Whilst Oona & Ken are battling it out to be selected as Labour’s candidate for the 2012 Mayoral election in London, I, over dinner at Wagamama with my friend Hannah discussed two policy ideas which I think are good and would improve London living. They’re fairly simple ideas, but ones which dramatically change a) a piece of very important central London public space & b) make public transport more fair.

Firstly, Oxford Street should be completely pedestrianised, from end to end, with the exception of the Oxford Circus cross-roads (for traffic going South/North North/South along Regent Street toward Piccadilly or Marylebone Road), and the Baker Street junction near Selfridges, where traffic crosses over Oxford St from Baker Street through Mayfair. Oxford Street is one of the most important pieces of open public space in the city, and it is cramped, difficult to navigate when crowded and at times dangerous; humans and traffic intermingle very closely at times. The street is the most important shopping street in Europe, and is an economic artery in London.

At busy times, for example at Summer and Christmas, Oxford Street can be an absolutely nightmare. To cross the road, to walk down the pavement behind often slow tourists etc. It’s not an enjoyable place to be. Plans have come and gone to part-pedestrianise the street and install a tram from one end to the other, but they never see light of day. The next Mayor should be bold and take the decision to give Oxford Street back to the people, and banish all forms of non-emergency transport completely.

On the pedestrianised Oxford Street, cafes & restaurants would be encouraged to open piazza-style outdoor eating areas and the concrete paving would be intermittently disturbed by small but perfectly formed, well-kept garden & floral arrangements. There would be a lane for ‘fast walking’ – for those of us who want to skip past the tourists and get to our destinations with the minimum of fuss. Cyclists would also have a lane. The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street would encourage people back to do their shopping, eating out and socialising on Oxford Street when they currently might feel more comfortable in a faceless mall or even online through e-commerce.

This development would rejuvenate the area, show a commitment to building enjoyable outdoor spaces (as Ken Livingstone did when he paved the road outside the National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square), and give a needed boost to a shopping street which has suffered through the recession.

Secondly, the Mayor and Transport for London should adapt the Geneva public transport approach to bus & tram ticketing. Currently, the user of a bus pays either £2 in cash or £1.20 in Oyster pre-pay funds whenever they use a bus. So if you wanted to travel from say Streatham Hill to Liverpool Street you would change buses on Regent Street and pay for two journeys. In Geneva, and in some other cities the bus ticket you buy is valid not just for one journey but up to one hour. This makes sense and is a more fair approach to bus fares.

When a traveller takes a tube journey, she doesn’t pay when she changes tubes. So people shouldn’t be penalised for changing buses. This is a simple change yes, but it puts the user first and not the money-raising potential of bus fares. It would need to be costed of course, but it’s unlikely to seriously knock ticket revenue. A lot of people who would be put off taking a bus because of this quirk may be encouraged to go back to the bus if the ticket they bought would get them to their destination rather than just get them on just the first bus of a two- or three-stage journey, and this rise in bus users might just balance out the cost of implement this pricing structure.

I know it’s not exactly fashionable nowadays for a Labour member like myself to welcome with open arms a policy of a Conservative Mayor of London. But I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. The Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, launching next Friday (July 30th) has the potential to revolutionise the way we get around this great metropolis. How long have we looked on to cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam & Zurich with their fancy bicycles and cycle-friendly policies, while we put up with uncivilised busses & tubes?

That it took Boris Johnson, London’s somewhat entertaining, but according to some a serious thinking, Mayor to bring a London-wide cycle scheme which will be accessible to millions of people, is a shame. That doesn’t mean we should look down our noses on it though.

From next Friday, people all over London will have access to bicycles in many local neighbourhoods across town. I’ve already spotted two of them very close to where I live. For an annual membership of £45, users can take a bicycle from their local “docking station”, cycle to their place of work, a restaurant, the shops or a meeting with friends for up-to half an hour completely free. When you consider the amount of London that can be covered in 30 minutes by bicycle, it’s clear that this scheme has the potential to replace thousands of bus & tube journeys per year, and simultaneously improving the health and well-being of Londoners.

As the London Cycling Campaign points out here:

…cycling reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke and promotes good mental health.

Everybody recognises that London is oftentimes a grumpy, frosty city, home to millions of people in too much of a rush to smile, take a deep breath and enjoy the wonders that wandering through this amazing city can bring. If cycling improves the general demeanour of even a small percentage of our commuting population, it will be a great benefit to us all.

Ken Livingstone and Oona King, who are both running for Labour’s endorsement for 2012’s mayoral election should recognise the benefits that this cycle scheme should bring, regardless of the fact that Boris Johnson brought it into being.

This Londoner for one, can’t wait to give the new scheme a spin.