Oxford Street goes traffic-free between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street
Nearly a kilometre of London's best-known shopping street is now closed to all vehicles, bikes and scooters. Sixteen bus routes, including ones running from Acton and Kilburn, have been changed.
A stretch of Oxford Street of nearly one kilometre closed to traffic on the morning of Monday 26 October. It is the first time in the street's history that it has been traffic-free.
The section runs from Orchard Street, near Selfridges, to Great Portland Street, and includes Oxford Circus. Transport for London (TfL) said it is now closed to all traffic, including buses, cars, taxis, cycles, pedicabs and scooters. Deliveries are allowed only between midnight and 7am.
Footage shared with UB1UB2 from the first morning shows the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, walking down the middle of the empty road outside shops near Oxford Circus while highways staff and police stood nearby.
What has changed for bus passengers
Buses no longer use the traffic-free section. TfL said routes 7, N7, 94, N113 and N137 now finish at Marble Arch rather than continuing along Oxford Street.
That matters for people in West London. The 94 runs from Acton Green through Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill, and the 7 comes in from East Acton. Passengers going further east will now need to change at Marble Arch, or walk or take the Tube from there.
Other routes, including the 98, 139 and 390, have been moved onto nearby roads such as Wigmore Street. They serve new stops about 200 metres from their old ones on Oxford Street. The 98 links Oxford Circus with Kilburn and Willesden, so it remains a main route between the West End and North West London.
TfL said there will also be smaller route and stop changes on routes 2, 13, 73, 74, 113, 159, 189 and 274, and on several night buses. In total, 16 routes have changed. TfL has published walking directions from the old stops to the new ones and advises passengers to check their journey before they travel.
The last buses to run the full length of Oxford Street were on the evening of Sunday 25 October. A route 98 left Tottenham Court Road for Marble Arch at 7.44pm, and a 390 ran the other way at 7.48pm.
Taxi ranks are still available within about 100 metres of the closed area, including on Orchard Street, Duke Street and Great Portland Street. Bond Street, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road stations are unaffected, and the Elizabeth line still serves Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road.
A plan decades in the making
Plans to take traffic off Oxford Street have been talked about since the 1960s. Sadiq Khan promised to pedestrianise it when he was first elected Mayor in 2016, but Westminster City Council dropped an earlier version of the scheme in 2018.
The plan came back after the Oxford Street Development Corporation was set up by City Hall on 1 January 2026 to take control of planning for the area. The scheme was approved in February 2026. It was due to start in September but was moved back to 26 October.
About half a million people walk along Oxford Street every day. Supporters of the scheme say removing traffic will make the street safer and less polluted, and will help bring shoppers back to a high street that has lost several big stores in recent years.
What happens next
For now, the change is mostly about stopping traffic. Work to improve the street itself, with new seating, trees and planting, is expected to continue in phases until the end of spring 2027. Further plans for the wider area have not yet been announced.
The eastern part of Oxford Street, between Great Portland Street and Tottenham Court Road, is not included in this first phase and is still open to traffic.