Bus Top 2

Passengers dislike changing buses needlessly. That’s why Oxford planners should be applauded for their common-sense approach in conceding the idea of decanting arriving passengers near Magdalen Bridge is not a good one. The idea was to transfer onto shuttles for the city centre. The fact that the shuttles would’ve been articulated buses probably didn’t do any favours, either.

It’s always been typical of some (road?) planners in some areas that they have been content with the notion that buses should be kept away from where passengers actually want to go, that passengers are somehow expendable. The two prime examples are pre-deregulation Merseyside and Tyne & Wear. To complete a cross Tyne journeys, buses used to feed Tyne & Wear’s Metro. This made sense in theory but the practice, after deregulation, was something different. The market has subsequently provided door-to-door buses without the need to change.

And again in pre-deregulation Liverpool. The only direct buses from the Wirral to central Liverpool were those heading from areas unserved by rail. To complete their journey, other passengers had to leave at Woodside and catch either a ferry or train to complete their journey. The post-1986 market soon sorted that one out, too.

The Oxford plan, meanwhile, was designed to find ways of reducing the number of buses in Oxford’s High Street. The public seems behind that concept, which is itself interesting in a city that relies less on cars in its central area than many others. The possible new remedy may see the council turn to the Local Transport Act 2008. That may see an equally radical solution in a city where two competing bus operators appear to be working well in increasing passenger numbers.