Hi:

My friend got an offer in Oxford for work. However, he wants to live in
London (Paddington area) and commute to Oxford for work. Does anyone
have experience wit h the following route, and if so what are the pros
and cons of everything.

Thank you for the advice.

Regards,
George

In message .com, at
08:54:36 on Sun, 28 Aug 2005, Pred02 remarked:
My friend got an offer in Oxford for work. However, he wants to live in
London (Paddington area) and commute to Oxford for work. Does anyone
have experience wit h the following route, and if so what are the pros
and cons of everything.

Oxford Tube (bus): Cheap and relatively efficient, not sure where
nearest stop is.
Train: Bigger and more expensive, probably faster.
Car: Going against the London tidal flow (once you've go to the A40)
but will be very slow at the Oxford end. [Not quite sure how the
bus deals with that - are there lots of bus lanes?] Parking a
nightmare unless his work has provision, but if the work is more
than a couple of miles from the bus/train station, having a car
could save that leg twice a day.

--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message .com, at
08:54:36 on Sun, 28 Aug 2005, Pred02 remarked:
My friend got an offer in Oxford for work. However, he wants to live in
London (Paddington area) and commute to Oxford for work. Does anyone
have experience wit h the following route, and if so what are the pros
and cons of everything.

Oxford Tube (bus): Cheap and relatively efficient, not sure where
nearest stop is.
Train: Bigger and more expensive, probably faster.
Car: Going against the London tidal flow (once you've go to the A40)
but will be very slow at the Oxford end. [Not quite sure how the
bus deals with that - are there lots of bus lanes?] Parking a
nightmare unless his work has provision, but if the work is more
than a couple of miles from the bus/train station, having a car
could save that leg twice a day.

Driving into Oxford is horrendous. Is your friend working in the centre of
Oxford or on the outskirts. There are bus lanes down the Banbury and (I
think) Woodstock roads from the north, using the Peartree or Water Eaton
park and ride buses. I think the London Road (A40) through Kidlington has
bus lanes in places, but they are certainly not along the whole length;
that's accessible via theThornhill P&R buses. The Abingdon Road (Redbridge
P&R) is a dead loss: for as long as I've live near Oxford, it has been
disrupted by one set of roadworks or another. Since the road is only just
wide enough for one lane in each direction, there's no room for a bus lane,
and at present it's single alternate line traffic around the Donnington
Bridge Road junction. The Botley Road (Seacourt P&R) has a bus lane along
most of its length, but the last half mile or so from Osney Mead under the
railway bridge to the open area opposite the Said Business School has no bus
lane and gets clogged solid with traffic. Consequently, most of the P&R
buses don't have much of a speed advantage over cars. The main advantage of
them is to avoid needing to park in the city centre rather than to get there
quicker.

It's a great shame that there isn't a railway station adjoining the
Redbridge P&R to ferry people into Oxford station to cover the critical
couple of miles through the outskirts - and similarly one at Kidlington
would be good to take people from the north.

Has your friend thought of getting a collapsible bike and cycling into
Oxford from a P&R car park? A couple of the car parks (and I think Thornhill
on the east side is one of them) have just stopped charging for parking so
it wouldn't even cost him anything. Sadly the two P&R car parks that I would
use (Redbridge and Seacourt) are run by the city council rather than county
council who will continue to charge for parking as well as the bus.

My friend most definantely will not obtain the car for purposes of
commuting, acknowleding the cons mentioned above. He will use the
train, however, he is interested in the overall experience of
commutting that I am sure many Londoners share that are working in
Oxford.

Again, he would like to live in London, however, he is trying to
evaluate if its worthwhile the commute, or just its better to move up
to Oxford and then go to London for the weekends.

Thank you!

"Pred02" wrote in message
oups.com...
My friend most definantely will not obtain the car for purposes of
commuting, acknowleding the cons mentioned above. He will use the
train, however, he is interested in the overall experience of
commutting that I am sure many Londoners share that are working in
Oxford.

Again, he would like to live in London, however, he is trying to
evaluate if its worthwhile the commute, or just its better to move up
to Oxford and then go to London for the weekends.

