Oxford Street Pedestrianisation: How Will It Actually Work?

Hi guys, today I'm here at Oxford Street in anticipation of what's been confirmed and announced which is the pedestrianisation of a large chunk of Oxford Street. In fact, it'll be pedestrianised from the 26th of October. From right here behind me you can see this is Great Portland Street which is just on the other side of the new IKEA which is just there. And from here all the way down to the other side of Selfridges, Orchard Street, that's where it'll be completely pedestrianised. That means no cars, no buses, no taxis, not even bicycles, not even scooters, and not even pedicabs. The only thing that will be allowed on here will be emergency vehicles and I think there will be time set aside for delivery vehicles. Apart from that, no more traffic. So as you can see at the moment this side of the road is closed anyway because they're working on it, but the other side heading into Oxford Circus is quite busy. And this is normally the case, it's Thursday afternoon, it's noisy as you can hear. So what will be impacted? How much longer will it take to get around the West End? How much will traffic be impacted? Which roads are going to be affected? Well let's look at all of that right after this. So let's start with the crucial Oxford Circus intersection here behind me. Gets very busy, especially around Christmas time. More recently they've introduced this sort of pedestrian crisscrossing across it, a bit like they have in Tokyo. But that still gets really busy. Now that will be completely closed, so there'll be no traffic across Regent Street at all. Which means that there's going to be more traffic on Margaret Street and Cavendish Place, which is down in that direction. They estimate an additional 200-300 vehicles and another 100-200 during the evening peak hour. Despite that, they claim that the journey time will be affected by less than a minute because vehicles will no longer have to conflict with the east-west Oxford Street traffic. Well, we'll see. The traffic-free section will extend for approximately one kilometre, which is just over half a mile, with deliveries and servicing restricted to the hours between midnight and 7am. Now general traffic is of course already prohibited on most of Oxford Street between 7am and 7pm Monday to Saturday. But now that exclusion will be absolutely complete and of course you can't drive here on Sundays either. So this section of Great Portland Street, between Margaret Street and Mortimer Street, which is just down there, they say the traffic would fall by 100-200 vehicles during the morning peak hour before increasing by 50-100 during the evening. Now Margaret Street, which is running back towards Regent Street, that would gain about 50 vehicles an hour in the morning and between 100-200 during the evening. However, Margaret Street will become restricted to buses, taxis and cycles travelling eastbound near Cavendish Square. Traffic on this section is expected to increase most noticeably during the evening peak with between 100-200 additional vehicles an hour. And the approaches to Cavendish Square are being reconfigured to accommodate the displaced traffic and rerouted buses. So it appears that one of the changes that they will be making to Cavendish Square is that they will be reversing the flow of traffic around it. So on the eastern side, traffic is forecast to rise from between 50-100 vehicles an hour, which it is now, to between 100-200 vehicles during the morning peak and during the evening it would rise from 50-100 vehicles to 200-300 vehicles. And that means an increase of as many as 200 vehicles an hour on what is currently, as you can see, relatively quiet. The western side of Cavendish Square is also expected to get busier, gaining up to 50 vehicles per hour in the morning and between 50-100 during the evening. So Henrietta Place will actually be converted from a one-way into a two-way, providing a new connection between Wigmore Street and Regent Street. Interestingly, TfL's model predicts a reduction in traffic in part of Henrietta Place because it will have fewer westbound lanes. So between Wimpole Street and Old Cavendish Square, two-way traffic would fall by between 100-200 vehicles an hour in the morning and by between 200-300 in the evening. Now the traffic doesn't disappear of course, much of it is redistributed of course into Cavendish Square, Wellbeck Street and other connecting roads. So here on Wellbeck Street between Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place, traffic is forecast to rise from 50-100 vehicles to 100-200 vehicles an hour during the morning peak. In the evening it could increase from 100-200 to 200-300 vehicles an hour. Now these figures may not sound enormous but practical issues, you know, you have to look at what the street capacity is available and this street isn't very big. So if you think about the fact that, you know, buses are going to be sharing this road with other traffic plus, you know, parked vans and stuff like that are going to restrict things and suddenly you could have a traffic jam on your hands very quickly. So Wigmore Street of course is the crucial alternative route because this is where many of the buses that are removed to Moxley Street will be sent here. Between Mandelville Place and Duke Street, traffic is expected to increase by between 100-200 vehicles an hour during the morning peak. Westbound journey times between Wimpole Street and Edgware Road are predicted to increase by 3-5 minutes in the morning across the complete east-west corridor between Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch on this side, TfL forecasts an additional 2-3 minutes of time. The evening prediction is rather different, westbound journeys could become 1-3 minutes quicker because of traffic redistribution and revised signal timings although eastbound journeys are still expected to take 2-3 minutes longer. Bus passengers will also feel the impact. The route number 98 could take between 2-5 minutes longer depending on direction and time. Route 390 could take an additional 3-5 minutes northbound while route 139 gains up to 2 minutes in the morning. Now these figures represent modelled average journey times, they do not show how reliable those journeys will be when they are