Images and maps unavailable until at least 01/04/2025, otherwise delayed for the foreseeable future
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It's been a while since I've posted and it certainly has been years since I came up with some form of network changes of my own.
I have been inspired by looking at other bus enthusiasts' ideas, enticing myself to come out of my slumber, touch grass, and return to bring pixels on a white .PNG file to scratch my itch for map drawing. Intended to, as of 2024
It's like facing a withdrawal symptom from a harmless addiction I once had.
Alas, my previous changes focused squarely with South London and any routes that touched Lambeth and/or Southwark boroughs that I saw fit for improvement.
This time? London-wide express bus revolution, again. Come on, you've read the title!
Here's the mandatory .PNG file for you to absorb the artistic glory and to take in the madness I've created.
I am convinced I have Superloop-hysteria.
Warning: Too much Superloop may make you loopy.
Let's get started with what I subjected to plebian commoner bus routes in my quest for fast Superloop, with wordy details!
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I want to make you keep in mind the design philosophy of Superloop routes TfL have, as per a document file published recently.
The new express service should use roads with bus lanes or 4+ lane roads where possible. Unfortunately the parallel Superloop to 65 mostly fails this.
It must be 5 buses per hour or 4 bph at a minimum (every 12 or 15 respectively) and should provide extra capacity to a corridor with a minimum of 5 buses per hour, where simple increase of existing routes is less efficient. If the regular service exceeds 6 buses per hour, then it would be reduced.
The 34 and 183, both every 8 before Superloop, have already been reduced, proving the above example. The 119 was already every 12, it did not receive a further cut.
No Superloop has a unique section unserved by other buses except SL2.
Even the fringe case of the A205 Superloop route paralleling no singular high frequency service west of Dulwich College, parallels **two** every 15 low frequency routes, 201 and P13, which all go Tulse Hill, Streatham Hill and Streatham. Through differences in routeing of course.
Changes to existing Superloop routes
SL2
SL2 extended from North Woolwich Ferry to London City Airport.
This was noted in the consultation being an ideal terminus, more so than Custom House. However, it was ruled out due to cost of creating a new bus stand. The easy solution of using space at an existing stand, North Woolwich, was easier.
Due to the vicinity of the airport, it's not hard to surmise that workers would use the service or connect to it from the Barking area.
It's also worth using Jenkins Lane just like 366, instead of the North Circular Road. It seems rather normal for 366s to reach either side of Gallions Reach or Barking before an SL2 does, as the SL2 is alongside more traffic, despite the higher road speed limits and larger roads, it seemingly doesn't translate well... compared to a quiet industrial road which the 325 and 366 were rerouted down many years ago.
Running time: +3-7 minutes (= up to 90 minutes)
Length: +1 mile (= 13 miles)
SL3
Converted to tri-axle dual-door single-staircase double deckers.
Providing future-proofed capacity without human-related increased costs.
SL4
SL4 extended from Grove Park via currently-train-tracks to Bromley North.
The Bromley North-Grove Park shuttle train is half hourly and may very well be useful to connect to and from London Bridge. It's half hourly frequency does mean that it is very easy to have a full wait for 261, reach one point, have a full wait for 126, reach back to your starting point, in the span of the half hour wait for the train.
The SL4 would be every 8, giving it a frequency basically quadruple!
I suspect the rationale for not sending SL4 to Bromley could be it's lavish frequency paralleling both 126 and 261, instead of the section SL4 will serve only paralleling 261 and briefly the 202.
Utilising the train tracks and turning it into a busway will greatly speed up the section, making it distinct from 126 and 261, whilst giving Bromley access to the Docklands for more workers in South East London, not just limited to Blackheath and Grove Park.
Frequency reduced to every 10.
Converted to tri-axle triple-door dual-staircase double decker buses. Providing future-proofed capacity without human-related increased costs.
Running time: +7-12 minutes
Length: +2 miles.
Changes to existing routes to compensate reduced frequency:
- 330 and 335 merged into one route
- 241 extended from Royal Wharf (double run) to 330's Pontoon Dock.
