Everyone agrees that a pedestrianised Oxford Street would offer a vastly more pleasant visitor experience (The Guardian view on Oxford Street: a pedestrianisation project with legs, 22 September). But Sadiq Khan’s scheme needs to resolve the same obstacle that has defeated all of the numerous previous attempts.
General traffic is already banned from Oxford Street, so the problem is the presence of buses and taxis. The taxis could be required – no doubt under protest – to pick up and set down in the numerous side streets, but there is no obvious alternative for the 16 bus routes that now use it.
