The Oxfordshire Premium Route network describes a series of routes where buses either operate at least as frequently as four times per hour currently, or have the potential to operate at that frequency by 2011. These Premium Routes generally follow the main radial roads diverging from Oxford City Centre, then branch off to high density residential areas on the edge of Oxford as well as extending outwards to several Country Towns, such as Witney / Carterton, Woodstock, Bicester, Thame, Wallingford, Didcot and Wantage. Three routes in Banbury are also included in the Premium Routes network.

The 2001-2006 Local Transport Plan describes a three-tier hierarchy of bus services in the County – Premium, Interlink and Feeder. The highest ‘Premium Route’ level is for frequent services that link major existing and proposed areas of housing and employment. For these routes to achieve their potential, high levels of bus priority measures and quality interchange facilities including real time information should be provided. There is a presumption that these Premium Routes would be operated on a largely commercially basis, have good quality vehicles - featuring easy access and low emissions and operate at ‘turn up and go’ frequencies.

The Premium Route concept envisages the creation of a high quality travelling environment for buses and their passengers, with the aim of providing a situation where public transport becomes a more attractive mode choice for Oxfordshire residents. The concept includes the extensive use of priority measures for buses, where appropriate, and the provision of high quality bus stops and shelters.

It is anticipated that the bus industry will respond to public sector investment in quality infrastructure by investing in newer, and more attractive, buses with easy access and low emissions. Quality Bus Partnerships will be negotiated with operators to ensure that a commensurate investment is made by the private sector.

The Premium Routes and Interchanges report, produced by Colin Buchanan and Partners, suggested that some ‘pump priming’ revenue funding would be required to bring the frequency of buses on some alignments up to a ‘turn up and go’ threshold of four buses per hour. It is envisaged that this ‘pump priming’ would be negotiated on a reducing ‘sliding scale’ revenue support basis.

The Premium Routes concept is very closely linked with the Oxford Expressway Guided Transit Express (GTE) proposals, with a similar public-private partnership approach to improving the quality of public transport. Premium Routes will not enjoy the same degree of segregated infrastructure as the GTE guideways, however, and this is reflected in a lower capital cost. In the longer term, it is anticipated that some Premium Routes will link into the GTE guideway for the final section of route into Oxford City Centre.

The increased use of public transport is one of the targets within the Public Service Agreement now agreed with Government, committing Oxfordshire County Council to deliver a 13% growth in bus patronage between 2003 and 2006. The Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan contains a target to increase the numbers of journeys made on buses in the County’s urban areas by 5% per annum and in rural areas by 2% per annum.

These ambitious targets have been set in the context of ongoing national decline in bus use in non-metropolitan areas, but with the knowledge of a remarkable increase in bus use in Oxford City within the last decade.

Structure Plan policies to steer increased residential development towards the Country Towns have resulted in a markedly increased demand for travel between them and Oxford. In the context of the environmental impact of road-building in the County and the distinctive traffic restraint policy within Oxford, it is generally accepted that much of this growth in inter-urban travel demand must be catered for by public transport.

It is considered that Oxfordshire County Council can best achieve this target by focusing attention onto a limited number of busy transport corridors which have the potential for modal shift from car to bus. The potential for such a shift has already been identified in the ‘Premium Routes and Interchanges Study’ which was completed by Colin Buchanan and Partners, and approved by the former Public Transport Sub-Committee in Spring 2001.

This is not considered a feasible option in the context of the limited parking facilities in Oxford City Centre, the very high cost and environmental impact of increasing road capacity for private vehicles, and the general opposition to property demolition that would be required to provide a car-based solution. The recent ‘Carterton, Witney and Oxford’ Transport Links report highlighted the environmental impact and expense of providing additional road capacity for cars along the A40; and similar reasoning could be applied to other radial routes into Oxford. Furthermore, a car-based solution would be socially regressive, reducing the accessibility to facilities for those without a car. Oxfordshire County Council’s expressed policies lean towards preserving the high quality environment in Oxfordshire using a mixture of land use planning, traffic restraint and the promotion of sustainable modes.

Premium Routes and GTE are not mutually exclusive concepts. They represent different and potentially complementary aspects of a quality public transport network. Whilst completion of the Premium Route programme would deliver significant benefits without the development of GTE, for planning purposes it is assumed that the northern and southern GTE guideways from Pear Tree and Redbridge Park & Ride sites to Oxford City Centre will be constructed by 2008.

