Page 20 | Oxford 'climate lockdowns' and '15-minute city' - can anyone local explain their views on this?

unsureatthispoint · 2022-12-07T10:48:36+00:00

This news has been published in several media outlets and being talked about ATM. ^Road blocks stopping most motorists from driving through Oxford city centre will divide the city into six "15 minute" neighbourhoods, a county council travel chief has said.^ ^And he insisted the controversial plan would go ahead whether people liked it or not.^ ^Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for travel and development strategy, explained the authority's traffic filter proposals in an interview in The Sunday Times.^ *^He said the filters would turn Oxford into "a 15-minute city" with local services within a small walking radius.^* *^Mr Enright said: "It is about making sure you have the community centre which has all of those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have a 15-minute neighbourhood."^* ^The aim is to reduce traffic in the city centre and make city living more pleasant, but critics say the plans will negatively affect businesses and the city centre's economy.^ Here's the link https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23073992.traffic-filters-will-divide-city-six-15-minute-neighbourhoods-agrees-highways-councillor/ Are local people aware of this and what's their take on it?

XenoBitch · 09/12/2022 21:03

Holis · 09/12/2022 20:26

The issue with having lots of exemptions is that the whole thing becomes pointless. Personally I'd allow a single exemption for NHS key workers and that would be it.

The message to everyone else should be: walk, get the bus or find a job closer to home. Covid taught us that it's just not necessary to have people commuting for miles every day.

No, Covid taught us that "essential" means a lot more than just the NHS and emergency services.
If someone who works in a garage can not get to their workplace, they can't fix the car of a nurse, who then can not get to work.
We are all small cogs in a big wheel.

Holis · 09/12/2022 21:13

@Delphigirl

Ime there are always public transport options if people look into it. But there has to be a change of attitude- the days of driving a gas guzzler door to door in 10 minutes are done.

For those who have to leave their areas for work, it may well be a case of getting one bus, waiting a while and then getting a connection. The other thing is that public transport will improve over time as people have to use it.

People will adapt and there will be opportunities- a teacher, for example will be able to catch up on marking while waiting for their bus connection. Others may wish to listen to podcasts.

TheKeatingFive · 09/12/2022 21:16

a teacher, for example will be able to catch up on marking while waiting for their bus connection

Marking at the bus stop? Sure, that's practical 😂

XenoBitch · 09/12/2022 21:21

TheKeatingFive · 09/12/2022 21:16

a teacher, for example will be able to catch up on marking while waiting for their bus connection

Marking at the bus stop? Sure, that's practical 😂

Especially in -2 conditions whilst wearing thick gloves, and also having to stand up.

I think the cold is getting to some people's heads!

Delphigirl · 09/12/2022 21:48

Holis · 09/12/2022 21:13

@Delphigirl

Ime there are always public transport options if people look into it. But there has to be a change of attitude- the days of driving a gas guzzler door to door in 10 minutes are done.

For those who have to leave their areas for work, it may well be a case of getting one bus, waiting a while and then getting a connection. The other thing is that public transport will improve over time as people have to use it.

People will adapt and there will be opportunities- a teacher, for example will be able to catch up on marking while waiting for their bus connection. Others may wish to listen to podcasts.

I challenge you to find public transport options from a village which hasn’t had a bus since 2012 and where the nearest bus stop is 20 mins away down a steep hill with no footpaths.
man’s I drive an electric car so sorry to burst that fantasy bubble of yours. Man’s I cannot work from home as the people I have to deal with face to face daily are some of the most vulnerable in our city up to and including street homeless who don’t do zoom. I worked in my workplace every day during covid, through the deepest lockdown. So don’t patronise me with your nonsense about how everyone can work from home or locally or could find public transport if only they looked harder. We don’t all have small little lives living in the suburbs with an admin job that could be replicated round the corner from where we live, as you seem to imagine. Some of us have bigger lives and horizons than that from which we do important work.

Delphigirl · 09/12/2022 21:49

A teacher marking at a bus stop. You are ridiculous, I will stop engaging with you now.

EmmaAgain22 · 09/12/2022 22:17

Are Oxford councillors having some sort of jokey competition to see how many times they can reword it to pretend it's something else?

now it's "no physical barriers, simply traffic cameras that can read number plates". We heard you the first time, councillors, and guess what, people are still pissed off!

DuncanEnright · 09/12/2022 22:19

Good point, though care workers are exempt.

EmmaAgain22 · 09/12/2022 22:20

PermanentTemporary · 09/12/2022 20:48

A lot of comments seem to be 'the traffic is really bad, how is this going to work?' It's supposed to work by reducing the traffic.

I think it will take time and ingenuity to make it work in terms of improving access to the city. I think it could though.

No, it's just rerouting it or charging it.

DdraigGoch · 09/12/2022 22:36

Holis · 09/12/2022 21:13

@Delphigirl

Ime there are always public transport options if people look into it. But there has to be a change of attitude- the days of driving a gas guzzler door to door in 10 minutes are done.

For those who have to leave their areas for work, it may well be a case of getting one bus, waiting a while and then getting a connection. The other thing is that public transport will improve over time as people have to use it.

People will adapt and there will be opportunities- a teacher, for example will be able to catch up on marking while waiting for their bus connection. Others may wish to listen to podcasts.

What bus? I don't live anywhere near there, but I've a little experience with Oxfordshire's bus services. Not good enough by a long way.

DdraigGoch · 09/12/2022 22:37

DuncanEnright · 09/12/2022 22:19

Good point, though care workers are exempt.

Unpaid carers too?

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:57

@DdraigGoch

People will need to adapt. If that means going out at times that suit the bus schedule, so be it.

