Roads that serve more than just car-drivers (Roads)

Wed 5 Nov, 11:15

I agree with you Joshua. A ticket from Bologna to Siena by train is about £25 and it doesn't matter when you book. Often when I travel, I don't know until a few days before. I don't understand why it's cheaper to book in advance. It's not as though they increase capacity to meet demand in the UK. When I first moved to Charlbury in 1999, I sold my car with the intention of using train and bike to commute to Headington. Within 3 months, I had to buy a car as I had a warning from my employer for repeated lateness due to the unreliability of the trains. Poor public transport pushes more people back to their cars despite their preference for public transport and the traffic chaos in small cities like Oxford is the direct result.

Wed 5 Nov, 10:38

Joshua, check out taking the train from Oxford Parkway to Marylebone. You can get cheap tickets by planning ahead. I go next week for £ 18 return. 

Tue 4 Nov, 18:18 (last edited on Tue 4 Nov, 18:21)

In all fairness Ghent is a city with all the required amenities within cycling distance and with huge investment in cycling infrastructure as is the case all over Belgium. The truth is the UK is getting it wrong when it comes to encouraging people to get out of their cars. You speak of buses and rail here in Charlbury, thats all well and good if you’re workplace is on the train line or the limited bus routes.

In addition rail prices are through the roof, my wife sometimes goes to London for work and the ticket this week is £100 return. Her colleague paid £220 return from Bristol to London. Compare that to rail prices on Europe.. I travelled from Amsterdam to Antwerp for €20! 

Its all good and well if your life situation allows you not to have a car but the truth is for most of us this is not the case. 

Tue 28 Oct, 11:14

Urging Charlbury to be more like a City with a population of around 272,657 to 275,037 people? Shows how out of touch the anti car brigade are with reality.

Mon 27 Oct, 16:19 (last edited on Mon 27 Oct, 19:04)

I've been reading this forum whilst travelling across Europe. 

Nearly all successful communities face the same problems as us, finite road space, but more people wanting to drive and typically using ever larger cars.

The best communities (Copenhagen & Paris - but also smaller places like Ghent, Bruges and Gubbio) have restricted car usage. Most public and on-street parking is typically expensive and/or time limited.

These places are not anti-motorist, but they recognise car drivers are one set of road users alongside others. 

The places that manage cars are much more pleasant. I see more people walking and cycling as fewer cars are clogging the streets. As more people can access the shared spaces shops are better used. In Charlbury we have options like bus and rail (it's one reason we moved here a decade ago).

The places which have not managed their cars become ever more congested and polluted, yet the arguments continue that they need yet more road space given over to cars and even more parking. The whole environment degrades and yet car drivers continue to be annoyed.

I'd urge Charlbury to be more like Ghent.