OK. Oxford railway station is about 10 minutes' walk into the city centre
(taking the centre to be Carfax crossroads). If his office is in the centre,
there are buses from the station or from the bus stops nearby near the Jam
Factory / Said Business School. There may also be buses from here to other
parts of Oxford; failing that it may be necessary to change at Gloucester
Green bus station off George Street.

Looking at www.nationalrail.co.uk "Planning Your Journey", trains take about
an hour. Some are direct and others require a change at Reading or Didcot -
surprisingly changing doesn't seem to increase the journey time much. There
are several that would get him to Oxford between 08:30 and 09:00.

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 18:12:17 +0100, "Martin Underwood"
wrote:

Driving into Oxford is horrendous. Is your friend working in the centre of
Oxford or on the outskirts. There are bus lanes down the Banbury and (I
think) Woodstock roads from the north, using the Peartree or Water Eaton
park and ride buses. I think the London Road (A40) through Kidlington has
bus lanes in places, but they are certainly not along the whole length;
that's accessible via theThornhill P&R buses.

I've seen Oxford Tube and Oxford Citylink coaches using Headley Way on
occasions, presumably going to Summertown and then down the Banbury
Road, to avoid congestion, or else down Marston Road to St Clements. I
don't know how regular this is, but it was a couple of years ago..
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:33:56 +0100, "Martin Underwood" a@b wrote:

OK. Oxford railway station is about 10 minutes' walk into the city centre
(taking the centre to be Carfax crossroads). If his office is in the centre,
there are buses from the station or from the bus stops nearby near the Jam
Factory / Said Business School. There may also be buses from here to other
parts of Oxford; failing that it may be necessary to change at Gloucester
Green bus station off George Street.

Actually, if he takes the frequent No.5 bus from the station, the
easiest place to change to a northbound bus is below the castle, where
you can cross the road to the other stop. Gloucester Green is not a
lot of use. The 14 bus to JRH also goes up the Banbury Road, but is
less frequent.

Have a look at http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/ for details of services,
and fare deals. A Freedom ticket will almost certainly be worth
having.
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org

On 28 Aug 2005 12:07:49 -0700, "Pred02" wrote:

My friend most definantely will not obtain the car for purposes of
commuting, acknowleding the cons mentioned above. He will use the
train, however, he is interested in the overall experience of
commutting that I am sure many Londoners share that are working in
Oxford.

I would think that, assuming the timetable fits (as it is, of course,
geared up to people travelling *to* London), it will be a reasonable
experience. Generally, commuting against the flow gets you extra
capacity and a more intensive service, but not the loadings you get
into London.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:33:56 +0100, Martin Underwood wrote:

OK. Oxford railway station is about 10 minutes' walk into the city centre
(taking the centre to be Carfax crossroads). If his office is in the
centre, there are buses from the station or from the bus stops nearby near
the Jam Factory / Said Business School. There may also be buses from here
to other parts of Oxford; failing that it may be necessary to change at
Gloucester Green bus station off George Street.

Gloucester Green is easy walking distance from the station.

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:04:59 +0100, steve
wrote:

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:33:56 +0100, Martin Underwood wrote:

OK. Oxford railway station is about 10 minutes' walk into the city centre
(taking the centre to be Carfax crossroads). If his office is in the
centre, there are buses from the station or from the bus stops nearby near
the Jam Factory / Said Business School. There may also be buses from here
to other parts of Oxford; failing that it may be necessary to change at
Gloucester Green bus station off George Street.

Gloucester Green is easy walking distance from the station.

Having looked at the latest Oxford Bus Co timetables, I see that only
the 14/14A, and 5/5A serve the station and any point west of Magdalen
Street or Queen Street nowadays. The Botley Road services, Park & Ride
and UniversityBus go past on the main road, of course. The 14 is a
half-hourly service, so in its absence a 5 to Carfax and a walk down
the Cornmarket to Magdalen Street is the best way of heading north.

Gloucester Green only gives you out-of-town buses.
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org