bicester village traffic

Are you a resident of Bicester?  Then you do not need us to explain the issues our neighbour cause when their customers arrive en-masse particularly at Easter, the run up to Christmas, January sales and now Black Friday.  They say a picture is a thousand words so you may want to look at our Gallery here.

You may not be a resident of Bicester of the surrounding areas but instead you work here.  Maybe you have been late for work?  Maybe you have been delayed leaving work?  Maybe your company has missed deadlines because time critical deliveries have been stuck in traffic jams with 'bargain' hunters?

• Delays and congestion to pass the Bicester Village entrance
  
• Gridlock within Bicester on Queens Avenue and the Middleton Stoney Road
  
• Congestion on the A41 northbound passing the Ambrosden turning
  
• Transport businesses unable to access the Bicester Distribution Centre
  
• Increased Air Pollution from seven miles of stationary traffic as on Black Friday
  
• Illegal parking causing dangerous obstacles
  
• Damage to roadside verges
  
• Inconsiderate parking on private property
  

All of these problems have existed for years.  They are not new problems but they are slowly getting worse.  Bicester Village have contracted two traffic management companies but these neither has successfully solved the core problem:  too many shops on too small a site are attracting too many people in cars.

In March 2015, Bicester Traffic Action Group conducted an online survey for the population of Bicester and the surrounding villages to help understand a range of traffic issues including Bicester Village.  We discovered that three main areas were reported by respondents, these are Bicester's 'congestion zones'.

• Easter

• Black Friday
• December
• January

As part of a planning application in 2013 to allow additional parking, Bicester Village's owners Value Retail had to consent to building a park and ride facility.  The new car park situated between the A41 and Vendee Drive features 580 car parking spaces, 60 cycle parking spaces, cycle shelter, bus laybys and shelter, fencing, landscaping, attenuation pond and drainage ditch, pedestrian walkways, height restriction barriers and security lighting and cameras

The story was reported by the Bicester Advertiser here.

Our opinion;

• Great resource
  
• It is taking too long to build even now the 'legal' hurdles are supposedly finished
  
• We think 580 spaces maybe insufficient
  
• We are concerned that it will not be completed by the next 'Black Friday' sale event