THE Oxford Parkway railway station is open for business with two shiny new platforms serving North Oxford, Water Eaton and Kidlington.

With the existing park-and-ride alongside it, the site is a truly multi-modal transport interchange. Cyclists will be glad to hear it caters for them too with a two-tier covered parking site for bikes just outside the entrance and CCTV which should deter the wretched Oxford bike thieves.

The site also lies on the national cycle route 51, which means a safe route is maintained to and from the new station.

Passenger number statistics will likely be vague while the new service is in its infancy but I know two people already utilising the station.

One acquaintance takes the train to Marylebone from Oxford Parkway instead of Oxford to Paddington as the station lies nearer his house in North Oxford.

Cycling to the new station instead of the good old Botley Road site has saved him considerable time and it is much more enjoyable than navigating Frideswide Square. He is obviously very chuffed about it.

But the real success story is my colleague.

He has been commuting from Bicester into Oxford by car for years. Often late and fuelled with anxiety over parking issues, he has spent a fortune on petrol and become miserable about commuting.

He declared he would be seen arriving by bike via the new station the next day and duly arrived on time in a chipper mood declaring the virtues of Oxford Parkway.

Once he sat down to cook the books for his new commute he found he was not only saving hundreds of pounds a year but also in time he had reduced his commute by over an hour.

Obviously we will get more figures in the future as to the use of the new station but knowing the connecting journeys people are making will be very informative especially the number of cycle commuters.

The main allure nationally is always the ability to get to the big smoke and we have always been lucky in that respect with great links by train and coach, but we now have another service to rave about and in time the route will connect both Oxford stations.

Living within a short cycle of either Oxford station, the choice will now be down to time and comfort and obviously cycle safety. The Botley road station has a bad reputation for stolen bikes but the Parkway is obviously trying to mitigate the risks for cyclists.

There are many words written about the money and time saved by giving up the car commute and switching to more economical means of transport.

New initiatives such as rail and cycle routes clearly help people make the choice not to so I send my praises to Oxford County Council and Chilterns Railways for providing another alternative.