I AM writing concerning the article on August 22 about bus routing through the city centre.

I agree that this matter should have been sorted out before planning permission was granted for the Westgate redevelopment.

Unfortunately there is no ‘solution’ waiting to be discovered – the historic road network is too limited to allow the wholesale segregation of pedestrianised and trafficked streets that might be ideal.

Good accessibility by public transport is critical to the functioning of the city and the welfare of its residents.

The Westgate and other developments in the West End will increase the number of people coming into the centre and – by effectively extending its geographical area – place added importance on exactly where buses are able to pick up and set down passengers.

The current mixing of pedestrians and a limited number of buses in Queen Street is not perfect but, in the circumstances, has proved a perfectly acceptable compromise.

There is no good reason why this arrangement should not be continued nor why the same principle should not be applied to Cornmarket if, as the operators maintain, this is the only way of avoiding buses terminating prematurely on the edge of the centre and of ensuring links across it.

Excluding buses entirely from Queen Street, Cornmarket and potentially George Street may improve the pedestrian experience marginally but would result in daily inconvenience to literally thousands of bus passengers and hardship for those with limited walking ability.

Peter Headicar
Richmond Road
Oxford

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone's contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.


Today’s letters