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[email protected] · October 13th 17, 01:37 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , (Someone
Somewhere) wrote:

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.

Sorry, but that is as ridiculous as saying you will drive even though 10% of
the time traffic will be so bad that you will be seriously late to work.
Non-trivial rain occurs as commuter time well under 10% of the time. It
isn't that hard to get good cycling raingear either.

Look at Cambridge commuting if you don't believe me. Traffic is worse on wet
days but that makes cycling even more advantageous in travel times.

--
Colin Rosenstiel