Transport for London’s plans to pedestrianise the 1.2mile heart of West End shopping will have a huge impact on long established bus services to all points of the compass, as MARK LYONS reports
Some describe London’s Oxford Street as Britain’s High Street, for it is one of the busiest shopping centres in the world, attracting over 200million visitors who spend over £5billion there per year.
Arguably, it also is the nexus of the central London bus network and it is estimated that 100,000 passengers per day board and alight from buses, with more travelling through the area. If Oxford Street were a bus station, it would be the largest in Europe.
But not for much longer. As we reported in last month’s Look in on London, Transport for London is consulting on plans to transform Oxford Street into a pedestrian zone.
The work is planned in three stages starting in December 2018 with the section between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street, an area that TfL describes as ‘Oxford Street West’. This stretch includes the major retail destinations of the John Lewis, House of Fraser, Debenhams and Selfridges department stores.
The second phase is planned for implementation in time for the full opening of the Elizabeth Lin…
