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From Roman chariots to modern EVs, there has been traffic on London's Oxford Street for about 2,000 years, but not anymore. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Almost any day, you'll see crowds outside the big stores in London's busy Oxford circus.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Oxford Street gets more daily visitors than Times Square. It is the place to see holiday decorations, which, by the way, are up already. But with online shopping and rising rents, some flagship stores have closed. There's been an influx of kitsch candy shops and flyby phone thieves on scooters. Oxford Street now...
SADIQ KHAN: It's known for dirt, for overcrowding, for crime, for air pollution, tacky shops. We want to change that.
FRAYER: That's London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who dared me to do this.
It feels kind of exhilarating to step off the curb into one of the busiest streets in the city and not look both ways. In fact, the pedestrian crossing lights are shut off.
The mayor has banned cars, taxis, buses, scooters, even bicycles from an initial half mile of Oxford Street. Khan is a clean air campaigner, having developed asthma as an adult. He's also trying to boost tourism and reverse retail flight, which still hasn't fully bounced back from the pandemic.
KHAN: The way to get people back into the office or back shopping in person is to make the experience better - fresh air to breathe, places to sit, greenery to see.
FRAYER: Benches and greenery are great. But what if you're loaded with shopping bags and you just want to hop on the bus?
STEVE KENDALL: Disabled people, people with their children, what are they going to do?
FRAYER: Taxi driver Steve Kendall would normally pick up passengers on Oxford Street. Now they've got to walk a block farther to adjacent roads which are already bumper to bumper.
KENDALL: I don't know where all the traffic's going to go. Plus, Christmas coming up - a lot of people would like to come into London. How are they going to get a cab? How are they going to get a bus? Yeah, it's a nightmare.
FRAYER: Emergency vehicles are allowed, and polls show most Londoners are for this.
ROB SANDERS: I can't see any reason why you wouldn't like it. Cars are a pollutant, and they're annoying and dangerous.
SOPHIE BUDPET: I feel a bit strange walking in the middle of the road (laughter).
SHARON MONERY: I'm wondering whether they might get rid of the curbs.
JAKE GROOM: You can already hear people's frustrations. It'll be an interesting test.
RUTH BROOK: The pedestrians at the moment, I've never seen so many even in good weather.
FRAYER: That was Rob Sanders, Sophie Budpet, Sharon Monery, Jake Groom and Ruth Brook, a mix of tourists and locals who predict London will still be debating this change under the Diwali and then Christmas lights on Europe's busiest shopping street this holiday season. Lauren Frayer, NPR News on Oxford Street on foot in London. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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