competing against deliveries, roadworks, Christmas shopping, etc. Check out BrownCarGuy's latest novel Silent Ruin. Action, adventure, spies, betrayal, romance, plus of course cool cars and car chases, it's got the lot. And don't forget how to be an automotive content creator, the Uless Files and Quantum Races, all BrownCarGuy's books are available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. So here at Portman Square, the southern side of Portman Square which is behind me is expected to gain between 50 and 100 vehicles an hour both during the morning and evening peaks. But the greater time penalty will occur going northbound which is in this direction through Portman Street which is of course this one but also Gloucester Place which is a parallel one on that side of Portman Square. Now TfL predicts that that journey could take between 3 and 5 minutes longer during the morning peak. Now that increase is partly caused by the reversal of Park Street which means that northbound vehicles must take a longer route through North Audley Street. So from Portman Street which is this road, northbound traffic won't be able to go straight onto Park Street but will have to turn back onto Oxford Street going towards Oxford Circus and then turn right onto North Audley Street. So then North Audley Street becomes a northbound alternative route for cars coming from the south. Morning traffic volumes are expected to remain similar in fact but evening traffic they say could rise from 200 to 300 cars per hour to 300 to 400 vehicles an hour. So Upper Brook Street, this is potentially the biggest traffic displacement hotspot in the entire scheme says TfL which is odd because geographically it actually falls west of the pedestrianised section of Oxford Street. But on Upper Brook Street between Park Street and North Audley Street which is further down that way, TfL predicts that the traffic will rise from between 300 and 400 vehicles an hour to between 600 and 800 vehicles an hour. That's double. You know that increase is forecast both in the morning and in the evening peaks. So oddly even here, Marble Arch and Park Lane, even though we're now a couple of blocks away from where the pedestrianised zone will actually be, even here they expect to see an impact. And this is because some drivers are expected to use Park Lane in order to avoid travelling through Park Street and North Audley Street. TfL expects selected parts of Park Lane will actually gain between 100 and 200 vehicles an hour. Having said that, the journey time changes they claim along Park Lane and Edgeway Road are forecast to remain below one minute in both peaks, so less than a minute's change. So I guess side roads like this one will be closed off completely and certainly there will be no access from the Oxford Street side and maybe some access from the other side. Anyway, those are the changes to Oxford Street. Now, TfL says that it will monitor traffic after the scheme is introduced and it will work with Westminster City Council to adjust signals, signs and restrictions if problems develop. Now, everything that I've told you is actually based on TfL's own modelling data, but its modelling data is based on 2025 traffic volumes and also on the peak hours, so that is in the morning from 8.30am to 9.30am and in the evening from 6pm to 7pm. Now keep in mind that it's actually looking at or modelling traffic for the end of 2026, so there may be some discrepancy there. But overall, TfL suggests, or this figure certainly suggests, that the wider impact to journey time should be relatively modest, with most journeys taking no more than two or three minutes longer, although as we have seen, some journeys are expected to take up to five minutes longer. So what do you think? Actually, what do I think? Well, I'm going to be actually completely selfish and honest here. Now, I did used to live not far from here in Islington, about 25 minutes away, and that was in the 80s, early 90s, and if I was still living there, then actually I probably would have an issue with it, but now I live in Brent and honestly, I never ever drive into central London unless I really, really have to. Normally, 20 minutes on the Jubilee Line I'm here, so that doesn't really bother me. As for the pedestrianisation of this road here in the middle, I think it'll be quite interesting because at the end of the day, we have seen that it can get incredibly busy here, particularly in the busy in the summer, when the sales are on, and especially around Christmas time when there's barely any space to walk on these pavements. I remember back, I don't know if it still happens, but sometimes there was a singing policeman I think in Oxford Circus that used to coordinate pedestrians crossing, that used to be a lot of fun, but it does get quite bad, and I think that if they pedestrianise the middle bit and they put more seating, I know there's some seating, but it's nowhere near enough, more seating, more coffee places, certainly for husbands that are out shopping with their families, believe you me, I can testify to that from personal experience, but also stuff for the kids to do and extra facilities and stuff like that, then that might be quite a good idea, and it may actually increase footfall to the shops, which is basically what this is all about. However, there is no doubt that certainly initially, you know, the traffic chaos it's going to cause is going to be monumental. I think it'll settle down eventually, but certainly initially it's going to be chaos as people try and figure out. Hopefully I've been able to give you some guidance in this video, but most people are going to have to feel their own way. Anyway, that's what I think, now tell me what you think, particularly if you live or work in central London, and especially if you live or work in the West End, how do you think it will impact you, your business, your journey times, and what impact do you think it'll have on the area as a whole? Let me know in the comments. I hope you've enjoyed this video and found it useful. Hit like, share, subscribe, all the usual stuff, and stay tuned, and I'll catch you all in the next video. If you found this video useful or entertaining, support the BrownCarGuy channel at these links. Hit like, leave a comment, and make sure you're subscribing.