WITH the positive news that Oxfordshire County Council are prepared to lease The Triangle to Oxford United, subject to various conditions and planning, we want to again thank everyone for all their hard work, emails to the council, and conversations with the relevant people.

Everyone played their part and it doesn’t go unnoticed. With that stage complete, OxVox feel it’s now time to consider what this means for us all, should it happen.

The area we’re focusing on initially is transport, and particularly our new Three Point Pledge for fans to complete, about which more below.

The club has stated that they have an ambitious plan to reach 90 per cent of fans not using cars to attend games. We already know the location has advantageous transport links that many clubs would envy – for example, we understand that use of Oxford Parkway would put us as the second closest club to a railway station in the Football League.

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Many fans have told OxVox that they’d like to abandon the car on matchdays, and we believe there is a strong intention to use public transport if routes are available. There will be gaps in the current provision and we aim to identify them. However, there are already a number of options.

For example, Oxford Parkway train station currently has direct links to Oxford city centre, Bicester, Thame, High Wycombe and London. The direct seven-minute link to Oxford opens up the route to all those with train routes to Oxford – Didcot, Banbury, Reading and others further afield.

Oxford Parkway is also the end of a Park and Ride service from the city centre. Pear Tree Park and Ride and the new Eynsham Park and Ride would serve those coming from the west and the south. If a shuttle bus was added, would this be the option for you?

In addition, there are also all the regular buses from Oxford that serve Summertown and Banbury Road, plus those from Woodstock and the surrounding villages – and that’s all before we consider the existing ‘football special’ buses that are put on for games currently.

To demonstrate that fans intend to use public transport wherever possible, that we are conscious of our own responsibilities to reduce carbon, and that we can be good neighbours to those residents already in the area, we are now asking fans to complete our Three Point Pledge via oxvox.org.uk/three-point-pledge/

It will take you no more than a minute or two to complete and provides valuable information about our intentions. Let’s use this as an opportunity to show the council and the planners that we, as a fanbase, commit to being car-free where we can, but also provide information to show where gaps are where we can’t.

We can’t finish without recognising the excellent efforts on the pitch – dare we dream yet or should we be considering how many points we need to reach safety!