News round-up January 2026

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter January 2026

Plans for Oxford Street

On Sunday afternoon, 21^st September, thousands of people thronged Oxford Street eager to experience it totally free of traffic. The closure of this half mile section was a foretaste of what Mayor Sadiq Khan hopes will become permanent. He was present at the opening of the street and said the one-day trial banning traffic from part of Oxford Street marks ‘the day the fight back began to rescue this street’.

The plan is now open for consultation (closing date 16^th January). The section between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street will be fully pedestrianised but access will be possible for deliveries between midnight and 7am. Although traffic will not be allowed on this section of Oxford Street several routes crossing the pedestrianised area will be open enabling taxis to access the area. Cycling will not be allowed but alternative routes for cycling will be indicated.

Buses on routes 7 and 94 will terminate at Marble Arch whilst routes 98, 139 and 390 will be diverted via Henrietta Place and Wigmore Street. There will be bus stops on Henrietta Place near its junction with Vere Street and on Wigmore Street

near its junction with Duke Street. This is designed to get buses as near to Oxford Street as possible.

Not everyone is happy with the plans. Westminster Council wants a less obtrusive scheme with wider pavements but without the total banning 

of vehicles. Groups representing disabled people are concerned about access. Others are fearful that surrounding streets will become congested with traffic and that Wigmore Street is not suitable for buses.

There are also calls to pedestrianise Soho and architects John Lacey of Doodle Architecture and Russell Potter of SODA Studio have published a proposed scheme. Up to now Westminster Council have opposed banning traffic from Soho saying that residents are against it although many traders say it would help their businesses and would be appreciated by visitors avoiding the pollution and danger from traffic.

Fare Free London

The campaign to abolish fares on London’s buses and trains gathers pace. A recent briefing from Fare Free London asks the Mayor to appoint a commission to examine the feasibility of free public transport and consider how this could be funded. The group points to the hardships which low paid workers and students suffer with transport fares eating into their income. An inability to afford fares obstructs Londoners’ access to employment and can lead to social isolation. This particularly affects people who cannot afford inner London rents and have to commute long distances to work or college.

The group also point out that high fares cut across key aims of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy including encouraging active travel and public transport use.

Two thirds of TfL’s revenue comes from fares. This compares with other major cities such as Paris and New York where fares account for less than a half of income.

Improving London’s streets for walkers and wheelers

‘Walking is the most common way Londoners get around. Two thirds walk regularly, and walking is particularly common among younger, wealthier, and ethnically diverse Londoners.’ So says London TravelWatch in a recent report. They make a number of recommendations to improve London’s streets to make them more attractive and accessible for all.

The first need is to improve the overall condition of pavements highlighting particularly where they are damaged and uneven. The provision of toilets and seating should be improved and attention should be given to provisions for disabled people such as tactile paving and dropped kerbs. Attention should also be given to removing obstructions on pavements including advertising boards as well as badly placed bins or other infrastructure.

TravelWatch calls for liaison with groups most affected by these conditions including parents and disabled and older people. Local authorities should have consistent, long-term funding to carry out these measures.

Whatever happened to Hammersmith Bridge?

The saga of Hammersmith Bridge continues. It was initially closed to all but buses, pedestrians and cyclists in 1997, and later for a time to all traffic. It is currently open only for pedestrians and cyclists. There are plans for a full rebuild with pedestrians and cyclists on a lower deck and traffic on a deck above but the cost, at £250 million, remains a stumbling block.

There is some talk about whether a full rebuild, making the bridge once more available to all traffic, is necessary. A large proportion of cars which formerly used the bridge, instead of diverting to other bridges, has disappeared. Some trips which would have been made by car seem now to be made on foot or by cycle. Some people would have changed their destination, for example to an alternative shop, if the journey became more difficult. There is some evidence that there is a rise in the number of local shops in Barnes, the hardest hit area south of the river.

There are, of course, some people who have been hit by the closure. It is hard on retailers in Barnes which depend on customers using cars and it is hard on tradesmen who need to access the area with vehicles. But the people hardest hit are older and disabled people. For them an innovative solution has been suggested. The charity Possible has developed a scheme using small, autonomously operated, light-weight ‘pods’ which would offer a step-free service linking bus terminals on either side of the bridge. They would carry about 10 people and could provide a  2-3 minute headway. The bridge would be divided between lanes for pedestrians, cyclists and the pods. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles offered £200,000 for a feasibility study into the scheme but got no support from Hammersmith and Fulham council.

There seems to be no immediate prospect for the funds necessary for a full rebuild of the bridge. It is time that feasible alternatives are looked into.

Step-free access on the tube

93 tube stations currently allow step-free access to trains. Mayor Sadiq Khan’s declared aim is to have 50 per cent of stations step-free by 2030 so this means another 43 would have to be converted in the next five years.

30 stations have been selected for a study to assess the feasibility of installing the necessary infrastructure. This might involve lifts or, in some case, ramps. The full list of stations has not been published but Brent Council says that they have been told that Willesden Green is amongst the stations chosen. Schemes will be prioritised if third-party funding is available.

Superloop and more

The seven Superloop express bus routes plus the three radial routes which have been branded with the same logo have been judged a great success. Four more have now been approved to come on stream in the coming year:

·       SL11: North Greenwich to Abbey Wood

·       SL12: Gants Hill to Rainham

·       SL13: Ealing to Hendon

·       SL14: Stratford to Chingford Hatch

Also proposed is SL15 to link Clapham Junction with Eltham.

A further innovation has been the introduction of BL1 from Waterloo to Lewisham to pave the way for the proposed Bakerloo line extension which has yet to receive funding. Mayor Sadiq Khan said the ‘Bakerloo line extension will take years to build, and I don’t want to wait any longer to improve transport connections for Londoners. That’s why I’ve introduced the Bakerloop now.’ Unlike the

Superloop buses the vehicles are painted in a brown and white livery to match the colour of the Bakerloo line.