Botley Road closure leads to lots of bus service changes
The major route into the city has been closed at the rail bridge since April for Network Rail work which is part of a £160m upgrade of Oxford rail station.
The closure is expected to remain in place until October and the road will also be closed next year for a similar length of time.
A new western entrance to the station is being created and a new rail bridge is being installed[2] with new walkways for pedestrians and cyclists.
But the closure of the road has added traffic to other routes into the city including the Abingdon[3], Woodstock and Banbury roads.
As a result the bus company is introducing a series of service changes from July 23.
Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel managing director, said: “Due to increased congestion in areas of Oxford we conducted a comprehensive network review of our services to ensure we continue to provide the best possible service to our passengers.
“Understandably the closure of the Botley Road bridge has created increased congestion in parts of the city and therefore we have had to increase running times in some areas to ensure our services remain reliable for customers and that we can cope with the increased volatility of traffic conditions we have been experiencing.
“We would encourage passengers to visit our website oxfordbus.co.uk for full details of the changes.”
One of the buses affected is the Connector X2 service linking Abingdon and Didcot[4] with Oxford railway station.
The bus company website says: “Since the closure of Botley Road from April 11, we have seen an increase in traffic levels along the Abingdon Road.
“As a result, Connector X2 will no longer be able to continue to serve Oxford Rail Station and will instead terminate at the Westgate.
“Towards Abingdon and Didcot, Connector X2 will commence from the Westgate and run along Queen Street to St Aldates where the current routeing will resume.
“Connector X2 and cityX3 will continue to provide a coordinated service between Oxford and Abingdon, up to every 10 minutes service on Monday to Saturday daytimes and up to every 15 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays and public holidays.
“There will be no change to Connector NX2 which will continue to operate to Oxford rail station.”
Other services affected include the cityX1 and NX1, the city35, and the Science Transit Shuttle ST2.
The website added: “Since the closure of Botley Road we have seen an increase in the variability of traffic levels along the Woodstock Road, and have continued to experience increasing congestion around St Clements in East Oxford.
“Accordingly, we need to introduce a slightly revised timetable for service ST2 to improve punctuality.”
The bus company added that college services city5X and cityC1 were being withdrawn and would not return in September.
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