The County Council responds to Osler Road bus questions

We promised to post up the County Council officers’ response to our questions and here they are in full. We are continuing a dialogue with the officers on a number of points, and will post later on that.

1. What consultation took place with county and city councillors and indeed residents before the choice of route was agreed? 

The only realistic route that would deliver attractive bus services from Thornhill to the JR is via Osler Road.  We appreciate the concerns that have been raised by Osler Road residents about more use of the route, but it is public highway and its role in the local public transport network was established by means of the planning process when the JR was expanded in 2007.

2. Was the outcome of the public meeting [Ruth] organised with Osler Road residents, bus companies, county councillors and officers from City and County taken into account when the route was decided? After that meeting, Oxford Bus Co. to their credit re-routed its service away from Osler Rd and via Headley Way.

See above.  It wasn’t necessary for the Oxford Bus Company to use Osler Road to link the JR with the city centre and Abingdon so the route was amended.  The new service from Thornhill to JR does have to use Osler Road in order to make it sufficiently attractive to potential passengers.  Routeing it via London Road and Headley Way would result in longer and more unreliable journey times and a more expensive operation (at least one more bus would be needed to make the service run).  Fewer people would use the bus service and there would in turn be more cars trying to get through Headington adding to congestion, making bus services less attractive again.

 3. Were the number of near misses and incidents in Osler Road taken into account when the route was decided? (rails had to be put up on the pavement outside the Nursery because of the dangers from vehicles mounting the pavement to pass each other).

Stagecoach has been running buses along Osler Road for some time now.  They obviously took into account the operating conditions when submitting their bid for the new bus service.

4. Were those making the decision aware that Osler Road is for the most part single lane past parked cars (some residents have no off road parking) and that the exit from the Manor Hospital also feeds into it? 

See answer to previous question.  We are looking at how the parking at the southern end of the road can be managed better to make sure buses turning right from London Road are not unduly delayed.  As you know, this currently can have a knock on effect on London Road traffic flow.

5. Were those making the decision aware that .. buses frequently run empty along that stretch of road? Will the number 10 route cease to run along Osler Road – that would at least mitigate some of the wear and tear on roads and attitudes.

Inevitably, morning buses will have more passengers travelling towards the John Radcliffe, whilst afternoon and evening buses will have more passengers travelling away from the John Radcliffe.  Route 10 conveys many people from the Cowley and Wood Farm areas to the John Radcliffe. Re-routing these buses would add several minutes journey time to people making daily journeys, which in turn would lead to fewer passengers, more cars trying to pass through Headington, less frequent and less attractive bus services.  

We will of course work closely with Stagecoach as the operator of both the number 10 and the new park & ride service to review the usage of those services.

6. Were those making the decision fully aware of the damage that has been caused to Osler Road by buses and other heavy vehicles for which the road was not designed? Highways no longer replace kerbs trashed by buses and other vehicles clipping the London Road/Osler Road junction as it can’t keep up with the damage – [the] team is simply re-tarmacking it. I’m constantly reporting potholes and the road surface is crumbling, it is currently being reassessed for resurfacing. I was told by one transport planner that she felt the whole road needed rebuilding because of the constant damage.

There is only sufficient finance for potholes and patching currently, but Osler Road has now been included in the provisional 2014-16 maintenance programme – this is due to be approved by members in February.  In the meantime, the city council will continue to do all that it can to fix the existing problems with the surface.

7. Funding: will the County and Stagecoach jointly pay for the road to be re-surfaced?

 The county council will fund the comprehensive maintenance scheme provisionally scheduled for 2014-16.

Further comment:

The issue is the length of time it takes along both London Road and Headley Way (and back again) to get to the JR.  I’ve answered that point under question 2 – diverting away from Osler Road that way will result in many fewer people using it to get to the JR.  Using less fuel is obviously one factor in a decision to use Osler Road – it’s a shorter distance – but the extra time it takes to get to the destination is much more significant.

County Council chooses Osler Road for new bus routes

Last week, a Headington resident trawled the internet and found timetables for bus routes about to be operated by Stagecoach to and from the hospitals. The routes include Osler Road which is unsuitable for bus traffic.  There was apparently no consultation with Osler Road or The Croft  residents, nor was any consultation held with councillors who knew the area well.

