Haddenham Village Society recently hosted a meeting to explore potential developments in public transport provision for the village in the coming months. For those who were unable to attend the meeting, Sir Roderick Floud (who chaired the meeting) has kindly provided a summary of the themes discussed.
Chiltern Rail and Arriva Bus representatives spoke to a meeting of the Haddenham Village Society on Thursday 9th October, attended by over 60 residents. The main points covered in presentations or discussion were:
1. Further improvements will soon be carried out to Haddenham and Thame Parkway station, including a booking office compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. Chiltern Rail will welcome any comments from users about the recent improvements and suggestions for more.
2. The proposed timetable for the autumn of 2015, incorporating the new link via Bicester to Oxford, is on the Chiltern website for consultation during the rest of this month. It provides a minimum of one train per hour from Haddenham to Oxford Parkway, taking just over 20 minutes. This is your chance to comment. The route will be extended to Oxford Station in 2016 and will later become part of the east-west route from Cambridge to Oxford.
3. Chiltern Rail is conscious of over-crowding on some trains at the moment and the possibility of more on the Oxford route. They are providing longer trains and platforms to alleviate this.
4. The problem of parking close to the station is well-known to Chiltern Rail and occurs at a number of other stations. They consider the current cost of parking to be good value; experiments elsewhere with providing free parking have simply led to over-crowding and an increase in car journeys. They are in discussion with Bucks County Council over other possible solutions.
5. Arriva buses are happy with the current running and route of the 280, which is attracting increased passenger numbers. There are no plans to change the route and buses will not run through any of the proposed housing developments; nor will the express service or a service to Church End be reintroduced.
6. New buses, compliant with the emissions requirements in Oxford, will soon be introduced. There will be more buses on the route, providing an enhanced service in rush hours.
7. There are likely to be significant delays to the 280 during the next six months, caused by extensive road-works in Headington.