00:00Hello, yes, Oxford Street will be closed to cars for a day this September in a large-scale trial designed to show how full pedestrianisation could work if the Mayor of London's plans move forward.
00:17On Sunday, the 21st of September, from midday until 8pm, the stretch between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street will be completely car-free, coinciding with the eve of World Car-Free Day.
00:34Instead of traffic, the road will host a free public festival with local businesses curating themed zones dedicated to fashion, sport, music, food and heritage.
00:47To accommodate the closure, buses will be diverted between 9pm on Saturday, the 20th of September and 4am on Monday, the 22nd of September as well.
01:00So how do Londoners feel about these plans? What do they think of pedestrianising Oxford Street?
01:06I think from a shopping point of view and creating a sense of enjoyment of being in the centre of London, that's a great idea.
01:12Obviously, the main problem is what knock-on effects will it have on traffic, where will it send the traffic instead? So it does have to be thought through.
01:21I just feel that it will take away the atmosphere of not shopping people across the road and, you know, I fully disagree with that.
01:31So you'd rather have cars going up and down rather than just people walking around?
01:35Well, having the buses, yeah. It's a good thing, you actually jump on and off buses, it's a great thing.
01:42And that's one of the things I, one of the reasons why I came to London was because of that.
01:47It actually caught my eye. I thought it was a good way to, er, to interact with people.
01:53Yeah, I think it'd be a very good idea. Obviously, if I was a driver being diverted a long way around, I wouldn't be so keen.
02:02But safety-wise, when people are shopping, they're not concentrating on crossing the road, I think it'd be a good thing.
02:08Do you think it would, like, add to the experience, maybe, if you're shopping?
02:11Yeah, I would think so. I'm not a great shopper myself, but, yeah, I'm sure it would.
02:15Sadiq Khan mentioned that he's thinking of using Time Out, no, sorry, Time Square is the model for that.
02:22Would you like to see Oxford Street turn into a kind of Time Square place, or would that be too much?
02:27Well, the last time I was in Time Square, it wasn't entirely pedestrianised, so that doesn't quite fit.
02:33Because Oxford Street is one long, narrow street, so there isn't the space, extra space, for an area of pedestrianisation that you have in Time Square next to the road.
02:41So how is that going to work? I don't know.
02:43The way traffic is at the moment, it's bad anyway, isn't it?
02:48So, yeah, and I think with more and more electric cars, and I think also alternative fuels, like hydrogen, will be coming out soon.
02:57So, yeah, I think it'd be fine.
Comments