Oxford Civic Society

Oxford Station Master Plan

Response to Consultation – January 2010

GENERAL COMMENTS

• The Society welcomes the long-overdue attention being paid to the needs of the railway companies and the increasing number of passengers using Oxford station but, having considered the consultation documents, believes that both the city and county councils should ensure that they and the railway bodies are thinking more broadly about the effects of redevelopment in the wider area, and the present inadequacies in access to and from the rail station. As formulated, the Station Master Plan appears to ignore the plans for redevelopment of Oxford’s West End, and may be storing up problems which will emerge when proposals for traffic management in the area, particularly Becket Street, are forthcoming. 

• The proposals are unlikely to solve as many problems as the consultation suggests they will. Given the expectations for further growth in rail services and passenger numbers at Oxford station, the proposals are a poor alternative to a new station at Oxpens. There is concern that there is insufficient integration between the proposals for a new southern platform and those for two new northern platforms to serve the Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 proposals, to enable a truly integrated solution to be developed satisfactorily. There is also concern that the costs of providing the minimum considered necessary to create a properly functioning station and interchange will mount up, whilst still failing to provide a really adequate solution to the challenges of growing numbers of passengers and trains serving an increasingly wide range of destinations.

• The Station Master Plan also overlooks the potential for passenger demand and access to become redistributed, so that the proposed southern entrance/exit (and possible increased use of the western entrance/exit) may prove to be more popular than anticipated. This could lead to unacceptable congestion within the station, for example by increasing activity on Platform 1, already heavily congested at times.

• It is unclear whether any of the layouts proposed for the forecourt do anything to permit more bus services to be operated to and from the station. The Society considers that provision for direct access by bus to the station from all areas of Oxford city should be a key requirement of the Master Plan.

• There will be a need for short-stay pick up/drop off/ waiting spaces for cars on the south side, to accompany the new southern entrance/exit. There will also be a need to compensate for the reductions in spaces in the present short-stay car park, arising out of the Evergreen 3 proposals.

• There should be endeavours to eliminate the kind of conditions witnessed at present, whereby competition for space among taxis, buses and motorists seeking to pick up or set down, or access the short-stay car park create a melee and confusion.

• The crowded conditions on Platform 1 will mean difficult journeys on foot at times for passengers traversing platform 1 in either direction between the proposed southern entrance/exit and platform, and any of the northbound platforms. It is unclear how this can be resolved, and gives further weight to the view that these proposals are an unsatisfactory attempt to address a narrow set of train capacity issues, as opposed to passenger capacity issues, at the station.

RESPONSES TO SPECIFIC CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

THE MASTER PLAN

Q. What do you perceive as existing problems with the station as it is now, which you would like the Master Plan to seek to solve? 

• Enable more bus services to serve the station.
• Connections with the city are poor, by all modes, and should be improved. The walking and cycling environment is particularly poor.
• Reduce the need for those walking to/from the station via Botley Road to pass under the rail bridge via the northside footway.
• Reduce the need for those cycling to/from the station via Botley Road to pass under the rail bridge via the carriageway.
• Address issues of vehicle congestion on Hythe Bridge Street, to assist cars and taxis and to improve access along Hythe Bridge Street for walkers and cyclists.
• Remove or reduce unnecessary delays due to traffic signals.
• Provide more cycle parking at a variety of locations around the station, including the southern extension and the Chiltern Railways terminal, and of a variety of standards (including some top quality cycle parking for which a fee is charged).
• Reduce passenger congestion on Platform 1.
• Improve coordinated bus and rail information. 

Q. What would you prefer Oxford station to be like in the future?

• Easy and convenient transfer should be provided between all trains especially for the disabled.
• Good interchange between trains and buses and other local transport services with minimal exposure of passengers to the weather, and with normally accepted provision of customer services.
• Better integration of the station with the community, and all the functions of an efficient multi-modal transport interchange.

Q. What are the Society’s views on a western entrance to the station?

There is a small role for a west side access. It should enable passengers from/to Botley Road and Roger Dudman Way to access the station without needing to pass beneath the Botley Road railway bridge. Its utility would be increased by the ability to take a taxi from there.

A west side access would need to be accompanied by measures to improve the ambience of Roger Dudman Way, to remove the hostile aspects of the location, perhaps to provide CCTV surveillance and to incorporate the Network Rail facilities into the station and make the location more welcoming.

THE NEW PLATFORM

Q. Would you like a retail unit on the platform?

A. A ‘snackery’ with drinks and light snacks only

Q. Would you prefer to purchase a ticket from the new platform or the main station building?

A. ‘Yes’ to both new platform and main building – but only a ticket machine need be provided at the new south side platform entrance.

Q. Please rank these items in order of importance from 1 (low) to 5 (high)

A.        Parking at the station                          3

            Drop-off in Becket Street                   5

            Info screens in Frideswide Sq.           2

            Large waiting room                             4

            Platform shelters                                 5

STATION FORECOURT

Of the proposals for the forecourt, Proposal C is preferred. The objectives should be to maximise the number of bus stops on the central island, and to enable more bus services to be operated to/from the station; also to provide integrated bus/rail information and local street maps, which include city-wide maps of the bus routes operated by all companies, not just of local bus stops.

Clarification is needed, concerning the provision of a set-down area alongside the main station entrance. Such a facility is needed, as is arrangement of taxi queuing to enable taxi pick-up and set-down to take place outside the main station entrance. The leading taxi on the rank should be in sight of emerging customers so that the driver can move forward to pick up the fare as soon as the customer arrives at the pick-up point. A shelter will be needed to protect customers from the weather while waiting for taxis.

Adequate levels of short term car parking must be provided, and any short term spaces given up at the existing location (e.g. for Chiltern platforms) must be replaced by new short-term parking spaces elsewhere, most likely on the south side of Botley Road. Some at least of the existing drop-off and short-stay parking area must be retained as a convenient access point for disabled travellers, including those going to/from the proposed Chiltern Railways services. 

At present the short-term car parking is at times used for rail replacement bus services when railway works are taking place. Given that there may be an increase in the number of bus substitutions as Great Western electrification takes place, the effect of reducing the short term car park on such operations needs to be considered.

There should be no loss of cycle parking spaces, preferably more cycle parking should be provided at a variety of locations around the station, and of a variety of standards (including some top quality cycle parking for which a fee is charged). This is absolutely necessary, to cater for as well as encourage growth in rail patronage. At the southern entrance/exit there should be more cycle parking than that proposed.

Walking to/from the station from all directions is unsatisfactory and a number of measures are required to reduce inconvenience and discomfort, and the deterrent effect this has on rail travel. Furthermore, many visitors to Oxford access the city by walking from the rail station, and the ambience of the walk routes needs to be improved.

The environment of the open space at the station needs to complement the quality being aspired to for Frideswide Square, but this should be achieved with the minimum of street furniture and other street clutter.

THE TRANSFER DECK 

Preferred options are the new bridge. It is not possible to state a preference at this stage for either bridge option A or B. However, the two station entrances (main and south) will need to be comfortably integrated from the point of view of the passengers; therefore the transfer deck should be enclosed. The widths of the two sides of the transfer deck need to ensure overcrowding will not be experienced, and should anticipate that the popularity of a south side entrance will grow.

The sketches of the options for the transfer deck are not sufficiently detailed to permit a view to be formed about their design at this stage. However, the intention for Frideswide Square is that it should be an attractive place, and the design of the transfer deck should help fulfil that objective.

Oxford Civic Society

January 2010