- 101 rerouted at East Ham southwards via 304
- 304 withdrawn
- 69 extended to Charlton via 472
SL6
SL6 turned into a daily service with a frequency of every 10 Monday-Saturday, every 12 Sunday, every 15 all evenings. Rerouted at South Norwood Hill to Norwood Junction. Stops at Tulse Hill Station as planned, Brixton Station and Kennington Church. All as interchanges to my inventions as you will read.
The X68, now SL6, is less used by Thornton Heath southwards. However, it is very well loaded across the non-stop section, serving an area devoid of rail: Upper Norwood.
Diverting to Norwood Junction does retain it's main clientele, whilst having a slightly faster route to Brixton, and a direct link to Waterloo all in one. Croydon does lose out on it's own direct central London bus link, though, a lightly used link means little, see 347 being withdrawn as a more extreme example.
The 196 would be cut back to West Norwood. No having three parallel daily routes between Tulse Hill and South Norwood when two already suffice well.
Intent to convert route to tri-axle triple-door dual-staircase double deckers. Tri-axle buses tested again to see if it passes. It previously failed due to difficulty manoeuvering West Croydon Bus Station. This issue will also apply to SL7.
Running time: up to 84 minutes (-8 mins)
Length: 10 miles (-2 miles)
SL7
SL7. Split into two other Superloop routes (read next paragraphs). SL7 to be a Heathrow Airport Central to Sutton route just like the 'error' posted on actual bus stops.
New stop at Hanworth Leisure Centre. Frequency increased to every 12 in the daytime.
Converted to tri-axle dual-door single-staircase double decker buses.
Running time: up to 100 minutes (-40 mins)
Length: 18 miles (-6 miles)
SL8
Iron Bridge bus stops removed from SL8, some other stops investigated for removal, such as Ealing/Christchurch.
Converted to tri-axle triple-door dual-staircase double decker buses. Providing extra capacity without increased vehicle requirement.
SL9
Converted to tri-axle dual-door single-staircase double decker buses. Providing extra capacity without increased vehicle requirement.
All Superloop routes
No mid-route driver changeovers. This necessitates extra time in schedule, then in reality some drivers' speed varies from reasonable to long. All this equals slow... on an express bus service. A consequence of this will be regulation, if buses are rather quick, in turn being even more painful to passengers who are promised an 'express bus' service.
By having the driver reliefs solely at the termini of routes, less time is lost for the passenger and the buses will certainly not be overtaken by regular buses by reducing the padded time mid-route changeovers create.
The downside is that mid-route changeovers are cheaper. However, the perception of speed and quality of service is more important. What express service should deliberately have 5 minutes of down time?
Naturally for my paragraphs below, the same will apply. No mid-route changeovers, higher perceived speed and shorter actual time.
Changes to planned Superloop routes
SLxx (Stratford - Chingford)
Extended via Yardley Lane, Lea Valley Campsite, Waltham Abbey to Waltham Cross
The previous ideal for an extension was 215 and still can be. Though, I have selected the faster and lengthier route which would even link straight to Stratford and it's Westfield.
Running time: [up to 70 mins] up to 95 mins
Length: [7 miles] 13 miles
SLxx (Ealing Broadway - Hendon)
Routeing swapped with 112, this SLxx terminating at North Finchley. The 112 terminating at Hendon.
The 112 is a fast service for sure, so will this route. Missing out the new hub of North Finchley seems like a diversion to either not flood the place with shiny branded fast buses as it already has two, or not fixing what isn't broken - 112, or not wanting to make it parallel 112 beat-for-beat.
Running time: up to 70 mins
Length: 10 miles
SLxx (Richmond - Wimbledon)
Extended via South Wimbledon, Colliers Wood, Mitcham to Streatham.
Sort of parallels 57 but avoids Tooting, my reasoning is providing an aide to route 201 between Streatham and Mitcham. Well loaded section on a route that is faster and less frequent with less capacity buses compared to the only other route that provides the link slower (going through residential areas) with higher frequency and double deckers - 118(to-be-45).
