Bad News For Oxford, Good News For Plymouth In Commuting Survey

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Oxford has been confirmed as one of the worst cities in the country for getting to work, with Plymouth residents having the quickest journeys (link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/3790648.Commutes_among_longest_in_UK/

Of 29 cities surveyed nationwide, only people living and working in London, Birmingham and Edinburgh spend more time commuting than in Oxford, a study found.

The survey found that commuters in Oxford took an average 51 minutes travelling to and from work every day, or four hours, 15 minutes, each week.

Birmingham ^ infamous for Spaghetti Junction on the M6 ^ topped the list with a commuting time of 61 minutes.

Residents of Plymouth have the quickest journeys, with an average travelling time of 30 minutes.

[Btline]

Is this rail or road or both?

[Ollie]

Article appears to only focus on road.

[willc]

Rail isn't a lot of use for commuting within Oxford, since there aren't any suburban stations in the city to start with.

And as the article makes clear, it's totally unsuitable for modern traffic. You have a medieval street layout in the city centre, compounded by the central area being hemmed in by the rivers Thames and Cherwell and the Thames flood plain west of the city limits the number of road routes as well.

What Oxford does have is the highest use of buses in any town or city of a similar size in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). The problem is that even with bus lanes in various places, they have to share most of the roads with cars much of the time, so don't get anywhere fast in the rush-hours.

[Lee]

And as the article makes clear, it's totally unsuitable for modern traffic. You have a medieval street layout in the city centre, compounded by the central area being hemmed in by the rivers Thames and Cherwell and the Thames flood plain west of the city limits the number of road routes as well.

Relevant link.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3696.msg28540#msg28540