Air
The air traffic control tower at London Oxford Airport.
Buses
A hybrid bus on an Oxford Bus Company park and ride service
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)
A flywheel energy storage bus on an Oxford Bus Co BrookesBus service
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
There were also routes to the north and west. The line to Banbury was opened in 1850,[88] and was extended to Birmingham in 1852;[89] a route to Worcester opened in 1853.[90] A branch to Witney was opened in 1862,[91] which was extended to Fairford in 1873.[92] 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,[93] but this was a terminus, inconvenient for routes to the north;[88] it was replaced by the present station on Park End Street in 1852 with the opening of the Birmingham route.[89] Another terminus, at Rewley Road, was opened in 1851 to serve the Bletchley route;[94] this station closed in 1951.[95] 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.
The M40 extension
No comments:
Post a Comment