Running time: [up to 45 minutes] up to 75 mins
Length: [8 miles] 13 miles
SLxx (Hammersmith - Hounslow)
Routed via Hounslow Central and extended to Feltham via Hanworth Leisure Centre.
Thr 235 to be reduced in frequency as this Superloop route will provided the needed extra capacity from Hounslow to Feltham
Running time: [up to 50 minutes] up to 75 mins
Length: [7 miles] 11 miles
My own new Superloop routes with associated regular bus routes being changed.
Unless stated otherwise, all of the routes below are:
- every 12 Monday-Saturday and every 15 Sundays and evenings - exactly like all non-SL6/SL7/SL8 Superloop routes.
- use two-axle dual-door double decker buses.
INTERMISSION
Riverloop services!
Giving riverbuses some love and attention which London doesn't, only the Woolwich Ferry is cheap - it's free. The rest are quadruple or more than the bus fare. Some other capital cities aren't as egregious, you could even have a fare covering both bus and riverbus/ferry!
RL1: Hampton Court - Kingston Turks - Richmond St Helena - Kew - Putney - Chelsea Harbour - Battersea Power Station - Vauxhall - Westminster - Waterloo
The western-most section only sees service with tour services, so, summer... perhaps this could be capitalised on. Some destinations are served by the South Western Railway, rendering a more southwestern expansion an interesting competition.
RL2: Westminster - Embankment - Bankside - London Bridge - Tower - Canary Wharf - Greenwich - North Greenwich - Woolwich - Barking Riverside - Dagenham Pier (connect with extended 174 X66) - Erith - Rainham Pier (connect with extended 103)
Initially I didn't want it to be this long but I caved in upon realising it's perhaps more worthwhile.
RL3: Thamesmead - Barking Riverside
There's many bus routes with 1 peak vehicle requirement. Having a riverbus with 1 peak requirement that's only two stops isn't a hard ask... look at the very riverbus in Canary Wharf that goes one stop down to just about meet bus route C10.
A lot less costlier than my crazier idea of a ferry that can take buses aboard, either for a dedicated short route from Barking to Abbey Wood or an extension of an existing route.
INTERMISSION OVER
A10
A10 branded as Superloop. No change at all (just like X68!)
SLxx West Croydon - Kingston
Via East Croydon, Mitcham, Morden, Wimbledon Chase, Raynes Park, New Malden
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 12 miles
SLxx West Croydon - Heathrow Terminal 5
Via East Croydon, Beddington, Wallington Green, Carshalton, Sutton, Cheam, Ewell, Hook, Thames Ditton, Hampton Court, Sunbury
Every 15 all days of week, every 20 evenings.
Running time: up to 100 mins
Length: 34 miles
SLxx West Croydon - Leatherhead
Via South Croydon - Purley - Woodcote - Banstead - Epsom Downs - Epsom - Epsom Hospital - Ashtead
Every 15 all days of week, every 20 evenings.
Running time: up to 85 mins
Length: 17 miles
SLxx West Croydon - Orpington
Via Shirley, Library - Bethlem Royal Hospital - West Wickham - Keston, Church - Locksbottom, Princess Royal University Hospital - Green Street Green
Running time: up to 55 mins
Length: 10 miles
You've read the SL7 paragraph, this is a costlier but better way to achieve minimal links lost, no major town-to-town link lost, new links gained.
Kingston doesn't lose it's direct link to Croydon, which is very well used.
Croydon doesn't lose it's direct link to Heathrow, which would be sensitive on a route that had politician involvement from 726 being curtailed from Bromley to Croydon.
Morden linked to Kingston in a timely manner instead of going on a tour of Europe which K5 does.
I have no idea how used the links west of Cheam will be, excluding any workers or daring travellers to Heathrow as that certainly will draw patronage to a place of high demand.
It is rare for one bus route to be split into three in more modern times, but it has happened. The 37 is just barely over 30 years ago, split into 37 337 H37 overnight when 37 had just two overlapping sections (Hounslow to Clapham Common, Putney to Peckham).
