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Bike parking nightmare before Christmas as cycle racks to be removed for festive market

Cyclists in Oxford have been left "disappointed" as the council warns any bikes still locked on Friday will be removed too...

Cyclists in Oxford hoping to attend the city's Christmas market by bike have been left disappointed after the council announced bike racks near the site will be temporarily removed during the festive event.

Oxford City Council placed warning signs on the racks at the west end of Broad Street notifying users that the bike parking facility, along with any bicycles or locks left after 7am on Friday 25 November, will be removed. Bikes unclaimed after 60 days will be recycled.

The Oxford Mail reports the racks are to be removed so market stalls can be set up ahead of the event's opening next Thursday (December 1) and will be reinstated once the event has finished on December 18.

However, some local riders expressed disappointment at the decision and suggested the council should be encouraging people to attend the market by bike, not deterring their visit by removing a place to lock their bicycle.

 Cycling campaign group Cyclox added a double dose of bad news, revealing that the cycle route along Broad Street will also be closed for the duration of the event.

It will, however, remain open next year.

 One local rider said the decision to remove the bike racks was a "real shame".

Another asked: "Why are you removing bike parking? That's how many visitors and money spenders get there and it's all working just fine with the current Victorian Market using the whole length of the street. Please don't block the west end again."

A spokesperson from the council said: "Oxford Christmas Market is back for another year of festive fun.  

"To prepare for this, Oxford Direct Services will temporarily remove the bike racks at the west end of Broad Street from Friday. Signs have been put up this week to let people know ahead of this happening."

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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6 comments

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
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Coincidentally, this survey about 20mph limits in Oxford just popped up on fb.  The usual car based nonsense* from the tories.

https://www.witneyconservatives.com/campaigns/20mph-speed-limits?fbclid=...

I hope all road.cc readers from Oxford will be responding, and definitely nobody from outside Oxford will be making spurious submissions using fake info, like postcode OX4 1QN.  Seriously, don't use that, we can't all use the same postcode.

*I'm being polite, it's complete and utter, industrial grade BS.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
4 likes

Christmas spirit?  Goodwill to all men? Except cyclists of course.

Let me take a guess, that OCC have lots of health, climate change, active travel policies which say that they really, really do care and want more people to cycle instead of driving, but not quite enough to do anything about it.

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wycombewheeler replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

exactly - cycle parking and safe cycling route is removed, but car park spaces? they are sacrisanct, don't touch those.

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Doctor Fegg replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
0 likes

This is Broad Street in Oxford where they literally just removed all the car parking last month, so... no?

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brooksby | 1 year ago
4 likes

Bristol's Xmas market always necessitates the removal of bike stands and benches so they have space to build an enormous faux Bavarian temple to day-drinking crappy 'German' beer while listening to piped music and a wacky wooden reindeer head telling jokes. Tasteful, it really isn't...

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Langsam replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Why on earth would they do that? Xmas markets are about high-strength Glühwein,  not beer tents. That's Oktoberfest FFS

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