I wonder how many rail station users were able to attend the public consultation on the station masterplan on Friday and Saturday in the Westgate Centre. Were they disappointed?

As an “interchange” station (First Great Western’s description) it scores significantly worse than the existing one.

Gone is the short walk from platform one to some of the most used bus services in the station forecourt, replaced by up to 400 metres up and down steps or escalators to a new bus station to the south. Those changing platforms face a similar hike, the bridge across the tracks being at one end of the platforms rather than in the centre. Space for short-stay cars and taxis appears much smaller, the other side of the Botley Road.

Many drivers may prefer to stop by the bridge or in Frideswide Square to disgorge passengers, holding up the traffic rather than negotiating the roundabout and then crossing the two-way stream of buses and cars along narrow Becket Street, only to find all spaces taken.

The station building across the tracks is accessed by only two escalators – will these be enough for the predicted increase in passenger numbers, and what happens if one breaks down?

There is no sign of any booking office or retail outlets in the station itself, so it is impossible to gauge whether there will be more or less circulation and waiting space than in the present crowded station.

The reasons for ruling out the Oxford Civic Society’s widely supported proposal for a potentially much more traveller-friendly flagship transport hub and mixed development at a less-crowded site at the Oxpens weren’t explained, being in “another” book which wasn’t at the exhibition.

Sorry, this is not good enough for Oxford.

Andrew Pritchard, Laburnum Road, North Hinksey Oxford

 

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