London – Europe’s busiest shopping street will be fully pedestrianised by 2020. All traffic – including buses and taxes – will be banned as part of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s efforts to tackle air pollution.
Valerie Shawcross, London’s deputy mayor for transport, told the London assembly last week that the mayor’s office plans to ban all vehicles on a nearly 2-kilometre stretch of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road to Bond Street tube station by 2020. The announcement is part of Sadiq Khan’s efforts to curb air pollution and congestion in central London. Khan was elected mayor in May 2016.
The project will be carried out in two stages to reduce disruption to the street, beginning with the eastern section from Tottenham Court Road to Oxford Circus. Cars are already banned from most of Oxford Street between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm every day except from Sundays. Under the new ban, this will be extended to taxis as well as the 168 buses that travel the street every hour.
According to the BBC, Oxford Street has enjoyed pedestrian-only Christmas shopping days since 2005. The traffic ban will coincide with the opening of the Crossrail, a new east-west line for the city with stations at both Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street that is expected to significantly increase the number of shoppers visiting the street.
More than four million people visit Oxford Street each week, amounting to over 200 million visitors each year to Europe’s busiest shopping street. A 2014 study from King’s College London found Oxford Street was the most polluted place on Earth, with pollution levels higher than those found in Beijing, reported the Independent.
