Oxford students’ wishes for a monorail could be granted, if only after 2020, following an announcement by county council leader Ian Hudspeth.
Speaking at the “Connecting Oxfordshire” event, he explained that the existing infrastructure in Oxfordshire is likely to come under further strain in the near future, with 86,000 new jobs and 100,000 new homes predicted to arrive in the county by 2031.
“There are exciting times ahead”, he said. “Towns across Oxfordshire are going to increase in size, with places such as Bicester set to double in size over the next ten years. We are also seeing the technology and knowledge industry Science Vale Oxford really take off and the county council needs to lead the way in developing the supporting infrastructure.”
He added, “We can’t rule out ideas that might seem fanciful, such as creating a passenger service on the Cowley branch line, a mass transit system into Oxford. And why couldn’t we create a monorail connecting key locations around the city’s ring road?”
A car-free, “boulevard piazza” on St. Giles was also proposed. Hudspeth said that this would, “really give a different feel to the whole city centre.”
Samuel Kim, a medic at St. John’s, told Cherwell, “Dodging cars on St. Giles’ is always a thrill, but if we do get a piazza future students will certainly enjoy the reduction in mortal peril to get to G&D’s”.
This proposed transport link from the city centre to Banbury Road could grant students at St. Hugh’s and LMH the monorail promised in LJ Trup’s “personifesto” last year.
Some students contacted were concerned about the potential visual impact of the project, however. A senior member of the Oxford University History Society said, “Oxford’s historical beauty is a great draw for both prospective students and tourists alike. Hopefully, they can find a way to implement the monorail in a way that will both complement the visual image of our city and provide a great boost for its efficiency.”
Oxford city centre currently has a high traffic volume, with 180 buses per hour using the High Street and 80,000 vehicles using the ring road every weekday.
The proposed changes would extend an existing, £800 million plan to improve transport in Oxfordshire that includes a new railway station at Water Eaton, alongside improvements to existing stations at Oxford and Didcot.