In 2019 the 266 split into 218 266 306. The 218 and 306 individually are less frequent, 218 itself is single deck, so they both are an increase over 266 on it's own along Askew Road which really needed an additional route, almost gaining a repurposed scheduled shorts of 72 extended from Hammersmith to form a 239 Acton Vale to Roehampton.
Alas, the SL7 has been too long for a long time now. It takes at most 140 minutes. That's 2 hours and 20 minutes! You can't legally drive for more than 4 hours and 30 minutes without a break, otherwise you enter illegal territory.
As you can see, TfL have flirted with the idea of shifting the termini of both SL5 and SL7 to terminate at Sutton. The map wasn't an error at all since it's the same as version 2 (incorporating SL3 to Thamesmead) with a lot of routes added on.
The Epsom idea however, is a straight split. The 166's reroute via Pampisford Road to replace 455 did negatively impact long distance users, perhaps negligible in the grand scheme of things, but deliberate slowing of a 'trunk route' is off-putting.
Furthermore, users south of Purley regardless of bus route can connect to an extended Victoria Line at Purley.
My Orpington idea would be much better if it could serve Croydon without paralleling SL5 or my 166-parallel SLxx route. The lesser evil might be chosing to go via the 166-parallel SLxx route but... I changed my plans to be more radical. If the 353 was cut from Croydon to Addington due to it's speed competing with Tramlink... Why serve Addington?
Then I later had the idea to extend 470 to Purley instead of having a dedicated Superloop between Purley and Sutton which might not be too bad but it probably has a weak business case to exist.
Changes to existing routes:
- 61 rerouted into a Bromley North - Ramsden Estate route. See 161.
- 119 extended to Purley replacing 289
- 161 extended to Orpington, replacing 61
- 166 cut to Chipstead Valley. Rerouted via Brighton Road. Contractually combined with 405. Freq increase to every 15 in line with 405's freq.
- 250 extended via Old Town to South Croydon, South End. Frequency halved (see 459)
- 264 and 50 extended to East Croydon... somehow
- 289 cut from Purley to Purley Way, Colonnades. See 119.
- 353 rerouted at Addington via 64 to Selsdon then goes to Purley. Withdrawn from Ramsden Estate. See 61 433.
- 359 withdrawn east of Broadcombe, rerouted from Purley Downs Road via Brighton Road and St James Road (via roads previously served by 455) to Croydon Town Centre. Frequency increased to every 20. Contract combined with 433.
- 403 extended to Sutton, replacing 407
- 405 rerouted via Brighton Road and Old Town to West Croydon. Contractually combined with 166.
- 407 rerouted at West Croydon Bus Station to Thornton Heath High Street via 468. Also rerouted via Pampisford Road instead of Brighton Road.
- 409 funded extension from Selsdon to West Croydon via 64.
- 410 and 450 cut to form West Croydon - Crystal Palace routes, contractually combined and operate like circular routes H9/H10 but without public number changes. E.g a rounder will be 410 from Crystal Palace to Croydon then becomes a 450 to Crystal Palace and vice versa.
- 412 extended via West Croydon, 109, 264 to Waddon Marsh
- 433 double run Forestdale.
- 434 extended from Rickman Hill to Banstead. Increased to every 22.
- 439 rerouted via Pampisford Road instead of Purley Way. Extended to Beddington Asda.
- 459 is a split from 250 on the same contract. Same as 250 except it uses full length of King's Avenue instead of Brixton/Streatham Hills. Extends from West Croydon to Croydon Town Centre. Both 250 and 459 interworked providing the same frequency as current 250.
- 466 freq slightly reduced from every 8 to every 9, shifts resource to 166.
- 470 extended from Sutton to Selsdon via Carshalton Beeches, Woodmansterne Road, Woodmansterne Lane, Foxley Lane then via 359. Converted to dual door single deckers.
The Orpington changes allow Ramsden Estate to be linked directly to Bromley, an important destination and also the town hall of the Bromley borough. A new link to Eltham is also achieved by the extension of 161.
