Oxford city centre to ban petrol and diesel vehicles from 2020

[st13phil]

Story from the Daily Wail. Ignoring the sensationalist hyperbole, the plan is:

• All non-zero emission taxis, cars, light commercial vehicles and buses excluded from six streets (Queen Street, Cornmarket Street, New Inn Hall Street, Market Street, Ship Street and St Michael’s Street) as of 2020
• Further expansion in 2025 and 2030 to encompass the entire city centre
• Finally in 2035 HGV's will be banned from the same zone

So, are Oxford City & County Councils a bunch of visionaries, leading from the front, or a bunch of impractical idealist tree-huggers who are intent on exporting their transport pollution elsewhere and won't be happy until we're all wearing sack-cloth and living a "sustainable lifestyle" in mud huts?

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Complete load of rubbish.

 

[Peter103]

Absolute lmpracticable Nonsense!

 

[Yugguy]

I have heard a lot of commentators recently saying that just banning diesels will not lower city centre pollution, to do that ALL petrol/diesel vehicles need to be banned. So from that viewpoint it's logical.

Wether it's practical or achievable in reality is another matter.

Change is coming though.

 

[Tiim533]

It's frankly faster to walk through Oxford anyway....

 

[Druk]

We went Oxford in May as part of the Benz-on-the-Green holiday. The Park-n-Ride worked really well, as it did at Portsmouth. I've given up trying to drive and park in these places, it's much less stressful and a whole lot cheaper to take the bus. Cars are for tootlin along country lanes or round the NC500 with the roof down, or blasting up the M6 at 70mph with the caravan on the back.


.

 

[horatio]

I have heard a lot of commentators recently saying that just banning diesels will not lower city centre pollution, to do that ALL petrol/diesel vehicles need to be banned. So from that viewpoint it's logical.

Wether it's practical or achievable in reality is another matter.

Change is coming though.

They will keep moving the goalposts. It's what they do. You could splash £20k on some sort of electric "zero emission" motortrike to get around some arbitrary rule - then hear a month later it's going to be banned as well because the battery can't be recycled or some other tosh.

 

[Dryce]

I've given up trying to drive and park in these places, it's much less stressful and a whole lot cheaper to take the bus.

I do a bit of street photography when I get the time.

My observation is that the city centres I visit are getting more pedestrianised - and that public transport is carrying more of the traffic in and out when things as busy - but they also feel generally poorer as the years go by.

Now you could say that online shopping is having an impact. But I also observe that the out of town shopping centres I pass appear to be a lot busier than a few years ago.

One other thing I would note is that the number of tourists in the city centres seems high over the Spring through Autumn. That possibly masks any apparent decline.

Our household spends very little money in our nearest urban centres.

 

[Yugguy]

I know what you mean. I will go into our town centre sometimes as there are some nice places to eat. Takes 5 minutes in a car from my drive to the car park. My mum does it all the time on the bus but then she is a pensioner and doesnt mind the 35 minute round the houses time it takes. Not sure I would go as often if cars were banned.

 

[st13phil]

We went Oxford in May as part of the Benz-on-the-Green holiday. The Park-n-Ride worked really well, as it did at Portsmouth.

The Oxford Park and Ride service isn't known locally as "Park and Steal" for nothing

Having said that, you're right: they've succeeded in making car use so unpleasant people willingly use the alternative.

It's frankly faster to walk through Oxford anyway....

Frankly, it's faster and more convenient to drive to MK if I want to visit major stores

 

[st13phil]

My observation is that the city centres I visit are getting more pedestrianised - and that public transport is carrying more of the traffic in and out when things as busy - but they also feel generally poorer as the years go by.

I think you're right on all counts.

The problem with pedestrianisation (and greedy parking charges) is that town centres lose what used to be called "passing trade". People are forced to make their own value judgement as to whether it's worth the time and effort to either make a public transport journey or pay the parking fee before they set off. For example, the reality is that no-one is going to pay 50p to park so they can buy a £2 loaf from the independent baker in the (pedestrianised) high-street, so they don't bother. Instead they call in to the out of town supermarket where they can park for free, as part of their journey elsewhere.

 

[Londonscottish]

Speaking as someone who uses all versions of transport (feet, bikes, tubes, buses, trains & cars) this kind of makes sense to me. If they could pedestrianise Oxford Street in London it would a whole lot nicer to wander around.

If you must drive there (and I do sometimes) there's plenty of parking two or three streets back.

 

[esscee]

Oxford has been run by "liberals" for many years now. As others have already mentioned it is not the best place to visit. If it was not for some of the colleges there then not many would bother to go there.
It is Oxford's loss rather than any loss for me. I can think of many more interesting places to visit and not much more distance from Oxford.

 

[Dippo]

I thought local councils were there to arrange things like bin collections, and look after roads and parks, things like that. Trying to influence people's lifestyle to support a political agenda is more the role of national government, isn't it?

Is Oxford still a Nuclear-Free Zone?

 

[Londonscottish]

Trying to influence people's lifestyle to support a political agenda is more the role of national government, isn't it?

These days it's more about trying to tackle the pretty appalling air quality in our towns and cities. I'm having my house done up so am living in a rental at the moment. it's on a pretty busy junction and the traffic backs up in the morning. When I walk out the door it stinks. There's pretty much always the stench of diesel from the cars and vans and often a fair honk being put out by motorbikes, presumably without cats.

The government and no doubt local authorities are no doubt worried about getting sued.

If all the cars queuing outside my house in the morning were hybrids it would smell (and sound) a whole lot better.

That's what they're trying to achieve.

 

[Druk]

The Oxford Park and Ride service isn't known locally as "Park and Steal" for nothing

AH! Our experience is getting from the CampingPlatz on the Old Abingdon Rd into town. So we left the car and walked round the corner to the P&R. Maybe it's the parking that's the expensive bit?




.

 

[markjay]

Driving a car in Oxford city centre has been nigh on impossible for many years now... private cars restrictions and limited parking... the new regulation will affect mainly busses, taxis, delivery vans, rubbish collection lorries etc.

So it a good place to start with a no-petrol no-diesel scheme.