Oxford Congestion Charge

[IanF]

Oxford have introduced a “temporary” congestion charge on a few roads for 1-2 years.. £5 per day (or visit? Unsure which).. guess this won’t be the only place to introduce them.

https://news.sky.com/story/money-latest ... g-13040934

[Mito Man]

Might as well apply it to the whole city and make it £15 so we get the trivial nonsense out of the way.

That said I now think the Blackwall tunnel charge is the greatest thing ever. The charge more than makes up for the significantly lower fuel consumption on my car as traffic is on a par with Covid levels now.

[Gavster]

Getting through Blackwall/Silvertown is a breeze every time now, I bloody love it too, none of those massive backlogs of people queueing on a Sunday evening any more.

[dinny_g]

£5 per day (or visit? Unsure which)..

It's £5 per day - I'm going to an event at the New Theatre next Tuesday so this will apply to me.

[Jobbo]

£5 per day (or visit? Unsure which)..

It's £5 per day - I'm going to an event at the New Theatre next Tuesday so this will apply to me.

Due to the locations which trigger the charge you might be alright. Come in from the north down the Woodstock or Banbury Road to St Giles and park somewhere down there or in the Gloucester Green car park and you won't pass one. Which seems somewhat ridiculous, but hey.

It starts on Wed 29 October so you're a day before it comes into force anyway.

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transpor ... -locations

[dinny_g]

OK, that sounds better - we're coming in from the A34 anyway.

I just scan read the details and thought it was starting today.

[Jobbo]

Coming from the A34 once it's in force you would go past the Thames Street one based on where it's shown on the map even if you park in the Westgate car park, but that seems an anomaly. Why should people coming from the north to a main public car park not get charged but those coming from the south will?

[dinny_g]

I think there is major roadworks on the west side of town and this plan is aimed at alleviating congestion from that side ?

[Jobbo]

That's the Botley Road railway bridge works which has been closed for ages and is due to be finished October 2026 I think. It's certainly styled as linked but it's not really.

[IanF]

If this becomes common, and I think it will , we’re seeing the introduction of an additional tax i.e. A road usage charge, and if this is the case then I’d much rather have a central database that charges as opposed to having multiple apps and forgotten or inadvertent entries into charge areas. Basically treat driving the same way as we currently do with our mobile phones, where you just receive one bill per month that’s paid by direct debit, with peak and off peak charges, and less likelihood to receive a FPN.

[dinny_g]

I don't like the way you can't go "Here's my reg plate, do I own charge" ?? You have to pay the charge, whether you owe it or not.

I know for most cases it's obvious but not all, particularly if your journey takes you on or about the fringes of the zone.

You define the zones and you define the costs and you run the cameras which you can use to to fine for non payment but NOT to tell me what I owe ?

[Jobbo]

I don't like the way you can't go "Here's my reg plate, do I own charge" ?? You have to pay the charge, whether you owe it or not.

I know for most cases it's obvious but not all, particularly if your journey takes you on or about the fringes of the zone.

You define the zones and you define the costs and you run the cameras which you can use to to fine for non payment but NOT to tell me what I owe ?

I remember thinking the same thing when the London Congestion Charge came in. It felt like an honesty box where you had no idea whether you were actually liable but since there was no way to check, the only safe thing to do was to pay the £5. At least it meant traffic was nice and light for me to drive in to work.

[Explosive Newt]

I can kind of see where they are coming from - Oxford traffic is absolutely appalling because cars are funnelled towards the centre, and worse now because of LTNs coming in.

That said, a Cambridge congestion charge was tried and flatly rejected as it penalised the lowest-earning workers who commuted in from outside Cambridge rather than the wealhy folk who lived in Cambridge and cycled.

[IanF]

I can kind of see where they are coming from - Oxford traffic is absolutely appalling because cars are funnelled towards the centre, and worse now because of LTNs coming in.

That said, a Cambridge congestion charge was tried and flatly rejected as it penalised the lowest-earning workers who commuted in from outside Cambridge rather than the wealhy folk who lived in Cambridge and cycled.

LTNs have been proven unsuccessful in London, it’d be better to scrap them to help ease congestion throughout the town.. but will never happen in “15 minute” town and besides, it would mean less revenue

[dinny_g]

In the end, we took the Park and Ride (which was a faff in itself)

They're introducing Free Transfers into town from Oxford Parkway. They had big signs up and also, put a plastic cover over the "Parking and Bus" option on the ticket machines so we bought parking only and waited. The bus driver said we had to buy a "Parking and Bus" ticket (and wouldn't sell us one on the bus. )
The free journeys starts today but they had the signs up yesterday and blocked the purchase but didn't tell the drivers (Left hand, have you met right hand)

Anyhoo, we got our ticket £4 for the evening waited 3 mins for a bus into town and about 1 minute for a bus back. 15 minute trip each way. don't know why I thought about parking

And the Australian Pink Floyd Experience are as good as ever (even if the acoustics in the venue isn't up to Milton Keynes Theatre)

[Jobbo]

15 mins into town on the bus sounds quick. I generally used the Seacourt Park and Ride down Botley Road until the road closure under the railway bridge because it's the closest and quickest on the bus. Was still a total faff to get the right ticket though - I was staying overnight and not being able to buy overnight parking on the bus I had to wake up at 4am to extend my parking in an app FFS

[dinny_g]

- But I thought getting out of our cars onto Public Transport was easy...

[Jobbo]

It ought to be free to park at the park & ride - that's the whole point of it, to incentivise people not to drive into town. I'm sure it used to be but I rarely use it and never used to (once in 2001) - I generally drive into town because so many people have been dissuaded, it's always easy enough to park.