359's frequency reduction translates perfectly to it's patronage reduction. Perhaps if it were a more viable frequency, at least every 20, it could carry a more bare minimum instead of carrying a lot more air than humans. At least Croydon is a guaranteed destination with demand, thus rerouting it via there will carry passengers, the routeing to Purley retained by extending 470 which ends back at square one but the key difference is 470's new links will mitigate this issue.
Swapping 119 and 289 southern termini allows for Purley to have a direct link to Bromley. Bonus night service on a bit more of the A23. Otherwise a remarkably unnecessary change methinks.
My 250/459 changes allows 250 back to Croydon Town Centre. Yes it is with a different number. Notice when TfL return a route to a previous configuration, it is either through a different number (5 extended from Becontree Heath. Later EL2 extended to Becontree Heath) or a different routeing (23 to Aldwych was via Oxford Circus. Now it is via Green Park). Perhaps some saving face from admitting to a mistake.
This 410/450 circular exercise is a way to create stand space, also allows both routes under one contract. Reducing time sifting through contracts is a TfL pastime, by withdrawing bus routes, especially if an independent owed them a lot of money... 549.
VictoriaLoop Brixton - Croydon Town Centre
Via Brixton Hill/New Park Road - Streatham Station - Norbury Station - Pollards Hill/Ederline Avenue - North Croydon/Croydon University Hospital - West Croydon - Fairfield Halls for East Croydon
Every 10 Mon-Sat, every 15 Sunday and evenings. Uses tri-axle dual-staircase dual-door double decker buses.
This has not been an alien concept in Europe but supposedly London very much wanted to prepare it's tube extensions using tube trains, instead of appetising passengers in the short-term with the confirmed deal under construction which will last more than just long-term.
Bakerloo for it's Lewisham extension has already been London's first example under woes of not ever starting construction until who knows what decade, so why not plan for a Victoria Line extension now? Obviously as it is the Victoria Line is oversubscribed enough for Crossrail 2 to come about to relieve it... when the Victoria Line was a necessary creation to relieve crowding on the Circle Line!
I have addressed the need for another high-frequency railway which will create capacity to allow the Victoria Line to absorb new passengers from new destinations not ever served visibly on London Underground maps.
Regardless of if it has to be a new railway or an extension, the A23 road really does need a high-frequency rail line and the Southern isn't enough to deliver that capacity unless perhaps given the Elizabeth Line overhaul the Greater Anglia and Great Western Line suburban trains received... which might just be impossible in our livetimes if Crossrail 2 is still in the drawing board.
For reference, Streatham High Road has been the only example of road closures by Low Traffic Neighbourhood to cause all road users (and thus, buses also a victim) so bad that it was normal for it to take 2 hours to traverse a few bus stops. Already before those changes, Streatham was quite populated with traffic.
Another evidence for how crucial it is Brixton-Streatham-Croydon gets a high-frequency rail is how many buses it has compared to other corridors.
Take Romford Road which has the Liz Line; routes 25 86 425 provide 8+10+6=24 buses per hour in capacity in one direction. Those buses are still so busy, two of them are in the top 10 busiest.
Take Upper Balham Road which has the (unreliable) Northern Line; routes 155 249 355 provide 7.5+6+5=18.5 buses per hour in capacity.
Tubeless Brixton Hill requires many, the 109 is near top 10 whilst the 250 recently joined the top 30... routes 45 59 109 118 133 159 250 333 which provide 6+8+10+5+7.5+7.5+9.2peak+6=59.2 buses per hour. It was more frequent prior to 2022 but the bus reductions automatically upped the car usage in Lambeth which no doubt has further reduced road space for everyone along the corridor.
Let me also mention, Streatham High Road corridor was the most polluted corridor at one point.
