SUPERLOOP: IMPROVING BUS LINKS IN OUTER LONDON

An orbital bus route will see the introduction of express bus routes circumventing the capital and connecting town centres, transport hubs and hospitals

London is to get an orbital bus network circling the capital and linking town centres, railway stations, hospitals and transport hubs.

The service, called the Superloop, will receive £6m funding from London’s mayor Sadiq Khan. It is set to be introduced in stages, with some routes that would become part of the network already in operation. TfL said that it expects the Superloop to be fully introduced over the next 18 months.

Sadiq Khan said: “When I made the tough decision to expand the ULEZ [Ultra Low Emission Zone] London-wide, one of my key commitments to Londoners was to improve transport links in outer London.” He predicted that the Superloop would add over four million additional kilometres to the bus network in outer London.

Alex Williams, chief customer and strategy officer at TfL, said: “For the first time we will be bringing a number of the capital’s town centres together with express orbital routes. We know these kinds of services are hugely popular from what we have seen in the rise in the number of people using the X140 during the week.

“The Superloop is on top of, and complements, a million additional bus kilometres committed by the Mayor in the capital’s outer ring and includes improvements from Sutton in the south to Brent Cross in the north, as well as transformational changes to London’s rail network outside the centre of the city.”

The network includes the X140 connecting Heathrow and Harrow, and a more frequent route X26 connecting Heathrow and West Croydon. A new route will link Harrow with North Finchley, subject to consultation.

Proposed future sections include a limited-stop express link between North Finchley and Walthamstow and between Walthamstow and the

Royal Docks via Ilford. Links are also proposed between Bexleyheath, Bromley and Croydon. As part of the Superloop plans, the X26 service is due to double in frequency later this year, so that buses run every 15 minutes instead of every 30 minutes.

The most recently introduced limited-stop express route, the X140, delivered a 10-15% increase in weekday demand, according to TfL data.

The Mayor’s Hopper fare would allow people who started their journeys within 60 minutes to transfer onto local bus services free of charge to complete their journeys where required, said TfL.

In November 2022 during his announcement of the ULEZ expansion, Sadiq Khan pledged to introduce a million extra bus kilometres in outer London. The ULEZ will cover all London boroughs from 29 August 2023.

TfL has launched four consultations seeking to improve bus services in Brent Cross, Harold Wood/Upminster, Stonebridge Park and Tooting. The plans cover extensions of routes to key growth areas or town centres, and more direct and frequent services.

This would complement enhancements already announced, including three new routes in the Sutton and Croydon areas, with improved services to the new Cancer Hub at the Royal Marsden Hospital. New zero-emission cross-river services will also be introduced in east London, subject to consultation.

TfL is also continuing work on plans for further service expansion across outer London, including in Southall and Haringey. These packages of bus enhancements complement other plans to improve the outer London public transport network, including introducing the full peak timetable on the Elizabeth line and introducing new trains on the DLR and Piccadilly line, said TfL.

Alongside the plans for the Superloop, TfL has announced £35m funding for outer London boroughs as part of TfL’s Local Implementation Plan funding. The programme will see 29km of bus lane schemes, with £10.6m for London boroughs to deliver bus journey time improvements, said TfL. n

The Superloop is set to add more than four million additional kilometres to the bus network in outer London. It will also provide more frequent links to Heathrow Airport