Oxford to Bicester Line - FGW and Chiltern Railways (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[John R]

Ah, thanks for the explanation.

Given that the main interest for Chiltern is travel out of Oxford towards London in the morning, stopping at Islip on inward services in the morning peak should not reduce the attractiveness of the target market at Oxford and Water Eaton. Although, whether the required turnaround times at Oxford and single line sections will compromise the stops remains to be seen.

[paul7575]

I wonder if the simple explanation is that the draft Chiltern timetable has been in development for a few years, using FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) original SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment) for the route, and the planners just didn't follow up what the current (enhanced) FGW sevice was?

Paul

[willc]

Obrag's minutes from the meeting are now online at
http://www.obrag.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Minutes-^-Chiltern-19-04-2010.pdf

[vacman]

Well you have to see what I mean! If it was about the changes to the calling patterns on the mainline I could understand. (even though I think the changes are for the better overall)

I really don't see why you love Chiltern so much, my experience of them on more than one occasion is pretty poor! they have peak restrictions on Saturdays for a start!

[Timmer]

I really don't see why you love Chiltern so much, my experience of them on more than one occasion is pretty poor! they have peak restrictions on Saturdays for a start!

Peak restrictions on a Saturday??? thats harsh.

[gwr2006]

From Oxfordshire County Council:

The number of people travelling by train between Bicester and Oxford has exceeded all expectations since an enhanced service was fully introduced last year, according to the latest figures from First Great Western.Oxfordshire County Council was able to secure extra trains on weekdays, evenings and weekends using funding secured from local developers. They were introduced by First Great Western between December 2008 and May 2009.

Bicester Town station was the start or end of 105,329 journeys in 2009-10, up an impressive 73.7 per cent from the 60,638 journeys recorded in 2008-09.

Despite the recession, business is booming on the Bicester Link trains as more and more people realise they are a reliable and cheap way to get to work or go shopping.

New records

The number of journeys has more than doubled in just two years and is now at the highest level since the railway was privatised in 1997, making Bicester Town Station the 10th busiest of the 22 railway stations in the county.

Last year also saw the highest number of journeys at Islip station for more than a decade. Custom was up by 40 per cent, to 23,885 journeys from 17,062 in the previous year.

Recent on-train passenger surveys show the popularity of the trains continues to increase - particularly for visitors to Bicester Village outlet centre just a few minutes' walk from the station - but also throughout the day and into the evening.

Thriving service

Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Transport Rodney Rose said: "This success owes a great deal to the research and careful planning that we carried out with First Great Western along with a first class marketing campaign last summer.

"There is still space for more passengers on the trains and with Bicester expanding, the railway is now ideally placed to carry more people when services and stations are improved further in the future. The Bicester Link is going from strength to strength."

Chairman of the Oxford-Bicester Rail Action Group, Dr Ian East added: ^Just a few years ago the line was threatened with closure, but the improvements made to the stations by the county council and FGW^▸ (First Great Western), and the release of money from planning gain to finance extra trains, have resulted in a dramatic rise in usage.

"This shows how a commitment and investment by train operator and local authority can realise the value in a local rail corridor."

Customer confidence

Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of First Great Western said: "Passenger growth on the Bicester to Oxford rail line is testament to the confidence our customers now have in the service and the close working relationship that has developed between First Great Western and Oxfordshire County Council.

"Our partnership approach has delivered enhancements to the route, including a joint marketing campaign to promote the line and the much needed introduction of additional daytime, evening and weekend services over the last eighteen months.

"There's even more investment this year as we are spending ^8m on the refresh of our Turbo train fleet, the first five of which are already in service, to improve the overall journey experience for our customers. New Help Points are also being installed at Islip and Bicester Town this year, again with support from Oxfordshire County Council.^

[IndustryInsider]

Fantastic figures with Bicester Town now having well over double the number of passengers than it had in 2007/8, and Islip up around 60% in the same time.  Given that nothing has really happened except a couple of extra trains and (critically) some proper advertising and a sensibly cheap fare structure, it just shows what can be done.  After all, the linespeed is still a pitiful 30mph to Islip (including a 20mph section) and then 40mph to Bicester!

