Rage Online

To be fair, there are bus routes from two different companies, both of which run every few minutes day and night. These buses run from the train station, through town and up the Cowley Road. For return journeys they pick up from Knights Road, which is maybe 5 minutes walk from the northeast corner of the ground, but when travelling to the ground it's quicker to get off on Blackbird Leys Road before the bus goes all round BBL, which makes it more like a 12-15 minute walk (maybe 20 to the South Stand). It's relatively inexpensive as well. But it's not well promoted to OUFC fans (imo), and it seems silly when there are dedicated bus drop off areas right outside the ground that this is the only sensible public transport option available to fans.

I never use the stadium car park, and indeed it seems completely wrong that it takes up to an hour to empty - if that is the case then the access has been very poorly designed, and should be redone.

20 minutes from the ground to the chippy!? Are you walking at Snail's pace?

Kernow Yellow wrote:To be fair, there are bus routes from two different companies, both of which run every few minutes day and night. These buses run from the train station, through town and up the Cowley Road. For return journeys they pick up from Knights Road, which is maybe 5 minutes walk from the northeast corner of the ground, but when travelling to the ground it's quicker to get off on Blackbird Leys Road before the bus goes all round BBL, which makes it more like a 12-15 minute walk (maybe 20 to the South Stand). It's relatively inexpensive as well. But it's not well promoted to OUFC fans (imo), and it seems silly when there are dedicated bus drop off areas right outside the ground that this is the only sensible public transport option available to fans.

I never use the stadium car park, and indeed it seems completely wrong that it takes up to an hour to empty - if that is the case then the access has been very poorly designed, and should be redone.

The service is there, but as KY says is not well publicised and agree some may be concerned with heading into the Leys in the dark. On the counter though, if the buses were re-routed to come to the stop outside the ground, would they not get caught up in all the traffic thus delaying how quickly they can get fans away from the stadium and also disrupting the rest of the service?

The whole idea of driving to a football ground seems odd to me. Might work for a crowd of 5,000 but what if we got good and there were 12,000, with maybe then the promise of a fourth stand? Shuttle from the Park and Ride seems a good idea.

SWA wrote:20 minutes from the ground to the chippy!? Are you walking at Snail's pace?

Maybe I go the wrong way, or I'm concentrating on my chips too much!

Werthers Original wrote:The whole idea of driving to a football ground seems odd to me. Might work for a crowd of 5,000 but what if we got good and there were 12,000, with maybe then the promise of a fourth stand? Shuttle from the Park and Ride seems a good idea.

This is something I've always advocated. It has to be a sensible option doesn't it?

Mooro wrote:

Kernow Yellow wrote:To be fair, there are bus routes from two different companies, both of which run every few minutes day and night. These buses run from the train station, through town and up the Cowley Road. For return journeys they pick up from Knights Road, which is maybe 5 minutes walk from the northeast corner of the ground, but when travelling to the ground it's quicker to get off on Blackbird Leys Road before the bus goes all round BBL, which makes it more like a 12-15 minute walk (maybe 20 to the South Stand). It's relatively inexpensive as well. But it's not well promoted to OUFC fans (imo), and it seems silly when there are dedicated bus drop off areas right outside the ground that this is the only sensible public transport option available to fans.

I never use the stadium car park, and indeed it seems completely wrong that it takes up to an hour to empty - if that is the case then the access has been very poorly designed, and should be redone.

The service is there, but as KY says is not well publicised and agree some may be concerned with heading into the Leys in the dark. On the counter though, if the buses were re-routed to come to the stop outside the ground, would they not get caught up in all the traffic thus delaying how quickly they can get fans away from the stadium and also disrupting the rest of the service?

Some good points there. Maybe Grenoble Road needs a bus lane too.

I also reckon the parking is a significant factor in putting people off. Ok, so the parking is free around the stadium, but the away fans who by nature tend to arrive earlier get a lot of the best slots and the Ozone punters a whole pile more so those turning up half an hour before kick off for a game with 5000+ in attendance are doomed to the overflow car park and a post-match delay of an hour or so just to get onto the Oxford ring road. The free parking and residents only parking restrictions in The Leys were part of the Stadium Deal with the local council to get the locals onside and a solution requires some lateral thinking if the club were to be more successful and the Stadium was expanded. It would be a dream to get that West Stand built, be in the Championship and getting potential crowds of around 16k - but with nowhere to park that’s going to put a lot of people off...

Three suggested solutions.

1. On the other side of Grenoble Road there is a very big field that must make sod all a year in revenue.

2. Change the Land Deal agreement and charge people to use the existing car park (like nearly all clubs do) and share the revenue between the club, land owner and most importantly the people who live in the Leys for local regeneration projects in return for dropping the residents only parking rule. Even the Leys Parish Council could see some sense in that! And if you are an Ozone customer then whatever you pay would be refunded off your cinema or bowling or bingo admission in return for flashing your parking ticket.

3. Knock some heads together with the owners of the businesses in the Science Park who instead of paying security guards to stop fans parking get them to take money in order to allow supporters entry to those lovely looking secure places to put your motor in for a few hours.

Just how difficult is it to organise any of those ideas?

I can't believe you-know-who hasn't someone to take cash off all those people who park on The Priory site!

Snake wrote:I also reckon the parking is a significant factor in putting people off. Ok, so the parking is free around the stadium, but the away fans who by nature tend to arrive earlier get a lot of the best slots and the Ozone punters a whole pile more so those turning up half an hour before kick off for a game with 5000+ in attendance are doomed to the overflow car park and a post-match delay of an hour or so just to get onto the Oxford ring road. The free parking and residents only parking restrictions in The Leys were part of the Stadium Deal with the local council to get the locals onside and a solution requires some lateral thinking if the club were to be more successful and the Stadium was expanded. It would be a dream to get that West Stand built, be in the Championship and getting potential crowds of around 16k - but with nowhere to park that’s going to put a lot of people off...

Three suggested solutions.

1. On the other side of Grenoble Road there is a very big field that must make sod all a year in revenue.

2. Change the Land Deal agreement and charge people to use the existing car park (like nearly all clubs do) and share the revenue between the club, land owner and most importantly the people who live in the Leys for local regeneration projects in return for dropping the residents only parking rule. Even the Leys Parish Council could see some sense in that! And if you are an Ozone customer then whatever you pay would be refunded off your cinema or bowling or bingo admission in return for flashing your parking ticket.

3. Knock some heads together with the owners of the businesses in the Science Park who instead of paying security guards to stop fans parking get them to take money in order to allow supporters entry to those lovely looking secure places to put your motor in for a few hours.

Just how difficult is it to organise any of those ideas?

All true and possible, but attracting more cars doesn't deal with the traffic flow, which I would say is much more important. Most can cope with the extra 5 minute walk to the overflow car park, its the hour long delay getting away from the car park which causes issues, and more cars will make it worse.