{"id":11671,"date":"2024-03-08T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/?p=11671"},"modified":"2024-03-07T17:06:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:06:35","slug":"doing-something-about-oxfords-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/2024\/03\/08\/doing-something-about-oxfords-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Doing something\u2019 about Oxford\u2019s transport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Zuhura Plummer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zuhura is Campaign Director for Oxfordshire Liveable Streets<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to Oxford\u2019s traffic, everyone agrees there is a problem. I have yet to meet someone who loves sitting on a stationary A34, or enjoys their car filling with fumes from the car in front while crawling along at 5 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people would go further, and say that something should be done about this problem. However, this is where agreement breaks down \u2013 because finding workable solutions which will actually have an impact is hard. It is much easier to reject every proposed solution, because in the absence of magic wands, all solutions have some downsides. But endlessly rejecting every plan is the same as saying \u2018let\u2019s do nothing\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing nothing is not an option<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The amount of housing being built, and planned, in this county is staggering \u2013 100,000 new homes this decade. Complicated housing formulas from Westminster, combined with Oxfordshire\u2019s attractions for science, technology and industry, mean we are predicted to have a 15% rise in population by 2030. This is on top of the 11% rise in population we had in the 2010s. While the District Councils give permission for this housing \u2013 grudgingly or enthusiastically \u2013 the County Council is left with the unenviable task of making transport work. Combine the growth in housing with a rise in the average number of cars per household, now at 1.42 in the southeast, and you have a lot more cars on your roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We carry on saying something should be done, but never agreeing on the solutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

\"Back<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Part of the problem is that this change is not sudden. The housing goes up bit by bit, the traffic gets slightly worse, we adjust our expectations, but we don\u2019t feel the impacts in one go. We carry on saying something should be done, but never agreeing on the solutions. If we could fast forward to 2030 and feel<\/em> the gridlock, most of us would conclude that getting a plan in place, however imperfect, is better than doing nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that plan is going to have to involve more than just asking people politely if they would mind awfully getting out of their cars and onto buses or bikes. We\u2019re all going to have to acknowledge that buses can\u2019t be speeded up, and cycling can\u2019t be safer, until there are fewer cars on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the solutions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is hard. Housing, jobs and people\u2019s identities have been shaped around driving. But there are many ways that the numbers of cars carrying one person could be reduced. One of the best is sharing car journeys. This will work at large employers, and at schools with high car drop-off rates (overwhelmingly private schools). It saves money, means fewer driving hours for workers or parents, and you might even meet someone nice along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a choice about the world we create.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Central Oxford employers will have to step up and make this happen. If colleges and private schools want all the advantages of their lovely central Oxford locations, and they want staff, they need to make lift sharing<\/a> easy and buy into one of the excellent, secure lift-sharing services. There are many companies and organisations that can afford to do this. Oxfordshire\u2019s 2030 population cannot afford for them not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a choice about the world we create. If we make changes to speed up buses and get people walking and cycling, they will. If we do nothing, and cars remain the default way to get around, critics can say this proves that change is impossible. Ask anyone who has made hard, long-term changes in their own life \u2013 if you do not do anything different, nothing different will happen. That is one thing we can be sure of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image credits<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Main photo: Bill D’Alessandro
Kids cycling: Jamie Clarke
Car-filled street: Zuhura Plummer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Zuhura Plummer<\/p>\n

When it comes to Oxford\u2019s traffic, everyone agrees there is a problem. I have yet to meet someone who loves sitting on a stationary A34, or enjoys their car filling with fumes from the car in front while crawling along at 5 mph. What should be done about this problem?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,139,174],"class_list":["post-11671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-active-travel","tag-cycling-in-oxford","tag-oxford-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11677,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671\/revisions\/11677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}