Sir — The removal of buses from Queen Street is crucial for Oxford and cutting traffic in Broad Street long overdue. Cyclox therefore welcomes “Transform Oxford”, the county council’s plan for a pedestrian-friendly city centre — as long as it doesn’t stop people cycling quietly through the centre.

The daytime closure to cycles of Queen Street blocks direct east–west access across the city centre. Fiddling through Turl and George Streets adds considerable time and obstacles.

Transform Oxford may offer the perfect solution if, bus-free, Queen Street becomes an attractive “shared-space” in which pedestrians and cyclists share motor-free thoroughfares.

Intelligent designs can eliminate pedestrian–cyclist conflict, leaving the city’s cheapest and greenest modes of transport to co-exist in peace. This is exactly what happens in Cambridge’s pedestrianised centre. It’s high time Oxford did the same.

While transforming Oxford, we have a golden opportunity to drag the city’s shambolic bicycle parking into the 21st century. Incredibly, it is almost impossible to park a bike in or outside the city centre’s largest public amenity, the Town Hall.

In Cambridge, there is a brand-new shopping centre with John Lewis as its flagship tenant. In the basement, there is a 500-capacity bicycle park along with a bike shop that hires and repairs bicycles. If Oxford is to retain anything like the numbers of cyclists that currently visit the city centre, Transform Oxford should insist on massive, secure, underground bicycle parks as cornerstones of the St Aldates, Westgate and West End developments.

It’s fantastic that a pedestrian-friendly vision for Oxford is emerging. Transform Oxford must not forget the 20,000+ cyclists for which Oxford is famous.

James Styring, Chairman, Cyclox, the cycling campaign for Oxford