London Mayor Sadiq Khan marked Monday as the start of a car-free plan for Oxford Street, with nearly a kilometer between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street closed to general traffic, the Evening Standard, The Guardian, BBC, and the Mayor's office reported. Vehicles are being diverted onto nearby roads.

Oxford Street draws about half a million visitors a day and about £3.1 billion in annual spend, the Evening Standard said. Khan called it "a truly momentous occasion" and said the plan aims to boost jobs, growth, and a greener West End ahead of Christmas shopping. He said decades of false starts ended with government backing for the scale of the plan.

The move is phase one of a wider rebuild meant to put Oxford Street among global peers such as Times Square and the Champs-Élysées. Transport effects on buses and deliveries remain under watch in related coverage.

City Hall said the street has remade itself for centuries and can do so again. Shoppers and office workers on the Elizabeth line corridor are a key audience for the first-day change.

Bus routes and delivery vans must now use nearby streets while the first zone stays closed. Retail groups have mixed views on lost curb access versus a calmer shopping floor. City Hall says later phases will add more of the street if the first stretch works.

Shops opened onto a quieter street Monday morning. Buses and vans use side roads for now. City Hall says more blocks may follow later.

Retail staff said foot traffic felt different by midday.

What we know: The Orchard-to-Great Portland stretch went traffic-free Monday as phase one.
What we don't: How long the full car-free plan will take, and measured retail impacts.