Oxford studies 'no-go' bus areas
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
BUSES may well be denied access to Oxford's city centre, despite an encouraging report made on the pedestrian precinct by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory.
At present the City Council is examining a proposal to restrict the buses, although the TRRL report (no 743) shows that accidents in the precinct have been reduced from 17 in 1969 to nil in 1974.
At the moment only buses, licensed taxis, ambulances and service vehicles are permitted into the Queen StreetCornermarket area, and service vehicles are banned between 10.30 am and 5 pm.
Kerbs have been removed to encourage pedestrian use.
Almost 100 buses an hour, each capable of carrying up to 88 passengers, use the pedestrian streets and the report shows that on average only two pedestrians are displaced ahead of a moving vehicle at any one time.
Photographs in the report show that there is a considerable safety margin allowing buses to be brought to a halt before reaching the nearest pedestrian. .
Phillip Bird, Oxford Highways and Traffic Section, told CM that the City Council was receiving a number of complaints about buses in the precinct, not because of the danger that they are likely to cause, but because of the pollution from exhaust fumes, and the fact that the presence of large vehicles inhibits the use of the precinct by pedestrians.