If either the Victoria Line was extended very early on, or another Light Railway not dissimilar to the DLR was established, this corridor would never have reached the top 10 most polluted bus corridors as there would be less buses around. For instance, the Jubilee Line extension to Stratford necessitated 109's cutback from Trafalgar Square to Brixton and 199's cutback from Elephant & Castle to Canada Water, the former is unrelated and the latter created crowding problems on route 1. Going even further back to before the Victoria Line existed, there was a huge amount of capacity of buses from Victoria to Pimlico as well as Victoria via Stockwell to Streatham... all cutback or withdrawn with very few left. The 2 is the sole bus link from Brixton to Victoria when there were many, 24 is the sole terminator at Pimlico when the 29 and 134 also terminated there with the 24.
These trains are of course Zero Emission from the tailpipe because there is no tailpipe at all, these use electric traction to move.
Even from a cost perspective, you'd require less bus drivers, as in most industries the large sustained cost is the human aspect.
It is simply more efficient to have one 133m long train provide 1128 capacity with one driver and automated train operation... instead of 12 10.6m-11.3m buses at the same length of one 2009 tube stock train to provide 1044 capacity with 12 drivers.
Oh and to sweeten the deal, the DLR is driverless sort-of, further reducing human-related costs.
No doubt in the short term it will be quite costly, with all the substations, electric infrastructure and trains themselves. But in the long term more money would be made from new passengers. The Tramlink reduced private traffic in Croydon by 30%, imagine the scale of a Victoria Line extension or a new light railway!
I'll round this extremely long section by saying, this route is a statement, far more than if it ever is faster than the 109 by a noticeable margin. It will certainly feel faster by only stopping at 8 stops compared to 36 stops... so 4.5 times less stops which certainly means a lot less dwell time.
It is also very guaranteed existing long-distance users of 109 will shift to this VictoriaLoop route, thereby relieving 109 in it's current state allowing it to focus on local passenger flows. Even if in practice the SL8 is relative to 207 in real-world speeds.
Stand space already exists at Brixton from 118's withdrawal.
Changes to existing routes:
- 109 reduced from every 6 to every 8
- (N)64 and N250 merged into one route, saving costs and no links broken.
Running time: up to 55 minutes
Length: 7 miles
SLxx Waterloo - Beckenham Junction
Via St Thomas Hospital - Vauxhall - Camberwell Green - Kings College Hospital - East Dulwich - Dulwich - Horniman Museum - Sydenham - Penge - Beckenham Road Tram Stop for Clock House and Kent House
Remember in the VictoriaLoop section I said new light rail line? Yes. Feast your eyes on the precursor to my Crystal Light Railway idea, you will see parallels with this bus route.
Dulwich could do with a faster service but what Forest Hill really needs is extra capacity. This route would relieve some capacity of 176 and 185, achieving that goal. By linking places quicker than both of them, it will be successful, more than SL5 compared to 119.
Changes to regular routes:
- 12 rerouted at Peckham Rye via Honor Oak and Honor Oak Park to Brockley Rise
- 171 renumbered 172 and extended from Elephant & Castle to Aldwych. Rerouted via Old Kent Road. 171 number withdrawn.
- 172's contract on this new SLxx route
- N12 extended via 197 to Croydon
- N171 unchanged
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 11 miles
SLxz Brixton - Grove Park
Via Herne Hill - West Dulwich - Gipsy Hill - Crystal Palace Parade/College Road - Sydenham - Lower Sydenham - Catford & Catford Bridge - Bellingham - Downham
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 10 miles
The idea was a fast Brixton to Crystal Palace route. That is too short. I struggled to find an alternative routeing without overly paralleling my other ideas. However, I recognise Sydenham not being linked to Brixton, so this may be a decent idea.
SLxx Streatham - Bromley North
Via Norwood, Crown Point - Crystal Palace Bus Station - Crystal Palace Station - Anerley Station - Birkbeck Station - Elmers End Station - Elmers End Green - Park Langley, Chinese Garage - Bromley South
An express 227 might have to duck under Shortlands to truly be fast but instead I opted that the route must use double decker buses instead. Birkbeck is not linked directly to Crystal Palace, so this is three birds killed in one stone. Three I said. The other is the peculiar phenomenon of people that switch buses to reach Streatham from Bromley and vice versa.