The county hurriedly sent out a press release yesterday which is now on their website (click here). This press release was tracked down by city councillors who had not been informed by the County Council.

An email was sent to us by one of the County officers yesterday evening  in response to Friday’s phone call and it states:

 I can confirm that alternatives were looked at (access via Headley Way) but the longer journey time would require more buses to maintain the frequency we are looking for and we were of the opinion that a longer than necessary route would not achieve the modal shift from using the JR car parks to that of using the extended Thornhill Park & Ride site.

Here are just some of the questions we have sent to the officers by email:

1. What consultation took place with county and city councillors and indeed residents before the choice of route was agreed?

2. Was the outcome of the public meeting Ruth organised with Osler Road residents, bus companies, county councillors and officers from City and County) taken into account when the route was decided? After that meeting, Oxford Bus Co. to their credit re-routed its service away from Osler Rd and via Headley Way

3. Were the number of near misses and incidents in Osler Road taken into account when the route was decided? (rails had to be put up on the pavement outside the Nursery because of the dangers from vehicles mounting the pavement to pass each other)

4. Were those making the decision aware that Osler Road is for the most part single lane past parked cars (some residents have no off road parking) and that the exit from the Manor Hospital also feeds into it?

5. Were those making the decision aware that buses frequently run empty along [the] stretch of road between [Headington Centre and the JR entrance in Osler Road]?

6. Were those making the decision fully aware of the damage that has been caused to Osler Road by buses and other heavy vehicles for which the road was not designed? Highways no longer replace kerbs trashed by buses and other vehicles clipping the London Road/Osler Road junction as it can’t keep up with the damage – [the] team is simply re-tarmacking it. I’m constantly reporting potholes and the road surface is crumbling, it is currently being reassessed for resurfacing. I was told by one transport planner that she felt the whole road needed rebuilding because of the constant damage.

7. Funding: will the County and Stagecoach jointly pay for the road to be re-surfaced?

In a further phone call this morning, we were informed that the contract had been competitively tendered. We were also told that repairs and maintenance of Osler Road cannot be borne by a commercial bus operator. This will clearly be a further and continuing bill for County Council taxpayers in coming years – if taxpayers’ money is diverted towards this, then other important and high priority re-surfacing projects won’t get done.

We shall update this site as more information is supplied by the County Council.  County Councillor Roz Smith is pressing the Cabinet Member Cllr Nimmo-Smith for answers. (and that’s an understatement)

It appears that the County Council now puts resident consultation very low on its priority list. We agree that bus services to hospitals are very important, and we want to keep as many vehicles out of Headington as possible because there is so much congestion. But all it needed was some consultation and a little bit of common sense to recognise that Osler Road is unsuitable for heavy traffic, and Headley Way is a viable and safer alternative.

Consultation: improving bus priority near Green Rd roundabout

Oxfordshire County Council is consulting the public on its proposals to improve bus priority in the vicinity of Green Road roundabout, Headington.

There will be a drop-in session from 4pm to 8pm on Thursday 18th July at Headington Quarry Village Hall (Jubilee Room – entrance in Margaret Road) where county council staff will be able to discuss the scheme in more detail.

They are also taking the opportunity to carry out a formal consultation on the proposed changes to the extents of the bus lane at the Thornhill Park and Ride site.

Want to see the maps? Then come along to our next Headington Ward Focus meeting on Wed 10 July from 6.00-8.00pm at the Headington Baptist Church Hall in Old High Street. We shall make sure we have copies on display

Please note that the closing date for this consultation is 25th July 2013.

Four months of traffic works at Thornhill: may mean lane closure

The following information has come up on the highways website for roadworks in the Headington Area, disruption should be limited to Thornhill Park and Ride area

London Road, Headington South Oxfordshire, Oxford, Oxfordshire
19 April — 30 August
Delays likely Lane closure
Works location: Exit / Entrance To P & R
Works description: Realignment Of The P & R Access Road & Implementation Of An Additional Bus Lane. Max Depth Of Work 450mm
Responsibility for works: Oxfordshire County Council
Current status: Planned work about to start