TfL consider a ban on Oxford st buses

[Greenback]

It isn't a simple problem, so I doubt there will be a simple solution. And removing buses from oxford St seems a very simple solution to me. So I don't think it will be effective. It will just transfer the pollution to adjoining streets.

 

[Antman]

It isn't a simple problem, so I doubt there will be a simple solution. And removing buses from oxford St seems a very simple solution to me. So I don't think it will be effective. It will just transfer the pollution to adjoining streets.

Of course many of the buses are hybrids now but there is also the safety issue with pedestrians spilling onto the road from overcrowded pavements, I'm surprised it wasn't pedestrianised years ago.

 

[Busaholic]

Of course many of the buses are hybrids now but there is also the safety issue with pedestrians spilling onto the road from overcrowded pavements, I'm surprised it wasn't pedestrianised years ago.

A large part of Oxford Street was, in effect, pedestrianised for about eighteen months in the 1990s while Westminster Council narrowed the road, widened the pavements, then decided most of it had to be ripped up again,etc. Selfridges to Oxford Circus, no buses, taxis only on adjoining streets. Trade down in the department stores by 20 to 40 per cent and the Oxford Street Association were PLEADING for the reintroduction of buses and taxis, as were shop and office workers, the old and infirm, etc. Pedestrianisation is okay for the Covent Garden piazza and along the Southbank, and within closed-off shopping centres like Westfield but, please, don't inflict it on Oxford or Regent Street.

 

[Hophead]

Metrobus, which is particularly advanced in terms of smartcards and willingness to innovate and communicate with its users, still does not allow penalty free interchange, despite having smartcard tickets giving a number of trips at a discount. When I suggested one hour tickets to Metrobus, the excuse given against one hour tickets was that people returning within the hour would only pay one fare. But surely that would apply anywhere where one hour tickets exist, and some places forbid returning on the same ticket, although that is difficult to enforce.

That's a rather disappointing attitude from a company that's usually fairly forward-thinking. While there would obviously be some who would benefit from an effectively "free" return journey, it's not hard to imagine other people nipping out-and-back to the neighbourhood shops within the hour, making a journey they would previously considered a little too expensive.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

How congested generally are the streets that run parallel to Oxford Street?

 

[Busaholic]

How congested generally are the streets that run parallel to Oxford Street?

Until Crossrail station construction has finished at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road it is impossible to answer that question, as the 'norm' has not pertained for so long. Many bus routes are included in the diversions. In general, and allowing for the fact I'm only a visitor to London these days, I'd reply 'less congested than might be expected'. Trafalgar Square/Strand is the main bugbear, and has been since Ken Livingstone messed around with the traffic in the area to no good avail. Piccadilly, two way once more, seems less congested than when it was one way, amazingly, although I'm only basing it on my own limited observations.

 

[Greenback]

Of course many of the buses are hybrids now but there is also the safety issue with pedestrians spilling onto the road from overcrowded pavements, I'm surprised it wasn't pedestrianised years ago.

Perhaps it would have been if the alternatives were more suitable than they are. A lot of the problem is that people want to get to Oxford Street.

Personally, I try to avoid it, whether on foot or on a bus.