Reconnecting Oxford
@ReconnectingOx
We want a better future for Oxford - for residents, visitors, and businesses. We support proposals that are rooted in evidence and backed by communities.
Local authorities have become drunk on power, using so-called Experimental (because they aren't) Traffic Regulation Orders to force through mass road closures - with almost no checks or balances to reign them in. We're calling on the @transportgovuk to bin them. #AbolishETROs
If implemented, Oxford's Workplace Parking levy has been estimated to cost the NHS trust running the city's hospitals between £1.2 - £2.2 million per year. Still, it makes a change for hammering teachers who work at the city's suburban schools. Source: ouh.nhs.uk/media/mqqdno52…
This time on Wednesday morning (the day AFTER the schools broke up), this road was rammed. The main thing that's changed is that the doctors' strike started today (Friday). Yet more evidence the planned congestion charge will indirectly clobber the John Radcliffe's workforce.
They won the regulatory capture* award for convincing Oxfordshire County Council that their economic needs triumph above everyone elses. They also won the corporate welfare* award for getting everyone else to pay for their electric bus fleet. *satire. Not really.
Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel have been shortlisted for UK Large Bus Operator of the year in the Route One Awards, dubbed ‘The Oscars of the bus industry’. The awards recognise achievements, innovation and operational excellence.
Oxford's congestion emergency is in full swing again.
OCC's intellectually incoherent position on congestion charge sites, part gazillion and one. Equality impact assessment: the scheme will improve road safety. Road safety report: the scheme risks causing crashes at a school entrance - but we'll do nothing to mitigate against it.
Environmental consultants @RicardoGroupPlc were engaged by @OxfordshireCC in May 2025 to work on a new evaluation of the planned congestion charge. On 23 June, the consultation opened, with their report included. How much time did OCC spend using it to inform their proposals?
This may have something to do with the congestion charge sites being no where near most major bus routes (I.e. Headington) or congestion hotspots (such as, erm, Headington). There are no buses running along two out of the six filter roads. It's almost as if facts don't matter.
So this guff about making buses more efficient by reducing travel time is, in fact, a lie?
When OCC's consultants were asked to predict the impact of the congestion charge, they modelled the likely impact on road speeds. These findings didn't make the report's final cut. Here's some of their unpublished findings, focusing on road speed impacts (to the nearest 1 kph).
If Oxford City Council can send out a glossy four page flyer about a "first draft local plan 2024" to households across the city, then why isn't Oxfordshire County Council doing something similar in relation to its congestion charge proposals?
Sounds familiar.
Southwark asked local residents what they think of the LTNs and road closures in Dulwich, and we told them. They just decided to totally ignore it.
Oxfordshire indie Councillor David Henwood has found out @OxfordshireCC began talking to the Department of Transport about congestion charge signage on 2 April. The "pre-election" period, when councils need to keep schtum on controversial new policies, started around 25 March.
Supporters include an investor in a cargo bike company, a long-term green party candidate, a company that directly benefits from hampering access by car (another cargo bike company). We guess a few folks are from influential lobby group, Cyclox, too? Diverse bunch, aren't they?
'Support is growing' for Oxford's temporary congestion charge, say civil society and business leaders as they sign an open letter to Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet. This follows transport leaders expressing their support recently. bsky.app/profile/oxford…
6.41 versus 7.14am, Marsh Lane. Not busy road versus rammed road, a few minutes later. It's run up to shift change time at the John Radcliffe. Obversing vehicle occupants, it's obvious that a big chunk of them are wearing very distinctive NHS scrubs and labelled lanyards.
The traffic lights are out at Headington's Hamburger roundabout - and traffic from the A40 into Oxford is free flowing, unusually. Probably a coincidence... 😅
Oxfordshire County Council's "ignore the hospitals as a major source of (outer) Oxford congestion", part 2. Old Road: 11,576 vehicles per day, big traffic jams = do nothing. ST Cross Road, 7,332 vehicles per day, empty roads = £5 charge, or a fine if you don't have a permit.
