One week after the Mayor pedestrianised almost a kilometre of Oxford Street, Westminster City Council has warned that journeys across the West End are getting longer for bus passengers, taxis, cyclists and the emergency services.
The stretch between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street closed to all traffic on Monday 26 October, under the Mayor's Oxford Street Development Corporation. The Mayor took control of the street from Westminster City Council, and the completed project is expected to cost £150 million.
Transport officials describe the response as "phenomenal", and some stores report higher footfall. But when BBC London visited on Monday 2 November, it found cyclists still riding through with no visible enforcement, reports of anti-social behaviour, and an ambulance on an emergency call being diverted around the closed section.
Cllr Tim Barnes, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council, said: "The problem with taking Oxford Street out was that it was London's primary east-west route. Every journey time is going to be longer as a result of that. Buses are taking longer, taxis are taking longer, emergency vehicles are going to take longer to get where they need to be."
He added that the council still does not know where the displaced bike traffic can sensibly go: "It's not just about looking at where in any one stretch they should be, it's how you create continuous paths."
Michael Bolt of the Marylebone Association said bus users had lost a number of routes, were already adding 5 to 10 minutes on interchanges, and were now finding that journeys through the area take substantially longer.
The Mayor's Office says the scheme will continue to be reviewed and refined, with further major works not due to begin until the spring.
You can read Tom Edwards and Amy Clarke's article for BBC News in full here.
