A consultation in the spring concluded that half a mile of Oxford Street should be pedestrianised and that a Mayoral Development Corporation should be created. Now we have a new consultation into the nitty gritty of how that'll be done, including which junctions will be stopped up, where additional pedestrian crossings will be needed and where the buses will go instead.
If you're a non-disabled pedestrian who likes shopping or a retailer with goods to shift it's excellent news because a lengthy chunk of prime retail estate is losing its traffic. From some date in 2027 you'll be able to wander cheerily past Selfridges to Oxford Circus without fear of your bulging shopping bags being run over by a vehicle. We had a dry run back in September and it was very pleasant, if massively over-hyped. But if you ride a bike, want to flag down a taxi or are planning to catch a bus the news is less good because you won't be able to do it here.
Let's dig down and add some nuance.
Less than half of Oxford Street is being pedestrianised
Oxford Street is 2km long but only half a mile is going traffic free (or 900m out of 2000m if you prefer unmixed units). The consultation calls it 'Oxford Street West'. The eastern stretch leading up to Tottenham Court Road is being left alone (for now) because it's not such prime shopping territory, also the 300m closest to Marble Arch because that's an essential traffic feeder. The half mile that's closing starts at Orchard Street (on the corner of Selfridges) and ends at the foot of Great Portland Street. This means one block east of Oxford Circus will be closing too, which has the following intriguing corollary.
The famous X-shaped pedestrian crossing will no longer be needed
The Shibuya-style crossing at Oxford Circus was opened to great fanfare in 2009, with pedestrians rushing across in all directions during their 30-second window. The consultation proposes that Oxford Street be closed on both sides at this point, leaving just Regent Street to pass through north-south. There'll still need to be a pedestrian crossing here, indeed it'll be the most significant on the entire pedestrianised stretch, but it only needs to be straight across so the X won't be needed any more.
It will still be possible to drive across Oxford Street
Traffic will still be allowed to drive across the pedestrianised stretch, specifically at Duke Street, Davies Street, New Bond Street, Holles Street and Regent Street. However three of these crossings will now be one-way only and a fourth only leads to a dead end anyway. Meanwhile the junctions at Binney Street, Gilbert Street and John Princes Street will be stopped up, the latter closure forcing the removal of the bus stand currently used for route 7 and 159.
TfL have been removing bus routes from Oxford Street for ages
Originally the slimming down was because Oxford Street was deemed to be overbussed, with umpteen queueing double deckers getting in the way of shoppers. Later it felt more like zealotry, chopping off the ends of routes so they didn't have to go down Oxford Street at all. Now they're all disappearing, with three routes being sent along parallel streets (98, 139, 390) and two more getting their ends chopped off (7, 94).
Routes 7 and 94 are being shortened
At present route 7 runs from East Acton to Oxford Circus and route 94 runs from Acton Green to Piccadilly Circus, but in future both will only get as far Marble Arch. This'll prevent them from clogging up Wimpole Street, which is important, but also means passengers will have to change buses to continue east, which is collateral damage. It also means the only buses that link Paddington and Notting Hill Gate to Oxford Circus will be permanently severed. Nothing here is helping bus passengers.
The remaining three bus routes will be diverted
Mayfair is impenetrable so the displaced 98, 139 and 390 will have to nudge north into less suitable streets, following Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place instead. Taxis will be similarly shunted, joining all the other vehicles who already have to go this way, so there is a risk these backroads get noticeably more congested.
New bus stops will be needed
Two new bus stops will appear on Wigmore Street outside some quite posh shops where BMWs and delivery vehicles currently park. I've timed it and they'll be three minutes walk from Oxford Street, so not impossible but not ideal. Two more bus stops will be needed on Henrietta Place. One's outside an office block they haven't finished building yet and the other will replace a bus stand where vehicles on routes 12 and 22 currently rest up. They'll be two minutes from Oxford Street but only for those who can work out which sidestreet to walk up. Some very good signage is going to be needed.
There's no longer going to be a bus stop at Bond Street station.
It's the 9th busiest railway station in Britain, but stuff it.
The diversion route is much bendier
At present a number 98 bus can head east to Holborn direct. In future it'll have to turn left up Orchard Street, then right into Wigmore Street (a turn currently prohibited). Then it's right into one-way Welbeck Street, then left into Henrietta Place past Cavendish Square. The removal of turns at Oxford Circus means the 98 will instead have to cross straight over Regent Street into minor Margaret Street. Then it's a right turn into Great Portland Street and finally a left turn into the open end of Oxford Street. Six turns rather than none, so unsurprisingly it's due to take longer.
Bus journeys will take longer
• "The projected increase in journey times for route 98 is expected to be between 2 and 5 minutes in either direction."
• "For route 390 the projected increase in journey times is expected to be between 1 and 3 minutes west and 3 and 5 minutes east."
• "The projected increase in journey time for route 139 is negligible and between 0 and 1 minute".
Having walked the diversion route yesterday and seen all the twist and turns and traffic, I'd say 3-5 minutes extra is more likely than 1-3. However route 139 gets away with a negligible delay because it'll now skip Orchard Street and won't have to do the Great Portland Street twiddle.
TfL are being weaselly on the subject
According to the spokesman TfL put on BBC News last night, "across the bus services you see less than a minute change in terms of the journey times." Officially that's true because the closure also indirectly affects several other routes not very much, and if you average these out the overall change is minor. But routes 98 and 390 will be noticeably disadvantaged to the extent that passengers may choose to stop using them, and it sounded like David Rowe was trying very hard not to admit that.
The fallout will affect ten other routes
Route N7 and N137: will be unhelpfully curtailed to Marble Arch rather than Oxford Circus Route N15: will be re-routed to use a bus stand on John Prince's Street Routes 22 and N22: will lose its last two stops, terminating at Hanover Street rather than Oxford Circus Routes 73 and N73: will terminate at Great Portland Street rather than Oxford Circus Routes N98 and N207: will be diverted via Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place Route N113: will terminate at Marble Arch rather than the hugely more useful Trafalgar Square
Various infrastructure works need to happen to make this possible
Bus stands need to move. Taxi ranks need to move. An extra set of traffic lights will be added just north of Oxford Circus. Some one-way streets will be reversed while others go two-way. Two new "buses and taxis only" lanes will be required. The fallout is going to be considerable. And all these changes have to happen (starting late next year) before Oxford Street can be closed to traffic (probably in 2027), finally giving shoppers free rein.
It's going to make shopping on Oxford Street much much more attractive
But it's not all going to be good, especially if you want to catch a bus across the West End, because your convenience is being sacrificed to the feed the gods of growth.