Running time: up to 65 mins
Length: 8 miles
SLxx Canada Water - Bromley North
Via Surrey Quays - Deptford - Lewisham - Catford - Downham
The above is a reimagining of intended proposal to extend 199 to Bromley North in order to replace the final route with overlap sections, removing the overlap of Lewisham to Bromley on the 208. Instead the capacitt from the Catford overlap was handed to 320 by an extension, whilst 208 was extended to do Lewisham to Orpington full route.
My part here in avoiding Greenwich is deliberate due to it's traffic. It could benefit serving there.
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 8 miles
Changes to existing routes:
- 225 extended via route 1 then 78 to Old Kent Road Tesco, creating some space.
SLxx Orpington - Erith
Via St Mary Cray - Foots Cray - Bexley - Bexleyheath - Northumberland Heath
Long needed link between Orpington and Bexleyheath at a reasonable frequency (and not taking a detour via various residential roads!) achieved. Added a bit to Erith to coincide with my Riverloop at Erith.
I thought about an extension onwards from Orpington to Sevenoaks but I've changed my plan for an even more radical set of ideas which you will see in the next chapter... fufufufu hahahaha.
Running time: up to 65 mins
Length: 11 miles
SLxz Lewisham - Colliers Wood
Via Ladywell - Brockley Rise - Honor Oak Park - Horniman Museum - Crystal Palace Parade/College Road - Crystal Palace - Upper Norwood All Saints Church - Thornton Heath Station - Thornton Heath Pond - Mitcham
It was a shame 931 was reduced into a part-express route with 450's extension from Crystal Palace to Lower Sydenham taking custom. It is far more of a shame an express service from Lewisham to Crystal Palace was withdrawn, being significantly faster than 122. One journey in the morning to Lewisham and one return from Lewisham. This will certainly be a successful route.
The 450 is the only route from Thornton Heath to Crystal Palace, this is, by data, 450's busiest section. The positive side effect is relieving 450, allowing for a frequency reduction if enough capacity is relieved.
I tied in some links that don't exist too!
Thornton Heath newly linked to Mitcham
Mitcham newly linked to Crystal Palace
Merton (Colliers Wood) to Thornton Heath and beyond
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 12 miles
Changes to existing routes:
- 155 rerouted at Tooting Broadway via 270 to Mitcham. Relinks Mitcham with Zone 1.
- 156 cut from Vauxhall to Clapham Junction Asda.
- 219 cut from Wimbledon to Tooting St George's Hospital. Extended from Clapham Junction to Vauxhall replacing 156.
- 355 rerouted at Tooting Broadway via 57 then Haydons Road to Wimbledon.
SLzx Wimbledon - Banstead
Via South Wimbledon Stn - Morden Road - Morden Stn - Rosehill Roundabout - Sutton Town Centre - Sutton Stn - Sutton Hospital - Belmont
Extending 420 to Morden or something is a little much as it is already roughly 2 hours as a route that reaches Gatwick Airport. Next solution would be to leave S1 alone.
But nay!
I chose another option, make a quick route that feeds into the Northern Line from Sutton and areas south of it. No reason people in Banstead and surrounding areas shouldn't have a tube feeder after all. This service also relieves 93's section that isn't served by a proposed Superloop route, therefore leaving only the North Cheam to Morden flow without a limited stop route on the 93.
My other reason is the funding withdrawal for the Sutton Tram project, you know, the Tramlink from Colliers Wood to Sutton idea? Yeah, the one that would parallel 164 until just before Morden in order to meet the Croydon Tramlink at Phipps Bridge. That. Albeit a much cheaper and less roadwork-intensive disruption-causing (short-medium term) would be using the Thameslink tracks between Sutton and Wimbledon, the stations in-between are among the least used on that line and even lacked proper wheelchair access. Virtually no through passengers after Sutton or Wimbledon heading to the other destination so this is rather easy to do.
...in fact, that is in my plans... this bus route may have an expiry date just like the VictoriaLoop does...
