Cambridge v Oxford

[William3000]

It takes you North as well as to London.


If you get a Time Machine and take yourself back to the 19th century: https://southoxfordhistory.org.uk/i...s-history/the-coming-of-the-railway-to-oxford

The M11 also takes you north - via the A14 and A1. It is the main route from Yorkshire and the North East to the Channel Tunnel and Dover.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is that better than the M11?

Yes. Higher capacity, and (with the A40) at least three lanes all the way to Tottenham Court Road.

 

[William3000]

Yes. Higher capacity, and (with the A40) at least three lanes all the way to

The M40 may be 3 lanes for its entirety while the M11 is only two lanes between Cambridge and Bishop’s Stortford/Stansted. Once north-west of Cambridge the A14 forms the continuous route and is three lanes (plus a parallel local road) and then the A1(M) is 4 lanes between Alconbury and Norman Cross just south of Peterborough. Living in the Cambridge area I would ascertain if anything rail use - particularly west, and north west to the Midlands and North is suppressed by a lack of rail service (until
EWR) to St Neots, Bedford, MK, Northampton, Coventry and the circuitous cross country route to Birmingham which goes as far north as Melton Mowbray. The A14 in comparison is a high capacity road.

 

[Trainbike46]

I guess because Cambridge to King's Cross has regular services that run non-stop whereas to Liverpool Street it stops at literally everything. It's quite a bit quicker to King's Cross than Liverpool Street, about half hour faster! and the cost is the same regardless of which terminus people go to. I live in Cheshunt, so on the West Anglia Main Line, I've noticed the train tends to pick a sizable number of people at most stops so by the time it reaches me, the train is almost full if at certain times of day if I take that service.

There are cheaper GA only / Liverpool street only tickets, as well as cheap advances on the Liverpool street route.

In situations of disruption, the natural thing to do is to travel to the other London Terminal, though I'd usually leave the train at Tottenham Hale.

 

[Djgr]

I think part of the answer lies in the perception that travelling to London by road from Oxford is much quicker than from Cambridge, and hence the frequent coach service.

However a recent check on Google Maps from both places to Piccadilly Circus revealed absolutely identical times.

 

[William3000]

I think part of the answer lies in the perception that travelling to London by road from Oxford is much quicker than from Cambridge, and hence the frequent coach service.

However a recent check on Google Maps from both places to Piccadilly Circus revealed absolutely identical times.

Perhaps because Oxford is closer to Windsor and further south, this perception persists. But there is as you say very little to choose between them in terms of time from London by road or rail.

 

[Zomboid]

In which case the Oxford tube fares being much lower than the train will come into play.

 

[bspahh]

A big part of the appeal of the Oxford Tube that it runs through the areas with dense housing. If you are in Headington, you have the choice of a coach that gets straight on to the A40, or a bus the grinds its way back through the congested city centre to get to the station.

 

[PeterC]

A big part of the appeal of the Oxford Tube that it runs through the areas with dense housing. If you are in Headington, you have the choice of a coach that gets straight on to the A40, or a bus the grinds its way back through the congested city centre to get to the station.

It also goes past the Brookes campus. I used a lightly loaded evening service to go back to Thornhill this week and even then London passengers were boarding at several stops on the run through Headington as well as in the city centre.

With ENCTS accepted the Tube is a handy supplement to the 400 in the evening. Dwell times for passengers with luggage make it unattractive during the day.

 

[aron2smith]

In situations of disruption, the natural thing to do is to travel to the other London Terminal, though I'd usually leave the train at Tottenham Hale.

Yeah doesn't surprise me. The train empties out a lot at Tottenham Hale (and Seven Sisters when trains are diverted). In the other direction, I try to avoid trains that stop at Enfield Lock as the trains are packed till that station at nearly all times of day. Glad I don't live there anymore! Demand is certainly high enough for it to get more than the 3 trains/ hour it gets.

 

[Magdalia]

Cambridge has ended up with a ring of science parks on the edge of the green belt, though the original one is on the edge of the city and near Cambridge North station. Cambridge station also sees substantial school and college traffic.

The area around the main Cambridge station is a major traffic generator in its own right. It has a very big local employer in Cambridge University Press and Assessment. It also has a lot of the corporate services especially corporate law firms.

Both Addenbrooke’s and Papworth are directly beside Cambridge South station.

Also the AstraZeneca HQ and many research laboratories, mainly in life sciences.

Then my employer moved to Granta Park, where the selling point was it was close enough to Cambridge to have a CB1 post code, an 01223 telephone number, and was far from Cambridge itself.

Granta Park has its own private bus service to/from the main Cambridge station, but it needs much better links.

 

[30907]

There also used to be a competing coach service run by Oxford Bus Company called the X90.

Pedantically, the City of Oxford/South Midland route was the historic one, predating the M40 - and it was still competitive (and more frequent than NX).

Having lived and studied in both places 40-50 years ago, the growth of Cambridge still amazes me. From a railway POV, Cambridge has the advantage of having grown to the East, past the station (there's even a footbridge now to make it easier!) and hardly at all West of the Cam; Oxford has grown similarly Eastward, away from the Cherwell and Isis, but much less to the West which is where the station is.