What's going on in Oxford,why have locals voted for this

[Grumpycat6]

From October,or whenever it starts
My DH is going to have to pay £5 a day ,that's £100 a month
Just to get to work
He can't go by train or bus because he starts and finishes times when they don't run .
Apparently from what I understand this was voted in at the local council elections.or the person who wanted to put this scheme in place was voted in ,.
This is going to effect the price of houses ,it's going to put people off moving to Oxford.
With this in mind I can't understand how this was agreed

That doesn't make sense, as long as your spending isn't more than your income by definition you can currently afford the area.

People don't live in areas cheaper than they can afford just in case there's a major policy change

it was the way the op was omg about the cost, but its puzzling because its oxford, surley your quite minted to begin with so its puzzling why the op is omg about the cost ?

@GlomOfNit you paint a depressing picture of Oxford city centre. I just wanted to point out that the Covered Market is flourishing at the moment though! It's having a kind of renaissance I think. Loads of interesting independent food stalls and shops.

In general high streets across the UK are declining, due to online shopping and other factors; it's not just Oxford.

I agree that Cornmarket and Westgate are rather soulless, but at least they get plenty of footfall. I tend to avoid going into the centre on weekends because there are so many tourists this time of year that it makes me feel claustrophobic.

About cycling, no, it's not for everyone, but for those of us who do rely on it as our main mode of transport, it can be fine. You said, And I don't want to cycle in the heavy rain, or blustery winds, or the dark, or icy cold. And I don't want to cycle on my own as a woman when it's dark. And the bus drivers are a nightmare with cyclists. None of those things are dealbreakers for me. Heavy rain and icy cold are relatively rare, and I have good waterproof kit. In rainy weather, I frequently arrive at work and see people peeling off their waterproof trousers; it's not a big deal. Darkness is fine too as long as I have lights and high viz and know the route. I feel much safer cycling after nightfall than I do walking. And the bus drivers in Oxford aren't perfect, but they are extremely accustomed to sharing the roads with cyclists.

I'm not saying everyone can or should cycle, but fewer cars on the streets will make it easier for people who need to travel in cars/buses to do so, like your DS.

But the OP isn't "minted" as you put it, because they don't live in Oxford.- which is fairly obvious from their posts.

I used to cycle in Oxford when I was a student with an underdeveloped sense of danger, but I really can't now. A few years ago a cyclist was hit on the Botley Road near the McDonald's and killed, by a bus. I lived up that way and as I walked home, they were hosing blood off the road. Absolutely f*-ed me up seeing it.

What on earth was this in response to?

Actually no, don't bother replying. I can predict your response - 'Contact Oxfordshire council, not the City Council' 😂 Either you're a badly disguised council plant, or just some random stirrer, but it's getting old.

I don’t think there are actually any planners. They just seem to be making it up as they go along.

You seem to be a remarkably disingenuous poster Bunnycute23 and while MN rules don't allow me to point a finger and type what I'd like to, I'm thinking it really loudly! But since you are SO very obsessed with the distinction between Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council (do you work for one of them?!), the latter is usually abbreviated to OCC. So I think you misread or misunderstood the post that you've responded to here.

I'm so very sorry @girljulian . That was absolutely tragic. I remember the story; she had special racing pedals on her cycle, and her foot got caught in one, and she fell over directly in front of the bus. It wasn't the driver's fault.

So many activities involve an element of risk. I can understand you not wanting to cycle after witnessing the aftermath of an event like that. However, when I read the Oxford Mail, there are many more fatalities associated with cars than with cyclists. But every cyclist fatality is one too many. That's what Cyclox's Vision Zero campaign is about; they have done and are doing a lot to improve road safety in Oxford.

Don't get me started on the bloody scooters and illegally modified motorised bikes though. Those are a fucking hazard.

