How to ruin five more central London bus routes

Tuesday 27th October 2026 It’s finally happened. After years of controversy with Westminster Council and others objecting, Mayor Kahn’s vision for a traffic free Oxford Street, first launched in his 2016 manifesto, finally got under way yesterday when the 900 yard middle section, between Great Portland Street and Selfridges, of the 1.2 mile long road was pedestrianised with not even cycles allowed to use the road. I blogged about this proposal two years ago expressing concern at the impact on passengers using the busy bus stops served by the five TfL routes still using the street – routes 7, 94, 98, 139 and 390. I pointed out the proposed alternative routing via Wigmore Street, Henrietta Place and Cavendish Place is very congested… Wigmore Street in 2024 … inevitably delaying buses and increasing journey times thereby making them even less attractive than they already are in central London. TfL has mitigated that problem by simply cutting back two of the routes completely – the 7…