London’s Oxford Street will be pedestrianized by 2020
Photo: Ant Smith
Shopaholics around the world know of Oxford Street. This street in London is considered one of the most famous shopping areas in the world, and for good reason. It is lined with every shop imaginable, making it a hub of activity in the notoriously busy city.
If you don’t believe me, then think on this—more than four million people visit Oxford Street each week. So, yeah. It’s preeeeetty freakin’ busy.
That’s why it should come as no surprise that the mayor of London has decided to make the street car-free by 2020.
While cars are already banned on the majority of the 1.2-mile street between 7am and 7pm every day—with the exception of Sunday—this complete ban is sure to make the streets even safer. The ban itself will stretch from Tottenham Court Road to as far as Marble Arch.
The project is set to go down in two stages. It will first be implemented in the eastern section, which stretches between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus. From there, the rest of the street will be banned after a while.
This won’t be the first time cars will be banned from the area. Besides the aforementioned times, there are pedestrian-only Christmas shopping days, which were introduced by London’s first elected mayor, Ken Livingstone, in 2005. Since then, traffic-free shopping days have been a feature on the street.
Right now, even with the 7am-to-7pm ban on traffic, buses are allowed to run their routes on Oxford Street. After the ban is enforced, these bus routes will be detoured around it.
News Source: BBC News
A born-and-raised Jersey girl, Caitlin Moran has somehow found herself settled in Edinburgh, Scotland. When she’s not spending her days trying to remember which side of the road to drive on, Caitlin enjoys getting down and nerdy with English. She continues to combine her love of writing with her love of cars for The News Wheel, while also learning more about the European car market—including the fact that the Seat brand is pronounced “se-at” not “seat” as you might think. See more articles by Caitlin.