Getting to and Around Oxford, England

Downtown Oxford is full of bicycles. This is undoubtedly due in large part to the exorbitant parking fees, nearly $40 a day. I saw quite a few old professor types huffing and puffing along on their way (presumably) to work.

Although the downtown area has fairly limited traffic, the areas and suburbs just outside of downtown Oxford can get surprisingly congested. This is particularly dangerous for those of us unused to people driving on the left side of the road. Even though practically every street had painted on it which way you should look to cross, I always looked the wrong way.

There's a pretty extensive bus system in Oxford, but it costs a lot. I paid nearly $4 to go a distance that would have taken me about 15 or 20 minutes to walk. It made me miss the good old Mexico City bargain transportation system. Taxis are also expensive. A ten minute ride was about $20. Although, the taxis in England are way better than ours. They are a modernized version of the old taxi cabs with fold down rear facing seats. Quite nice.

The final method of getting in and out of Oxford is the train, which is packed on weekdays. Lots of people commute into London. It is very quiet and orderly, although not always on time. It's also incredibly expensive. My train to the airport cost almost $70. That would be about $700 a week in commuting costs. Ouch. Hope they have some sort of commuter pass.