Bicester Village outlet centre is a huge factor in these rises and with a much faster link to Oxford and a direct link with London (Marylebone) coming along shortly, watch those numbers go through the roof!

I presume some sort of shuttle bus will be required for people arriving at Bicester North from the Birmingham direction, but it will be much more convenient for passengers arriving from the London direction, who I would guess make up about 80% of the shoppers.

[IndustryInsider]

No, it's not a typo!  Today sees the opening of the new station car park on land by the station formerly owned leased by a coal merchant. 

The original 15 space car park has been increased to well over 200 spaces (although to be fair there was an agreement with Bicester Village for overspill parking in their facilities).

Here's a couple of pictures:





I'm a bit confused as I thought the Evergreen 3 car park for Bicester Town was going to be built on land between the station and the B4100 'London Road'?  And there's no way that the current Bicester Town service will generate anywhere near that much parking demand on weekdays when the notice specifically states it's for rail passengers only. 

I'm guessing that Bicester Village will inherit this car park on a permanent basis when the Chiltern Evergreen 3 station (and new car park) is built - no doubt with a charge for parking!?  Can any of our local experts 'Oxman' or 'gwr2006', or anyone else for that matter, shed some light?

[Chris from Nailsea]

No, it's not a typo!

Yes, it is!

Bank Holiday Monday's   06:00 23:00

First Great Weston Customer Services ...

Dont thay tech spellin grammer or punctwation at Furst Grate Westurn skool thees daze?? 

[willc]

Not sure if this Oxford Mail report from 2006 refers to the same bit of land, but sounds like it does. BRB^‡(resolve) Residuary was talking about doing a deal with Bicester Village and it would appear that the railway does have a long-term call on use of the site for station parking on weekdays, should it wish to retain the facility - given what has happened at the other end of Bicester in recent years, that may be just as well.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/omboysleague/archive/2009_2010/2006/08/25/News+%28bic_news%29/893965.Town_station_yard_to_be_sold/

And the sign is just following in the fine traditions set by one that Apcoa put up hereabouts when they got the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) contract, informing people they were arriving at Moreton-in-THE(my caps)-Marsh station car park. It eventually disappeared, only to return with a bit of blue tape stuck over the offending bit.

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks, Will - that does indeed help answer the question.  Though a little on the extravagant side, certainly for the time being, I guess the Bicester Village goers will soon fill up any spare space in the run up to Christmas!  I will be interested to see what kind of patronage it gets on a typical weekday, and whether there will be a noticeable increase in the usage of the peak train from Bicester Town as a result.

[willc]

According to Obrag, there's not a lot of scope for a significant increase, given the numbers already packing into the two-car 165 on the 07.57.

[IndustryInsider]

I had a word with one of the guys who regularly works that train as a Ticket Examiner and he said the train usually loads to about two-thirds full (of seating capacity).  Quite a lot of people take bikes on board apparently which might give the impression that it's fuller than it is, so he reckons another 50 or so people could travel seated each day without it being sardine time.  I sometimes catch the evening commuter train to Bicester in the evening which for some reason loads less from my experience - I would guess there's usually about 50 or so on board - approx. 15 for Islip and 35 for Bicester (I've always had a bay of seats to myself).  I guess that a few of the regular commuters get either the earlier or later train home?

There might be scope for more 'shoppers' to use the following two trains (09:07 and 10:30) if they know there's ample parking available?  However, I'll still be amazed if this new car park is ever more than 25% full, unless of course it gets swamped by non-rail users taking advantage of free parking and a lack of actual checks that people who've parked there are indeed rail users - a problem that I know used to affect Oxford until the RingGo system was installed.

[devon_metro]

No, it's not a typo!

Yes, it is!

Bank Holiday Monday's   06:00 23:00

First Great Weston Customer Services ...

Dont thay tech spellin grammer or punctwation at Furst Grate Westurn skool thees daze?? 

Truly shocking. However I suspect it was error on the part of the sign maker!

[Oxman]

Yes, good news isn't it. Its a deal that was done long before Evergreen 3 emerged, so it will be interesting to see what Chiltern make of it.

The sign says it is managed by Bicester Village - there may be a clue there as to who produced the sign!