I need to be in the centre of Oxford for 8.30 on Monday morning.

Will be driving south on M40 from Midlands.

Have heard that park and ride is the best option as parking in city centre limited. Any recommendations as to which park and ride? Don’t want to get there and find it’s already full by 8am.

Get there for 7, not 8.

Really?

Do you really need to drive? I’ve never used the Park and Ride but the traffic into Oxford in the mornings is abysmal right now – I cycle past it every morning 🙂 It’s bad at the best of times but there’s a stack of different roadworks going on that are really snarling it up. If you absolutely need to take the car I’d aim to get there as early as you can, but my strong preference would be to take the train.

Suppose I could drive to an outlying station and train it in – any suggestions as to which one?

Hmmm Banbury looks a good shout

I think Banbury station is quite close to the M40 – 07:28-07:57 or 07:56-08:14. Depends on where you need to get to but the station is only a 5-10 minute walk to the centre.

Need to get to close to the Town Hall

Thanks

Defo aim to get there for 7, hell even plan to have a coffee and croissant to save breakfast. If you try to get there for 8 you will get stuck in traffic and be late. The traffic ramps up massively in such a short space of time it really can be clear one minute then jams the next. And there is some parking in the city centre, its just really expensive!.
I would tend to avoid the train, again its more than likely to be delayed / full of smelly oiks to be a pleasurable experience.

Oxford is a horrible place to drive at the best of times and gets even worse during rush-hour (we live 20mins away, yet it takes my wife over an hour to drive there in the morning!). I’d look at the train if possible as the park & ride busses will be stuck in traffic at some point too!

EDIT: Banbury has a relatively new multi-storey car park so shouldn’t be too bad for parking.

Thanks – think parking at Banbury station and getting the train looks like best option for me as I’m driving close to Banbury anyway

I’d aim for the 07:28 from Banbury as the trains are often delayed. Pop into The Missing Bean on Turl Street if you have time before your meeting for a decent cup of coffee…

OK cheers

think parking at Banbury station and getting the train looks like best option for me as I’m driving close to Banbury anyway

Would def recommend that. Station in Banbury is less than 10 mins from the motorway. No idea what parking there is like these days.

Oxford has always been rather anti car (no bad thing IMO), and was a PITA to drive in and out of when I was there regularly 20 years ago.

*Goes misty eyed at the places I grew up and haven’t visited for years*

+1 for train from Banbury. I live in bicester and work near Oxford town hall (16miles door to door). I work shifts but if I hit a rush hour its quicker to cycle than car or even motorbike. At the mo our train service is a bus as they’re redeveloping the station and network. Train station to town hall 15 minutes walk.