Category: travel

RICHARD McKenzie, the Labour Candidate for the Henley Constituency, which includes Thame, has added his voice to the gathering support for a cycle path between Thame and Haddenham.
In a statement received today, he said: “As a keen and regular cyclist, I welcome Bucks CC’s proposal to look at options for a cycle path between Thame and Haddenham, to connect Thame with Haddenham and Thame Parkway Station.

“At present anyone wishing to commute by cycle and rail is better off using the longer but safer Sustrans cycle trail to Princes Risborough. It would be very welcome if this initiative led to a usable cycle route to a closer station. We hope that any proposal that arises from this study will be fully supported by Oxfordshire CC and we call upon local County Councillors to declare their support.
There are many opportunities within Thame itself for the development of cycle paths using existing routes, but the Conservative dominated local councils have taken no steps towards developing these as a much needed local resource.”

Photo: Labour Candidate, Richard McKenzie

CHILTERN Railways haS welcomed the news that Virgin Trains will be accepting Chiltern tickets on their Birmingham New Street to London Euston services during the temporary blockade on the line between Birmingham Snow Hill, Solihull, Stratford upon-Avon and Warwick Parkway, from Monday 11th February till Friday 15th February. But the company is reminding passengers that there is still a near-to-normal service between Warwick Parkway and London Marylebone.
Ian Baxter, General Manager North for Chiltern said:
?During the blockade at Rugby over the festive period, we were able to welcome Virgin passengers on our trains and get them home for New Year. So it?s great that Virgin have returned the favour ? passengers always like to see the train companies working together! However, we are still running a near to normal service between Warwick and London Marylebone this week. Passengers may find it easier to drive to our Warwick Parkway station, where we have laid on extra parking spaces, and catch their Chiltern service from there.?

THE Liberal party’s candidate to fight Boris Johnson MP in the next general election, has responded to the news that a cycle path between Thame and Haddenham is being looked at.
In a message to ThameNews.Net, Sue Coopper said the following:
“I understand that one of the Oxfordshire County Council’s Scrutiny committees is going to look at their provision for cycling to work, I believe on February 20. I would like to have addressed the committee on this important subject but as I can’t be there I have asked for my comments to be drawn to the attention of the committee.
“I was very interested to read your article, mentioned in my article below, on Bucks CC’s intention to look at providing a cycle route from Thame to Haddenham. I think this is excellent news and I hope very much that it will encourage OCC to look at its provision for cycling.
“I thought you might be interested in my submission below:” (Ed. Sue’s submissiion is quite long and we don’t usually give so much space to one particular political party to express their views, but Sue’s thoughts and suggestions are very informative and we would of course, give equal amount of space to any other Candidate (Boris?) who would wish to let us have their views and ideas on the proposed cycle route.)

Sue Cooper:
“I am pleased to hear that OCC are scrutinising their provision for cycling to work.
“It is high time that we all started doing more about climate change rather than just talking about it. Bearing in mind its health value as well, cycling to work is one of the most useful and sensible things to do and OCC should be doing all it can to encourage more of it. Providing safe cycle routes is a good place to start but there also needs to be an education campaign to get more people to use them, especially for fairly short journeys, say less than 5 miles (although obviously those keen enough to do more should not be discouraged!)
“Included in the cycling to work definition should be those who can cycle to a station so that they can then get a train to work. Again, this is good for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. I was very disappointed when the Cholsey to Wallingford cycle route was dropped from the OCC capital programme as this would be ideal for people cycling to Cholsey station. So I would urge you to reinstate this as soon as possible please. You may be interested to see this reference which I have been sent for the Thame News article about Bucks County Council investigating providing a cycle route from Thame to Haddenham station. If Bucks CC can provide cycle routes for South Oxfordshire residents surely Oxfordshire should be able to manage some?”

“Also, these routes can be used for children cycling to school or students to college or university. I don’t know whether these are included in your remit but I see no point in ignoring them. The better routes to school programme appears very stretched so help from any other direction should be welcomed. The Cholsey – Wallingford cycle route would be excellent for pupils going to Wallingford School from Cholsey. erhaps OCC could even save on one of the Cholsey school buses if enough pupils, particularly the older ones, could be encouraged to cycle?
“The other route whose progress, or lack of it, I have been very disappointed in is the Benson to Wallingford cycle route. OCC received developer funding towards this and a start was made on a stretch along the A4074 but it needs completing at both ends please. Crowmarsh, through which the route should pass, has the highest concentration of employment per head of population in South Oxfordshire and large numbers of people who work there live within very easy cycling distance. If a reasonable track is provided there would be one less excuse for people not to cycle, even if it was only when the sun shone!”

“There are of course other places in South Oxfordshire which would benefit from cycle route provision:

– Watlington to Lewknor along the old railway track to connect with the excellent Oxford Tube bus route into London

– through Henley with its many employment locations and need to improve air quality (I strongly support the work there with schools on better car free routes)

– from Thame and Wheatley along the old railway track to Oxford (utilising old rail routes for cycling does at least keep the routes intact so that when we come to our senses and decide that energy efficient transport on rails is a good idea then finding suitable routes will be made easier and of course the levels are manageable for cyclists.)

And I am sure there are similar pictures in other parts of the County.”

