Oxford Street - Transport Links

Transport Links

Oxford Street is served by many major bus routes and by four tube stations of the London Underground. From Marble Arch eastwards, these stations are:

• Marble Arch, on the Central Line
• Bond Street, on the Central Line and Jubilee Line
• Oxford Circus, on the Central Line, Bakerloo Line and Victoria Line
• Tottenham Court Road, on the Central Line and Northern Line

Crossrail will have two stations serving Oxford Street, at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road. Each station will be "double-ended", with exits through the existing tube station and also some distance away: to the east of Bond Street, in Hanover Square near Oxford Circus; to the west of Tottenham Court Road, in Dean Street.

Oxford Street is designated a bus lane along its entire length, open only to buses, taxis and two-wheeled vehicles in the daytime on all days except Sundays.

Heavy congestion due to the number of buses and bus stops in Oxford Street, plus traffic crossing Oxford Street between Marylebone to the north and Mayfair and Soho to the south, led to proposals in 2006-08 from the New West End Company, the Mayor of London's office and several of the Mayoral candidates to pedestrianise Oxford Street with a tram service running end to end. However the new Mayor, Boris Johnson, elected in May 2008, announced on 6 November 2008 that the Oxford Street Tram/Transit scheme would not be progressed within the TfL Business Plan 2009/10 – 2017/18 as the scheme was unaffordable and the disruption during construction would be very substantial. In response to a request from the Mayor, Transport for London undertook to reduce the bus flow in Oxford Street by 10% in each of 2009 and 2010. In January 2009 the New West End Company had called for a 33% reduction in bus movements in Oxford Street.

Oxford Street can become congested both on the pavements, due to the large number of shoppers and tourists, and on the roadway as a result of the many buses routed along the street. Largely because of the diesel-engined traffic in the street (buses and taxis), annual average NO₂ concentrations on Oxford Street are around 180 μg per cubic metre. This is 4.5 times the EU target of 40 μg per cubic metre (Council Directive 1999/30/EC).

Since 2004 Oxford Street has been made traffic-free on a Saturday before Christmas. In 2009 this was on Saturday 5 December, from 12 noon. It was promoted as "VIP Day", where VIP stands for Very Important Pedestrian. The promoters were the New West End Company, which represents retailers and property owners in Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street. Oxford Street was also made traffic-free on Saturday 23 May 2009, from 12 noon until 5 pm. This was the first time Oxford Street had been made traffic-free on a day in May. However the May traffic-free day was not repeated in 2010. The VIP Day before Christmas in 2010 was Saturday 27 November. In 2011 Saturday and Sunday 10-11 December were designated "VIP Weekend", with Oxford Street and Regent Street traffic-free during shopping hours. In 2012 Saturday 24 November was designated "VIP Day".