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:59

Personally I think it's a shame the council have backed down on the barriers. They would have been an important symbolic and psychological tool to keep people at home or in their areas, which is what is required.

XenoBitch · 09/12/2022 23:04

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:57

@DdraigGoch

People will need to adapt. If that means going out at times that suit the bus schedule, so be it.

Except when you are an unpaid carer (or even just a relative/close friend) of someone who ends up in some sort of health crisis at 11pm when there are no buses.
Suck it up, yeah? They will have to hang on until the buses start again, and wait hours even then.

EmmaAgain22 · 09/12/2022 23:06

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:59

Personally I think it's a shame the council have backed down on the barriers. They would have been an important symbolic and psychological tool to keep people at home or in their areas, which is what is required.

or people see them like this

Oxford 'climate lockdowns' and '15-minute city' - can anyone local explain their views on this?

XenoBitch · 09/12/2022 23:07

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:59

Personally I think it's a shame the council have backed down on the barriers. They would have been an important symbolic and psychological tool to keep people at home or in their areas, which is what is required.

Keep people at home?
Are you the Covid lockdown equivalent of the Japanese soldiers who hid in the jungle and thought the Vietnam Was was still going on decades later?

catmum88 · 09/12/2022 23:15

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:59

Personally I think it's a shame the council have backed down on the barriers. They would have been an important symbolic and psychological tool to keep people at home or in their areas, which is what is required.

This has to be a joke. This is just disgusting. It is not required to keep people in “their areas” like cattle.

Funkyblues101 · 09/12/2022 23:22

antelopevalley · 07/12/2022 13:46

@jgw1
Not everyone can walk or cycle. Plenty of people are coming in from villages etc to work. Are you suggesting they park up and walk the rest of the way?

Very few people have paid the extortionate city centre parking for years. Oxford had the first Park & Ride and now has many.

IWantChocolates · 09/12/2022 23:28

I think Holis is just trying to wind people up. No-one can really think such bizarre thoughts. Ignore them and they'll go away.

XenoBitch · 09/12/2022 23:29

IWantChocolates · 09/12/2022 23:28

I think Holis is just trying to wind people up. No-one can really think such bizarre thoughts. Ignore them and they'll go away.

Yep, Friday night on MN.

DdraigGoch · 10/12/2022 00:09

Holis · 09/12/2022 22:57

@DdraigGoch

People will need to adapt. If that means going out at times that suit the bus schedule, so be it.

So those living in villages where the bus route has been abandoned completely should never go out?

You're off your rocker.

DdraigGoch · 10/12/2022 00:11

Funkyblues101 · 09/12/2022 23:22

Very few people have paid the extortionate city centre parking for years. Oxford had the first Park & Ride and now has many.

Show quote history

Posters upthread have said that many of those haven't functioned well since the LTNs

Churchillian · 10/12/2022 02:21

I live and work in Oxford, and my life will not be affected by the bus ‘gates’ or be ‘confined’ to my local area - despite two of the proposed locations being within a mile or so of my house. I would rarely choose to drive the routes they are on in favour of getting the bus/cycling/walking as that tends to be much quicker . Driving anywhere takes ages. Oxford is a small historic city with with no room to build new roads or better infrastructure for cars. Most of the city centre already had restricted access for buses and taxis only, with numberplate recognition for fines already in place. Traffic is often slow or at a standstill. Parking in the city centre is scarce and extortionate. The buses could be better but they’re ok - compared to Cambridge for example. There are some good off road cycle routes, but they don’t join up across the city. Some of the on-road cycle lanes are ok, some are inadequate and unsafe. I also drive but generally save that for longer journeys outside of Oxford and have made active choices about where I live, work and my kids go to school so that I’m not reliant on a car for my day to day life, as have many other local residents in my ordinary non-posh area of Oxford. This doesn’t restrict my life in any way.

As a resident I’m for trying any measures which will improve air quality, public transport and cycling/road safety and the bus ‘gates’ are a reasonable attempt at this though not perfect. They will be installed on a trial basis in 2024 and then adjusted after feedback from residents. Most of the people moaning about them on this thread are not proposing a viable alternative to reducing the current levels of traffic in Oxford which are unsustainable, don’t actually live here but have just read some biased media reporting or seem to think that they have an exceptional need to drive, which trumps everything else. (I’m not counting people who need to drive due to a disability or as an essential part of their job in this eg carers or the person upthread who needs to visit multiple schools.)

greenacrylicpaint · 10/12/2022 08:36

So those living in villages where the bus route has been abandoned completely should never go out?

You're off your rocker.

of course they can. don't be silly. they just have to think which mode of transport, including cycling and walking, is the best option for this.

how do you propose to reduce car traffic?

autastic · 10/12/2022 08:53

We have this being force through in our city, it doesn't even have a ring road so it's going to be a literal car crash.
I live outside so I will have to take my son into college in the city and then drive out on to a main road, drive in fact I am not even sure how I will get to work at my university as there is no road which I can easily access. I think I will have to drive about 8 miles on this road turn round and come back on myself as there is only a exit on one side.
I am very into sustainable transport, and used to use the bus prior to my son going to college, but the cost is over £7 a day just for me and about £5 for my son, We have a blue badge for him as well (so I expect we could get a free bus pass, but he has germ phobia even before covid so it is worse now).
It is not really a green policy as they claim it will a as I will be driving at least 30 miles a day further or would be...
I can't help wondering why so many towns/cities are doing this and in all cases appear to be forcing it through... got to wonder what it is in it for the councils.
In other news I have resigned my job in preparation, as the travel will be impossible, and won't be using any services if I can manage it, 2 roads were closed 2 weeks ago causing all the traffic to go in one direction... I am afraid I turned round and went else where and haven't returned to do any shopping, hair appointments, pharmacies etc .