“So, how are all these to be financed members will say. Through working with Sustrans and getting grant aid from a variety of sources, by a levy on all new development and redevelopment for sustainable transport, by not spending a fortune on consulting engineers doing endless feasibility studies and by savings on sickness related expenditure from having a healthier (physical and mental) workforce.
“So good luck in your deliberations. I hope you have a productive meeting and I look forward to seeing a few more cycle routes being constructed in Oxfordshire.”
Thank you
Sue Cooper

CHILTERN Railways has recently launched a car-sharing scheme to reduce travel costs as well as congestion and pollution for its passengers. The scheme is accessed through the company’s new website and enables passengers to share lifts to any destination.
Passengers can access the scheme from home or work at www.chilterncarshare.co.uk
and register their journey details for free. The system will then tell them if anyone else is going in the same direction, leaving it up to them to make contact through a secure e-mail connection, and arrange to share both the journey and the costs of travel.

The software behind the system has been provided by the specialist car-sharing company, liftshare, which has established more than 900 car-sharing schemes for communities across the UK.

As well as reducing travel costs, the scheme has been designed to encourage more efficient use of the car, thereby reducing congestion and pollution in the local area.

Ray Cutler, aged 43, travels from Watford to Denham Station and will use Chiltern Carshare between Watford and Denham Station. Ray said: “Chiltern Carshare will cut the fuel cost on every shared journey, therefore making my vehicle more efficient.”

Chrys Handy, aged 52, lives in Solihull. Chrys will use Chiltern Carshare to get to and from work. Chrys said: “I usually put approx

ROAD safety experts from Oxfordshire County Council have revealed that the number of people killed or injured on Oxfordshire’s roads in 2007 was the equivalent of the population of Woodstock.

Although the overall figure of 2,605 for those killed, seriously and slightly injured is a reduction on previous years, and part of a long-term downward trend, the county council says that it believes that by describing the statistic as the equivalent of a well known and loved town in the county they can drive home their road safety message.

Thirty four people were killed in 2007 with 330 seriously injured and 2,241 sustaining slight injury.

In 2000, Government set national casualty reduction targets to be met by 2010.

A statement issued today, says: “Data has been regularly reviewed at national and local level, and in 2006 the county council was so confident of reaching the Government 2010 target it set enhanced targets within its own Local Transport Plan, and is making progress towards achieving these.
“Interpreting performance requires caution, with quite high levels of year to year variation in casualty numbers. However the long term trend is downwards.

Recent years:

The long term trend is as follows:

Year Total

2000 3,439

2001 3,398

2002 3,334

2003 2,962

2004 2,633

2005 2,859

2006 2,935

2007 2,605

“The Government’s target for people killed or injured on Oxfordshire’s roads was for the numbers to be driven down to 3,052 by 2010 – a figure that is being repeatedly met. Oxfordshire County Council’s own target is 2,468 by 2010.”

Geoff Barrell, Road Safety Team Leader, Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The county council?s Road Safety Team is continuing to work hard on achieving further reductions. We coordinate the very wide range of measures carried out by the county council itself, from engineering schemes at accident problem sites to providing targeted education, training and publicity for the public. We also work closely with the Police, Health Service and other agencies.”

Councillor Ian Hudspeth is Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and a Woodstock county councillor. He said: “I’m pleased that there is a slow and steady decline in the number of people who are killed or injured on the county’s roads.
“Our road safety team and partner agencies have worked hard together to encourage those reductions. However, when you hear that the amount of people killed or injured last year was the equivalent of the population of Woodstock you realise the extent of the problem.”

THE ownership of Chiltern Railways, which runs services in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, is to be taken over by the German operator Deutsche Bahn.
See full story.

POLICE are appealing for witnesses following a fatal collision on the southbound carriageway of the M40 motorway, between junctions 9 ? 8a on Saturday night(4/1).
At around 9.14pm, a Peugeot 106, a Vauxhall Corsa, a Peugeot 307, a Volkswagen Polo, a Ford Fiesta and a Suzuki SX4 were involved in a collision and one man died.

The motorway was closed for almost six hours to allow collision investigators to examine the scene and re-opened at 3am.

Police are appealing for anyone who saw any stationary vehicles or who may have driven past the incident to contact them.

Anyone with information who has not yet spoken with police is urged to contact PC Dave Mitchell of Bicester Roads Policing on 0845 8 505 505, or if you don?t want to talk to the police or give your name, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Chiltern Railways is offering you the chance to win six months free travel along their route. All you have to do is take a digital photograph of a Chiltern Railways scene.
David Whitley, Marketing Planning Manager said: “If you?ve ever fancied yourself as a budding photographer, this could be your chance to get recognised ? and win six months free train travel!
“All we ask is that your picture has some association with Chiltern Railways, whether that be a train, a station, a destination, our staff or your fellow passengers. It might even be a view from the window.”

Entry forms are only available online and photographs need to be 2MB or less ? but you can enter as many times as you like.

All entries must be submitted by the December 7, 2007; to enter visit: Link Here

FROM today, the speed limit on two notorious roads leading to Thame will be reduced to 50mph.
One of the two roads, both of which have been the scene of many motor vehicle accidents involving serious injury and death in recent years, is the A329 Milton Common to Thame road from a point 118m north east of the A40 London Road, north eastwards to a point 44m South West of its junction with the A418.

The other is the B4012 Thame to Postcombe road from a point 45m south of Wenman Road, Thame, Southwards to a point 35m north of its junction with the A40, at Postcombe.

CYCLOX, the cycling campaign for Oxford, will be hosting a conference aimed at examining how cycling can help tackle Climate Change.
The Cycling for the Climate National Conference, on Saturday, November 17, organised by the CTC and CCN(Cycle Campaign Network), will explore a range of issues including how road conditions can be improved to tempt more people to take up cycling.

Speakers will include Mark Lynas, the renowned environmental journalist and acclaimed author of Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, and Adrian Dent, who manages CTC