Plans have been unveiled for anti-terror barriers to be used to prevent cyclists from travelling along Oxford Street as part of its planned pedestrianisation.
The Standard first reported the barrier decision, with London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan previously saying that he didn’t want “buses, cars, minicabs, taxis or racing cyclists” to use the road, adding that the street’s redevelopment is “for people to walk around there” and that “there’d be alternatives if you want to go round”.
But the latest plans for “hostile vehicle mitigation” barriers are to both prevent vehicles driving illegally (and dangerously) through the planned “pedestrian plaza” and to “inhibit” anyone from cycling through the barriers.
Plans for Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation have been cautiously welcomed by campaigners in the capital, but largely on the condition of safe, alternative cycle routes being designed around the road. In 2024, the Mayor of London’s office told road.cc that they “will be working to provide alternative routes for cyclists, enhanced cycling provision, and potential cyclist access at night.”
London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner Will Norman also defended the planned cyclist ban, adding that the cycling experience “would be extremely unpleasant” on Oxford Street. However, the London Cycling Campaign described Transport for London’s proposed alternative cycle route as “weak and wiggly”.
The Standard’s latest reporting suggests there is still the possibility of cycle access at certain times, with the street set to re-open between midnight and 7am for delivery drivers. Further ‘pop-up’ bollards could also be used to adjust road access.
The £150 million pedestrianisation proposal will stretch from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street, cutting across Regent’s Street. Current plans are for the pedestrianisation to be completed by the end of the summer. Pedestrianisation has also been a long-held objective of the Mayor, with previous efforts blocked by both Westminster City Council and the UK Government. Both bodies are now Labour-led.
Whilst it is hoped that the pedestrianisation incentivises drivers to reduce their car dependency, the move has also had unintended consequences for other active travel developments and has been used as an excuse to protest against further cycle investment. In October, Conservative councillors for Marylebone wrote to Westminster Council calling for a planned new cycleway to be postponed until after the Oxford Street pedestrianisation is complete, saying that the extension would “ignore the needs of pensioners, disabled people and those who rely on local parking.”
The proposed ban on cyclists has also been criticised by former Walking and Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan, who labelled Khan’s 2017 proposal “an unqualified disaster” due to “the lack of suitable parallel routes for safe infrastructure for bike riders means an Oxford Street cycling ban [that] would be ignored by many.”
12 thoughts on “Anti-terrorism barriers set to prevent cyclists from using pedestrianised Oxford Street, under latest TfL plans”
I’m having trouble picturing an “anti-terrorism” barrier that would keep an able-bodied cyclist out, but let a wheelchair user in.
If a pedestrian can easily get through the barriers it’s not going to be too hard for a cyclist. And I’m hoping that the pushing of bicycles will still be possible.
I think the idea is that you have to go round the barrier through an area that is more tightly packed with pedestrians.
Honestly though, why would you choose to ride on a busy pedestrian street. They’re really annoying.
Local governments excel at making really annoying a preferable option.
I ride through the West End regularly and haven’t got a problem with this at all. It would be horrible for pedestrians to have bikes – especially delivery drivers with ebikes – whizzing around there. And there are much nicer quieter streets a block or two away to cycle around it you want to travel through the West End. A pedestrianised Oxford Street will be great. Needed for years.
I agree that cycling should not be permitted along a pedestrianised Oxford Street. Leave if for the shoppers and the tourists. At the movement it’s not great as a cycle route anyway, because of the taxis, pedestrians and dozens of traffic light junctions, so I’m not convinced it’s a great loss when it becomes peds only. Access between midnight and 7 would be great as would better alternatives. Currently it takes a lot of ‘ducking and diving’ to get from TCR to Marble Arch. But admit it, it’s an exciting urban cycling challenge
Much as I enjoy a cycling challenge, I just straight line it across parallel to Oxford Street, Seymour Street, Portman Place, Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square then Place, Mortimer Street and Goodge Street. Despite all the different names they are effectively just one long street; continuous riding going from west to east, coming from Tottenham Court Road do you have to do a couple of flic flacs to avoid the hundred metres of one-way on Goodge Street as it approaches TCR, or walk it or (whisper it) use the very wide (wider than the road, I think) pavement for a few seconds if it’s quiet. I agree that not being able to use Oxford Street is no great loss, I was initially extremely annoyed that no cycle lane was incorporated into the design but actually even at the moment with motorised traffic the number of tourists wandering blithely across the road without looking is astonishing and they would be even worse with a cycle lane so probably right just to leave them to it.
Why would you want to ride a bike down there? It was a zoo before it was pedestrianised, no doubt it’s still a zoo. Riding down there would simply draw hatred. Just walk.
Similar to North End, Croydon, where it used to be a major shopping area was pedestrianised decades ago.
(Though it is slowly dying so the pedestrian volumes are no where near as high as Oxford St.)
The council years ago decided to allow cycling through it.
There was opposition but I don’t recall hearing about any major issues since.
The bigger safety issue now is food couriers using illegal motorised bikes zooming through.
https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/48949/croydon-lifts-cycling-ban-on-busy-pedestrianised-street/
Also, as I said on a previous news item about a cycle lane closure…
(Unless the cycle lane has solid barriers all the way along it, there is nothing stopping a cyclists walking past the end of the cycle lane that has the “closure”/sign and simply hopping on to it.
So, in the same way, the gaps in the barriers on Oxford Street won’t be small enough to prevent people in wheelchairs or parents with baby buggies getting through … and thus also cyclists.
The question of how feasible it is to then cycle through throngs of pedestrians is a different matter.
This would be anti-terrorism barriers like the ones used on various london bridge cycle lanes?
The ones designed to stop terrorists in cars or trucks ramming through pedestrians?
The ones that cost a small fortune because they need to be big and heavy to stop something with the mass of a car?
The ones we can install on cycle lanes without stopping cyclists?
Sure, sure; they are spending 5-6 figures on anti-terrorism barriers to stop cyclists rather than (overpriced) £200 crowd control fences…
The ones that any terrorist could just drive round on the road and then bump over a four inch kerb to get onto the pavement anyway? I assume, given the talk of allowing traffic in overnight for deliveries, the barriers will be more along the lines of a swinging gate or those retractable bollards that sink into the ground.