Oxford Street goes traffic-free on 26 October 2026: what changes for night buses, taxis and getting home

For years, Oxford Street at 2am was a corridor of night buses. From 26 October it becomes a street for walking only. In the day that is a shopping story. At night it is a getting-home story: some of the buses you used to catch outside Selfridges or at Oxford Circus will stop somewhere else, and four night routes will no longer reach Oxford Circus at all.

What changes, and when

• Where: Oxford Street from Orchard Street (by Selfridges) to Great Portland Street (just east of Oxford Circus). The Oxford Street Development Corporation calls it almost a kilometre.
• When: from Monday 26 October 2026. TfL says access may already be affected from the evening of Sunday 25 October, buses stop using the section that evening, and changes to bus services begin from Saturday 24 October.
• Who cannot enter, at any hour: motor vehicles, taxis, private hire vehicles, cycles (including e-bikes and cargo bikes), e-scooters and pedicabs. TfL: “The restriction will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
• Who can: people on foot and mobility scooters; emergency vehicles at any time; and delivery and servicing vehicles between midnight and 7am only (it used to be 9pm to 7am).
• Roads across it stay open: Orchard Street/North Audley Street, Duke Street, Stratford Place/Davies Street, Vere Street/New Bond Street, Holles Street/Harewood Place, Regent Street and Great Portland Street, with occasional short closures for works.
• East of Oxford Circus, towards Tottenham Court Road, buses keep running.

This first phase is temporary. The development corporation says a transitional scheme will be in place by the end of spring 2027.

The new bus streets, drawn simply

Night buses, route by route

The routes that run on this part of Oxford Street at night are the N7, 94, N98, N113, N137, 139, N207 and 390 (the 94, 139 and 390 are 24-hour routes). TfL considered letting night buses keep using Oxford Street after dark and decided against it, partly because buses on different routes by day and night “could be very confusing”. Its plan:

Route	TfL’s plan	Where to change
N7	Ends at Marble Arch (Cumberland Gate) instead of Oxford Circus	N98, at stops on Edgware Road
N113 (from Edgware)	Ends at Marble Arch (Cumberland Gate) instead of Trafalgar Square	139, at stops on Baker Street
N137 (from Crystal Palace)	Ends at Marble Arch (Cumberland Gate) instead of Oxford Circus	390, at stops on Park Lane
94 (24-hour, from Acton Green)	Ends at Marble Arch (North Row) instead of Piccadilly Circus	N98, 390 or N207
N98 (Stanmore to Holborn)	Moves to Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place	Its own new stops there
N207 (Uxbridge to Holborn)	Moves to Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place	Its own new stops there
139 (Golders Green to Waterloo)	Moves to Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place	Its own new stops there
390 (Archway to Victoria)	Moves to Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place, same route as by day	Its own new stops there

Three more night routes that end near Oxford Circus also change under the plan: the N15 moves to a stand on John Prince’s Street with stops on Cavendish Place, the N22 ends at Hanover Street, and the N73 ends at Great Portland Street. Under the plan, every route keeps its current frequency.

What this means at 2am. If you used to ride the N7, N113 or N137 from Oxford Circus, you will now need to change at Marble Arch, and TfL says those journeys are likely to take longer. TfL promises interchange stops that are well-lit with CCTV and live arrival information. Its own equality assessment also says the new stop locations may require walking through areas that feel unsafe, particularly during nighttime hours: walk with others where you can, and see getting home safely at night.

Taxis and minicabs

Black cabs and minicabs cannot drive on the closed section at any hour, so you cannot be picked up outside a shop on it. TfL says there will be taxi ranks within 100 metres: on Oxford Street outside the closed section and on surrounding roads including Orchard Street, Duke Street and Great Portland Street. The plan put a new rank for up to four taxis outside the Selfridges Food Hall entrance on Orchard Street and a larger rank on Duke Street. A booked minicab will have to meet you on a side street: agree which one before you walk out. Only get into a minicab you booked.

The Tube is not affected

TfL: “Tube and rail are unaffected by the works”. The nearest stations are Marble Arch, Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. On Friday and Saturday nights the Night Tube runs through all four:

• Oxford Circus: Central and Victoria lines all night
• Bond Street: Central and Jubilee lines all night
• Tottenham Court Road: Central and Northern lines all night
• Marble Arch: Central line all night

The Bakerloo and Elizabeth lines do not run all night. Sunday to Thursday, the bus is the way home after the last train: see London after the last train and which Tube lines run all night.

Works at night until then

Preparatory works are under way. TfL does them overnight where possible and warns drivers to expect longer journey times, particularly overnight. Until 26 October, taxis and minicabs still work in the area, but some pick-up points may move.

Sources

• TfL, Oxford Street area works: date, closed section, buses from 25 October, new stops about 200 m away, taxi ranks, Tube unaffected
• TfL, Oxford Street rules and exemptions: 24-hour restriction, servicing midnight to 07:00, emergency vehicles
• TfL, Oxford Street deliveries: servicing window previously 21:00 to 07:00
• TfL, Oxford Street project page
• TfL consultation, Oxford Street transport and highways (November 2025), with its route-by-route FAQs and the consultation report (February 2026)
• Oxford Street Development Corporation, 28 September 2026
• TfL, Night Tube and TfL station pages for the lines at each station

Checked: 7 October 2026. TfL says final bus details will follow; we will re-check the week of 19 October and again after 26 October.