance or pay for the inevitable loss on operating costs as there is no mention of the necessary measures to stop the thousands of car commuters continuing to come into Oxford and raise the funds to pay for it. I notice that an Oxford Brookes transport (Peter Headicar if I remember correctly) expert has also made this comment to the Oxford Mail, so I am not alone.
It is still just political pie in the sky coming just before the election season!

[TonyK]

It will soon be "value-engineered" down to a Bust Rabid Transit doing half the coverage and costing double what the trams would be.