Air
In addition to the larger airports in the region, Oxford is served by nearby
London Oxford Airport, in
Kidlington.
The airport is also home to Oxford Aviation Academy, an airline pilot
flight training centre, and several private jet companies.
Buses
A
hybrid bus on an Oxford Bus Company park and ride service
Bus services in Oxford and its suburbs are run by the
Oxford Bus Company and
Stagecoach Oxfordshire as well as other operators including
Thames Travel,
Arriva and several smaller operators.
Arriva runs the 280
Sapphire service to
Aylesbury via
Wheatley,
Thame and
Haddenham seven days a week, at a frequency of up to every 20 minutes.
[71] The new Sapphire buses have three-pin power sockets, leather seats and free, onboard
Wi-Fi.
[72]
Oxford has five
park and ride car parks with frequent bus links to the city centre:
- Pear Tree (bus 300)
- Redbridge (bus 300)
- Seacourt (bus 400)
- Thornhill (bus 400)
- Water Eaton (bus 500)
There are also bus services to the
John Radcliffe Hospital (from Thornhill and Water Eaton) and to the Churchill and Nuffield Hospitals (from Thornhill). As of 2015,
Oxford has one of the largest urban park and ride networks in the UK.
Its five sites have a combined capacity of 4,930 car parking spaces,
[73] served by 20 Oxford Bus Company double deck buses with a combined capacity of 1,695 seats.
[74] By comparisn,
York park and ride has six sites with a combined total of 4,970 parking spaces
[75] served by 35
First York buses, but they are single deckers with a combined capacity of 1,548 seats.
[76]
More than 58% of Oxford Bus Company customers use the
ITSO Ltd smartcard.
[77]
In November 2014 almost all Oxford Bus Company buses within the Oxford SmartZone area have free WiFi installed.
[78][79][80]
Hybrid
buses, which use battery power with a small diesel generator, began to
be used in Oxford on 15 July 2010, on Stagecoach Oxfordshire's Route 1
(City centre – Cowley – Blackbird Leys). Both Stagecoach and Oxford Bus
Company now operate numerous hybrid buses in the city.
[81] In 2014 Oxford Bus introduced a fleet of 20 new buses with
flywheel energy storage (FES) on the services it operates under contract for Brookes University.
[82] Whereas electric hybrids use battery storage and an electric motor to save fuel, FES uses a high-speed flywheel.
Coach
The
Oxford to London coach route offers a frequent coach service to London. The X90 Oxford-London service is operated by the
Oxford Bus Company, whilst the Oxford Tube is operated by
Stagecoach Oxfordshire. The Oxford Bus Company also runs the Airline services to
Heathrow and
Gatwick airports.
There is a bus station at
Gloucester Green, used mainly by the London and airport buses,
National Express coaches and other long-distance buses including the
route X5 to Milton Keynes and
Cambridge.
Cycling
Among UK cities, Oxford has the second highest percentage of people cycling to work.
[83]
Rail
In 1844, the
Great Western Railway linked Oxford with
London (Paddington) via
Didcot and
Reading; in 1851, the
London and North Western Railway opened its own route from Oxford to
London (Euston), via
Bicester,
Bletchley and
Watford; and in 1864 a third route, also to Paddington, running via
Thame,
High Wycombe and
Maidenhead, was provided; this was shortened in 1906 by the opening of a direct route between High Wycombe and London (Paddington) by way of
Denham.
The distance from Oxford to London was 78 miles (125.5 km) via
Bletchley; 63.5 miles (102.2 km) via Didcot and Reading; 63.25 miles
(101.8 km) via Thame and Maidenhead; and 55.75 miles (89.7 km) via Denham. Only the original (Didcot) route is still in use for its full length, portions of the others remain.
There were also routes to the north and west. The line to
Banbury was opened in 1850, and was extended to
Birmingham in 1852; a route to
Worcester opened in 1853. A branch to
Witney was opened in 1862, which was extended to
Fairford in 1873. The line to Witney and Fairford closed in 1962, but the others remain open.
Oxford has had three main railway stations. The first was opened at Grandpont in 1844, but this was a terminus, inconvenient for routes to the north; it was replaced by the
present station on
Park End Street in 1852 with the opening of the Birmingham route. Another terminus, at
Rewley Road, was opened in 1851 to serve the Bletchley route; this station closed in 1951. There have also been a number of local railway stations, all of which are now closed.
