London Buses and Taxis to be Banned from Oxford Street
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has explained what will happen to the London buses and taxis that drive down Oxford Street after the area is pedestrianised. Buses may be rerouted or stop at one end and pick up at the other end when the shopping street is closed to traffic.
Speaking to MyLondon on Tuesday afternoon (September 17), the Mayor of London said the lack of traffic will encourage more to spend their cash in ‘flagship’ stores. He suggested that people may want to use nearby Tube and Elizabeth line stations instead of buses.
Mr Khan said: “What we know is we now have in this part of London two fantastic, world class stations serving a world class railway line – the Elizabeth line, and Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road. So there are alternatives that people are using now to come to this part of London. In the past, they’d be driving or taking the taxi or using a bus. That helps.”
He also said that he would make sure to speak to disabled residents so that ‘side roads’ can be installed, which would be used by cabs to drop people off and pick them up.
The Mayor also mentioned that people would be able to make use of the Hopper fare to save money. “[After using] the bus that stops at one end of a pedestrianised Oxford Street,” Mr Khan envisaged, “people can jump on another bus on the other side, as long as it’s within an hour and not pay a penny more.”
Asked if the buses would be in effect rerouted around Oxford Street, the Mayor said: “Some may stop, some may be rerouted. We’ll work with the residents and the council and TfL to get the best possible scheme.”
On possible congestion elsewhere as a result of the change, Mr Khan said: “I’ve seen in other parts of the globe, in other parts of the country, in other parts of the city pedestrianising streets leads to progress and leads to improvements. It’s really important to address concerns that people have, but not to allow forces to keep the status quo.
“The status quo is leading to managed decline of this street. I don’t want a managed decline of Oxford Street, I want it to return to it’s former glory but even better.”