If I paint a depressing picture of the city centre (compared to when I first came into the city a lot, during the 90's/00's) it's because it's changed a lot! Sure, there are still lovely places to go. (I like to walk around Jericho or some others of the back streets behind the colleges.) We go in for mostly recreational reasons so use the museums a lot, concerts and talks, shops etc. So there's all that. But the commercial centre has shifted, as is the case in so many towns and cities, to the detriment of the once-thriving main shopping streets in the centre. I agree, the Covered Market is the saving grace of the centre and one of my favourite places in town! I find a lot of the great shops there have closed though, to be replaced by places to sit (if you can!) and eat/drink - which is fine but it's not anywhere near as full of independent traders as it used to be. The game butcher is gone, the bakery, the picture framers and lots of other small shops I miss. I mean, things do move on. But I wish it weren't mostly just another place to meet up and have a drink/meal.

I would not expect someone with the username 'CowleyCyclist' to have a negative experience of cycling in Oxford! So that's your bag but at 52 I wouldn't want to start doing that as my main means of accessing the centre, I'm afraid. Luckily I do have a couple of bus/P&R options. But several friends who, like me, live a few miles outside the ring road and commute in for work (rather than mostly for fun, as I do) are very gloomily reviewing the number of times per week they're now likely to be in late, because the buses are so unreliable. I really do hope that one thing to come out of all this will be that the buses will run on time! But I'm not holding my breath.

Yeah my username is a bit of a giveaway I guess 😂

I do acknowledge that I'm very privileged in that I'm physically able to cycle though still overweight and unfit and in that I'm lucky enough to live within easy cycling distance of my workplace (and of my DC's schools).

I agree with what you say about the covered market. But I'm happy because for awhile it seemed like it was just losing shops, and now it's finally getting them again. Even if many of them are posh food places, as you say. Hamblin bakery from East Oxford has opened a branch there now, and the much-loved Cowley Road tapas restaurant Arbequina is planning to open there too. Tap Social and Gulp Fiction have created a good atmosphere if you ask me.

And the frame shop is still there isn't it?! If it's gone I'm gutted.

I sympathise about the buses. They just seem to be getting worse and worse in terms of reliability 😥

Loads of road traffic fatalities involving just car drivers but somehow that doesn't put you off?

You think it's changed a lot since the 90s/2000s, I've lived here for all of my 51 years on this planet, and it's changed beyond all recognition. Residents are now treated as if they are a commodity, only useful to be a cash cow for a council that is full of people who don't even live here, telling us what we should and shouldn't be allowed to do.
The Covered Market, back in the late 70s, early 80s, used to be a wonderful place full of butchers, greengrocers etc, now it's full of overpriced tat that only tourists would think was worth buying. I can still remember, as a child, the smell of sawdust etc when you walked into the place, especially in the winter! But, I digress!
The bus system needs a complete overhaul before the council even considers bringing in all of these reforms. It needs to be a bus service that serves ALL who need it, not just the few living in the centre of Oxford. The service that some of the villages on the outskirts of Oxford receive is horrendous and keeps being cut back - how is that going to help people who work here?!

My husband's job is a skilled job ,but he's going to have to leave , because the only people who will be able to get to his place of work will be very local.
So the company will have less choice of staff to employ.
This will lead to unqualified staff doing his job ,or unsuitable,which will lead to accidents and safety issues.
His work have been discussing the issue and they say there will be no way for most of them to get in to work ,once the full scheme is in place ..
Think ...how else will people get to work in Oxford,when cars are not allowed.
Now think ,what happens when the people running those ways to work ,can't get to work ,to start their shifts...yeah ....you see why it's a problem

I don’t get some of the comments here. In what world is 1 hour and £100 on petrol a month for work actually a long / expensive commute? It’s standard for a lot of people. I’m not saying it should be, but it’s funny that when it impacts somewhere like Oxford for a 50 odd year old couple it’s a horrible shame for the country but a 25 year old up north should shut up and put up 🙄

Unless I'm misunderstanding the issue is an additional £100 overnight, I didn't get the impression that the OPs husband has any problem with his current commute.

