The proposal to ban all cyclists from Oxford Street that Mayor Sadiq Khan made public on Monday, November 6, might be indicating a possible, upcoming disaster to many social components.
According to Department for Transport, there are up to 2,000 cyclists that use the the section that is specifically proposed for pedestrianization in the upcoming year located between Oxford Circus and Selfridge, every day.
Also, there are more than 5,000 cyclists a day that use the section proposed to be pedestrianized in 2019 between Tottengham Court Road and Oxford Circus.
These numbers indicate how busy London streets are with passing cyclists every single day.
Former London cycling commissioner criticizes the plan
According to Andrew Gilligan, former London cycling commissioner, the plan to ban cyclists from passing Oxford Street is quite unacceptable.
It seems former commissioner, just like many other furious citizens, thinks that the Europe’s busiest shopping street should not change. If the ban takes place, all cyclists will have to find alternative routes to use. While on the other hand, north-south routes passing Oxford Street will continue to remain open to traffic.
Making his statements public for the Guardian, Gilligan, who has been the capital’s cycling commissioner between 2013 and 2016, says that it might be impossible to create and build a parallel route for cyclists to use in north of Oxford Street.
“Large numbers of cyclists will ignore the ban,” Gilligan says. “Oxford Street will become London’s biggest unofficial example of the notorious failure that is ‘shared space”.
“That won’t be good for pedestrians, or for the image of cycling. There will be near-misses or worse, arrests, fines, stories in the Daily Mail.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I do not approve of anyone disobeying the rules. But it’s what happens when you make proposals for a road that totally ignore one of its main user groups.”
According to Gilligan, Mayor Sadiq Khan is apparently focusing more on quiet-ways rather than expanding segregated bike superhighways.
