London Banter - View Single Post

Someone Somewhere · October 13th 17, 06:33 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On 13/10/2017 02:32, wrote:
In article ,
(GeorgeK) wrote:

Thank you all for your replies. My wife doesn't drive but we are willing
to live on the suburbs of Oxford provided that she can take at least the
bus to work which is at the city center. We are mainly interested in
living near a city with certain amenities (restaurants, bars, shopping
street, etc).

The idea of staying at Headington doesn't sound bad as it seems to be
less than 30min from the city center by bus. From your replies, it
seems that the 6th zone (Ickenham, Hillington or Rickmansworth) is the
closest I can get by car to London before being stuck in the jam.

When I checked the commute from Didcot to London by train it wasn't
faster (or cheaper) compared to Oxford. You reckon that Didcot would be
more convenient though?

Has you wife actually looked at the cycling option? Oxford is only second to
Cambridge for UK cycle commuting and up to 5 miles is an easy cycle commute.
My wife doesn't drive and regularly cycles to her job 2.5-3 miles away as I
did when working even though I drive.

The problem with relying on cyclng is that it's lovely when the weather
is, and when it isn't it's bloody horrible.

I live on what is allegedly one of the busiest cycle routes in the UK
and it's incredibly noticeable how usage drops when the weather is less
than clement.

Because of this I'd seriously argue that a modal shift to cycling is
impossible - you still have to dimension the transport infrastructure
for those bad days, and if you've just taken a chunk out of it to
accomodate the cycle lane then for periods of the year (e.g. "February")
you're actually making things worse, not better.