Its an issue when you consider generalised journey time. The branch is going to be 2tph at best, with the Business Park station being right on the edge of Blackbird Leys as discussed prior. If there a bus every 5 or so minutes which is easier to get to, you are going to need a lot to drag people off that.
I agree. It's better located than many towns and cities; Cambridge for example. I haven't been to Oxford for years but when I lived in Reading I visited frequently. Once I'd made the trip for the first time I found the walk to any usual tourist or shopping site no issue at all. Flat and few roads to cross. The question remains exactly where IS the centre of a large settlement like Oxford. Does a traditional town square or similar actually represent the notional centre of population, employment distribution etc? And even if it does is it optimal for servicing the broader settlement? Is is where most transport connections are available?
I doubt there'd be much traffic between 'city centre' and Cowley. It will be more a last-mile or two distributor to a particular popular employment area for people arriving by train from elsewhere at Oxford station. If you happened to live right next to the station it might be more convenient than the bus.
As a general point, the main station is often fine for coming from out of town because you gain lots of the advantages of the train, whereas to take a bus would get much harsher penalties the further out you start from. However from a local trip, the benfits of the trains and penalties to buses are likely to be much lower, because of the short distance. With Cowley (and many other suburban/metro branches), the fact it slightly circumvents the main destination area also doesn't help. It doesn't mean no intra-Oxford journeys would be made on the new branch, but I would expect less percentage mode capture for rail on Cowley-Oxford than routes like Cowley-Bicester/London (so long as a direct train is run to those places).
Fully agree. Unsurprisingly, many smaller towns and cities lost most of their local inner suburban railway networks fairly early on, well before Beeching. That was the case even in London where many local services that didn't get absorbed into LU were lost well before the Beeching era as tram, bus, and tube simply outcompeted them. Unless it's a major metro branch line with very high frequency (usually only in top tier cities), bus (or tram) usually wins, largely down to frequency over shorter distances, but unfortunately bus often falls down heavily on journey time reliability, particularly in peaks which is street modes' 'Achilles Heal'. The main bus station moving to the station vicinity might make some difference providing easier interchange possibilities from longer distance and local buses. Further development increasing residential and or employment density around the station could also make some impact.
Yes I largely agree with this
Absolutely yes, GJT makes it not an apples-to-apples comparison. I think we're slightly arguing at cross-purposes anyway because I don't think the main role of the Cowley reopening is going to be BBL–city centre journeys: it's partly for the employment sites around the south, and substantially to enable both regeneration of BBL itself and the new housing developments that are envisaged in the area.
This scheme is all about getting people to jobs , don’t forget 8000+, new houses south of the business park station, also a very strong driver.
A bus which would be millions of pounds cheaper. Its less than a mile from Oxford Parkway.
Oxfordshire County Council has proposed a direct cycle/pedestrian route from Oxford North to Oxford Parkway, likely to be built as part of the housing development earmarked for the North Oxford Golf Course. This in itself should be enough.
www.bbc.co.uk
BBC article said:
Yes, there’s a ladder crossing provided north of the station for that exact purpose.
It could absolutely be done as a separate isolated railway by slewing the existing up to the down, and the down to use a (relaid) freight loop through Hinksey etc: just add platform in the car park south of the station.
Don't recommend a Cambridge scissors arrangement. The ones at Cambridge are a pain to plan around. I imagine the scissors are a pain to maintain too.
Although I am in favour of the re-opening, I am not altogether convinced about the '"fast and reliable" transport link to the city centre'. Depending exactly where in the city centre you want to get to, a bus will get you considerably closer than a train to the station. Yes, road traffic can be slow, but there are bus lanes, and Cowley to the centre by road is a significantly shorter distance than by rail.Campaign launched to support Cowley branch reopening.
THC
Cowley line campaign launches to support passenger reopening
Campaigners say the project's benefits include "fast and reliable" journeys into Oxford city centre.
Imagine a joined up transport system where your ticket was just accepted in this case….
The buses from that area of Oxford are every 5 minutes to the station.
That’s of little consolation if you can’t predict how long it’s going to take to get there. Good on the way home - less so in the other direction.
In the very peak, yes, in theory. Outside of that, somewhat less frequent. Especially if you have an operator-specific ticket then it might be only every 20 minutes to get a bus you can use.
Also factor in the cost, and the fact any trains on a Cowley/Blackbird Leys branch are going to be 2tph at best. People inside the ring road aren't going to go out to come back in by train.
Between Science Park, Ellison Institute, NHS, Kassan Laboratory Park, Unipart, Rudolph Hellellmann, BMW, ARC Park there must be about 20,000 people currently or planned to be working adjacent to these stations.
There is a lot of housing along the route, and Oxford is also a city of cyclists, and well connected but unpredictable bus and car options.