Whilst extensions to the core GTE guideways are certainly envisaged in the future, no appraisal of their feasibility has yet been undertaken. It is probable that certain elements of the Premium Route network could be enhanced to GTE guideway standards in due course, and this has been taken into account in the indicative Premium Routes programme. Whilst the construction of GTE guideway sections is more costly than providing bus priority on the highway, this can be justified where the benefits can be clearly demonstrated. The purpose of the guideways is to facilitate high speed operation of buses, whilst minimising the width of carriageway and ensuring segregation from other modes of transport. In practice it is unlikely that anything other than a modest proportion of the Premium Routes network would be converted to a guided busway.

Light Rail is a more expensive option than guided bus in terms of initial capital investment.

Two possible scenarios for light rail could be envisaged. One is a street-based ‘tram’ system for the Oxford radials, which would probably be unacceptable both in terms of environmental impact in the city centre, and its impact on general traffic movement along the radials.

The other possibility is a tram-train to link Oxford with the Country Towns. Track-sharing through the congested Oxford station area is not considered feasible due to a lack of capacity; and the cost of constructing light rail branches to Abingdon, Witney or Woodstock (for example) would not be significantly cheaper than for heavy rail. Moreover, this option would also fail to penetrate the city centre or the residential areas of the Country Towns in a way that a bus can.

The Rail Issues report to the Executive on 7 January 2002 described the current constraints surrounding attracting Government investment in enhanced passenger facilities. In the current climate, there would appear to be very little chance of heavy rail routes reopening from Oxford to Witney, Carterton, Woodstock or Abingdon, and certainly not in the next 10-15 years.

The Premium Routes strategy can be considered as complementary to the County inter-urban rail network, and it is envisaged that there will be key interchanges between the Premium Routes and the heavy rail network at Didcot, Oxford and Banbury.

Oxfordshire County Council is committed to actively pursuing the re-opening the East-West rail route, and the timing of this will have an impact on the proposed Bicester-Oxford Premium Route for buses. Chiltern Railways have an aspiration to re-open the Oxford-Thame-Princes Risborough railway in the longer run, which could have an impact on the Oxford-Thame Premium Route; but again, if this does proceed, it is highly unlikely to be in place in the next decade.

Within the Oxfordshire Plan Strategic Goal of ‘Sustaining Our Prosperity’, the Environmental Services’ Service Plan has a Medium Term Aim of ‘encouraging bus travel by developing a network of high quality Premium Routes in partnership with Bus Operators’.

The Strategic Goals of Protecting our Environment and Safeguarding our Communities are also relevant, as the Premium Routes strategy assists in delivering the transport requirements of the Structure Plan and contributes to reducing accidents by promoting a safer form of travel.

Growth in the use of public transport in Oxfordshire is a Target within the Public Service Agreement now negotiated with Government, which commits the Oxfordshire County Council to deliver a 13% growth in bus patronage between 2003 and 2006. The Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan has an ambitious target of increasing the numbers of journeys made on buses in the County’s urban areas by 5% per annum and in rural areas by 2% per annum over the period 2001 to 2006.

One explicit objective of the Premium Route network is a substantial modal switch from car to bus, which should have a beneficial impact on the environment, reducing total vehicle movements and emissions. It is envisaged that better bus stops and shelters, within a range of standard designs, will be provided, that do not have an adverse effect on the visual environment.

The Premium Routes strategy has been identified as the single largest tool for Oxfordshire County Council to achieve its Road Traffic Reduction target of reducing traffic growth to half of that previously forecast.

Some local carriageway widening may be required on certain Premium Routes; for example where bus lanes are required to ensure service reliability, but nothing specific has yet been identified. Private land may also be affected by some of the interchange improvements, eg at rail stations.

Staffing resources will be required to develop the Premium Route concept into discrete schemes for implementation, including the supervision of consultants as appropriate. A new Public Transport Development section is being created, mainly from existing staff resources, to fulfil this function. The GTE project will also be managed from this section, because of the synergy with the Premium Route project; and the section will absorb the additional post for GTE approved by Executive last October.

The capital estimate of implementing the Premium Route programme is £12.6 million. The attached resource appraisal illustrates how this could be achieved over the next eight financial years. There is also a requirement for additional revenue funding to secure additional bus frequency to bring all identified corridors up to Premium Route frequency standards. An estimate of £2.9 million revenue funding during the 2003/04-2011/12 period appears in the resource appraisal. At this time, the capital and revenue estimates must be treated as very provisional, and the project will be subject to further reports to the Executive as it develops.

It is planned to phase the Premium Route programme over eight financial years, with a target completion date of 2011.

EDDIE LUCK
Assistant Director (Transport Development)

CHRIS GRAY
Head of Finance

April 2003

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