Oxford railway station is half a mile (about 1 km) west of the city centre. The station is served by numerous routes, including
CrossCountry services to as far away as
Manchester and
Edinburgh,
Great Western Railway (who operate the station) services to
London Paddington and other destinations such as
Worcester,
Banbury and occasional
Chiltern Railways services to
Birmingham.
The present railway station opened in 1852. Oxford is the junction for a short branch line to
Bicester,
which was upgraded to 100 mph (161 km/h) during an 18-month closure in
2014/2015 – and is anticipated to be extended to form the
East West Rail Link.
[96] Chiltern Railways now connects Oxford to
London Marylebone, having sponsored the building of about 400 metres of new track between
Bicester Town and the
Chiltern Main Line southwards in 2014. The route serves
High Wycombe and
London Marylebone, avoiding
London Paddington and
Didcot Parkway. The
East West Rail Link is proposed to continue through
Milton Keynes,
Bedford,
[97] Cambridge,
[98] and ultimately
Ipswich and
Norwich,
[99] thus providing alternative to connecting within
London. The
Varsity Line between Oxford and
Cambridge is planned to link
Bedford with a short gap to be reconstructed to
Sandy then a rail link between the two cities will be restored via
Hitchin.
Oxford is also served by
Oxford Parkway railway station which is situated in a rural area just outside the city boundary. It was opened in October 2015.
Rail–airport links
From
Oxford station direct trains run to
Hayes & Harlington where interchange with the
Heathrow Connect train links with
London Heathrow Airport. Passengers can change at
Reading for connecting trains to
Gatwick Airport. Some
CrossCountry Trains run direct services to
Birmingham International as well as further afield
Southampton Airport Parkway.
River and canal
Oxford was historically an important port on the
River Thames, with this section of the river being called
the Isis; the
Oxford-Burcot Commission in the 17th century attempted to improve navigation to Oxford.
[100] Iffley Lock and
Osney Lock lie within the bounds of the city. In the 18th century the
Oxford Canal was built to connect Oxford with
the Midlands.
[101]
Commercial traffic has given way to recreational use of the river and canal. Oxford was the original base of
Salters Steamers
(founded in 1858), which was a leading racing-boat-builder that played
an important role in popularising pleasure boating on the Upper Thames.
The firm runs a regular service from
Folly Bridge downstream to
Abingdon and beyond.
Roads
Oxford's central location on several transport routes means that it has long been a
crossroads city with many
coaching inns, although road traffic is now strongly discouraged from using the city centre.
The
Oxford Ring Road surrounds the city centre and close suburbs
Marston,
Iffley,
Cowley and
Headington; it consists of the
A34 to the west, a 330-yard section of the A44, the
A40 north and north-east,
A4142/
A423 to the east. It is a dual carriageway, except for a 330-yard section of the A40 where two residential
service roads adjoin, and was completed in 1966.
A roads
The main roads to/from Oxford are:
- A34 – a trunk route connecting the North and Midlands to the port of Southampton. It leaves J9 of the M40 north of Oxford, passes west of Oxford to Newbury and Winchester to the south and joins the M3 12.7 miles (20.4 km) north of Southampton. Since the completion of the Newbury bypass in 1998, this section of the A34 has been an entirely grade separated dual carriageway. Historically the A34 led to Bicester, Banbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham and Manchester, but since the completion of the M40 it disappears at J9 and re-emerges 50 miles (80 km) north at Solihull.
- A40 – leading east dualled to J8 of the M40 motorway, then an alternative route to High Wycombe and London; leading west part-dualled to Witney then bisecting Cheltenham, Gloucester, Monmouth, Abergavenny, passing Brecon, Llandovery, Carmarthen and Haverfordwest to reach Fishguard.
- A44 – which begins in Oxford, leading past Evesham to Worcester, Hereford and Aberystwyth.
- A420 – which also begins in Oxford and leads to Bristol passing Swindon and Chippenham.
Motorway
The city
is served by the M40 motorway, which connects London to Birmingham. The
M40 approached Oxford in 1974, leading from London to
Waterstock,
where the A40 continued to Oxford. When the M40 extension to Birmingham
was completed in January 1991, it curved sharply north, and a mile of
the old motorway became a spur. The M40 comes no closer than 6 miles
(9.7 km) away from the city centre, curving to the east of
Otmoor. The M40 meets the A34 to the north of Oxford.