A lot of people would find that very difficult if not impossible to afford

Changing jobs sounds like an extreme solution but maybe that is the only realistic one

Long term the companies in Oxford will only be expected to employ people within 15 minutes so probably best he looks for a new job now.

Thats interesting, who will expect them to do that? Surely that's totally unrealistic

You really don't understand the implications of this at all, do you? It's not people moaning about travelling 1 hour and spending £100 a month on fuel and you know it. It's about being charged more (on top of that) to travel to certain places in Oxford. It's about the council using their residents as a way of making more money for a system most of us don't even want.
Also, what's with your North/South divide? Did anybody mention that? No, we didn't. Just because I'm 50-something and live in Oxford, doesn't mean that I have to put up with all of these decisions being made and not make my feelings known about it.
A 25-year-old from up North wouldn't have to put up with this because they don't live (at the moment) in a place where this is being suggested, and, most likely, implemented.

She replied to me saying £100 in petrol a month

I’m quite aware of what the issue is, thanks. Am I not allowed to expand on the narrow issue OP is talking about? Like I said, greater Manchester had such backlash on their “clean air zone” that it’s been scrapped. Maybe instead of moaning on Mumsnet OP should actually do something practical about it. And so should you. Boohoo.

ETA - they’re meeting their targets for reducing pollutions in other ways now - see the link I posted. Perhaps suggest some of them to your council.

It's about making sure that cities don't actually grind to a halt under the weight of cars mostly carrying single people, and making sure that people don't die of lung disease from air pollution and that caused by all kinds of vehicles, including electric vehicles.

Congestion is a massive, massive barrier to economic growth and quality of life. If we can reduce congestion and use poor car useage as a way to generate revenue to support alternative transportation, that's exactly what we should be doing. And indeed, most European cities are already doing just that - and enjoying better health and economic growth. London has also managed to do exactly that.

I'd really rather that English society doesn't prove itself to be too selfish to act in the greater good, but it looks like it.

That is the councils dream, 15 minute city and all that, there was a thread on here about it, probably a year or two ago now.

I don't think that's what they meant. I think that's what those people who think Bill Gates is beaming Covid into their brains with 5G think, which is not the same really is it.

The 15 minute city is a city planning idea from Barcelona, where they try to zone shops and schools and houses together so you can get to what you need in about 15 minutes walk to make life a bit more convenient and accessible. They just mean putting a pharmacy and a post office and a school near where you live, instead of concentrating everything in the city centre and everyone else having to go in and out all the time. It doesn't mean preventing people from travelling, like this situation, where they're stopping people driving but not providing any alternative.

timeuse.barcelona/good-practices/15-minute-city/

It's tricky. I am all for walking and cutting down on cars. But this ill-thought out strategy is going to mean that only those who can afford to live in Oxford will be able to benefit from the opportunities of Oxford.

It doesn't take into account shift work where park&ride is not running on one leg and the car parks are isolated and unsafe. The buses are caught up in the mad traffic on the unaffected roads already. It doesn't take into account people who need to take equipment (or boxes of marking!) to work. It doesn't take into consideration those unable (temporarily or permanently) unable to travel on foot/bike/public transport who don't qualify for a blue badge. Taxi drivers are leaving in droves. Carers are getting scarcer (the care agency who look after MIL are on their knees). DC used to have appointments at JR, but we transferred to Bristol as it was too difficult (we had to drive through Oxford to the other side in order to access the P&R that served the hospital). The train station is a mess. The buses are less frequent since covid and are clogged in the traffic diverted from discouraged routes.

The council have blindly ploughed forward without taking time to consider, without truly consulting and without trying to take people with them. It has been imposed more harshly on the poorer areas with state schools than the more upmarket disctricts with private schools. MIL is desperate to stay there, but I don't see how this is possible long term if these plans continue. It used to be a 10 minute drive to her flat from the ring road, now it has taken 1hr 20mins and that's without detouring around new charging points. BIL1 has moved to a northern city, BIL2 is just waiting for his kids to finish A levels and will be off as well. He has a van (plumber) but it is too difficult to get about and park near jobs.