Changes to existing routes:
- 93 Mon-Fri AM freq reduced from every 5-6 to every 7, daytime Mon-Sat freq reduced from every 7-8 to every 8-9.
- S1 cut from Banstead to Belmont
Running time: up to 65 minutes
Length: 9 miles
SLxx Lewisham - Clapham Junction
Via Brockley - Nunhead - Peckham Rye - East Dulwich Goose Green - Denmark Hill Stn - Herne Hill Stn - Brixton - Clapham Common
Express 37 that does the link the people have been asking for: Lewisham to Clapham Junction. Enough said.
Changes to existing routes:
- 39 extended via Clapham South to Balham, to create stand space
- C3 extended via 37 to Clapham Common, to create stand space for another SLxx
- 436 extended via 181 to Hither Green, creates space and adds capacity
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 12 miles
SLxx Woolwich - Bluewater
Via Plumstead Common - Welling - Bexleyheath/Lion Road - Bexleyheath Town Centre - Crayford - Dartford
Running time: up to 70 mins
Length: 13 miles
SLxx Bromley North - Woolwich
Via [busway] Sundridge Park - Grove Park - Eltham
Running time: up to 50 mins
Length: 7 miles
The Superloop over 65 proves you can just make a faster version of an existing route beat-for-beat, so this creates extra capacity along 96 by reducing 96's frequency. If it needs it, the suburbs have grown in usage. Think of it as a cost cutting exercise in the guise of increased speed.
The second one is re-linking Bromley with Woolwich again but much faster than 161 did or a rerouteable 126 can do. Especially by having the busway from Bromley North over the train tracks used.
Changes to existing routes:
- Bromley North Bus Station built with the station and land bought
- 126 extended to Bromley Common
- 162 to be a Bromley South to Abbey Wood route. Rerouted at Avery Hill via Falconwood Station, Lingfield Crescent, unserved Northumberland Avenue then B16 to Welling Corner, 96 to Okehampton Crescent then B11 to Abbey Wood
- 428 and 469 merged into a Woolwich Common QEH to Crayford route, every 15 with double deckers.
This change to 162 does bring many new links, most importantly a link to the Elizabeth Line from the areas this changed 162 will newly serve.
The 286 is relatively adequate and if needed, can be converted to double deckers. The 428 on the other hand has been semi-redundant at the Bluewater end once the 96 was made to stop at Darent Valley Hospital. However, this plan of mine is a cost exercise.
SLxx Romford Market - North Greenwich
Via Queens Hospital, Becontree Heath, Wood Lane/Valence Avenue, Barking Station, Barking/River Road, Canning Town
Uses tri-axle dual-door single-staircase double deckers.
It would be rather obvious to utilise 86's wide roads, but it has Elizabeth Line. So not exactly feasible until that line has it's capacity saturated somehow. The next best thing for that region of East is paralleling the next busiest route after 86/25, the 5! Slightly unique in that it straddles both District and Elizabeth Lines and is feasible for buses to overtake unlike with a decent majority of 65's Superloop parallel.
The link into North Greenwich using the Silvertown Tunnel does open up many links and easy connection to Barking and Romford from regions in South East London.
Changes to existing route:
- 5 frequency decrease from every 7-8 (6-7 morning peak) to every 8-9 Mon-Sat and from every 8-9 to every 10 on Sundays.
Running time: Up to 80 mins
Length: 12 miles
SLxx Romford Station - Chingford Station
Via Romford Market - North Romford, Chase Cross <all stops> Havering-atte-Bower <all stops> Stapleford Abbot - Lambourne End - Chigwell Row - Hainault, The Lowe - Hainault Stn - Woodford Bridge - South Woodford Stn - High Street South Woodford - Woodford Green
Every 15 all days of week, every 20-30 evenings.
I have no qualms with leaving 375 as it is but I had an idea of extending it to reach via Woodford, though I forgot what such a suitable enough destination I picked and I am fine not searching through what it was, as itrelevant as 375 is in it's frequency.
I saw an open opportunity to link Romford and Chingford which also pleases the map artistry of adding a piece to the puzzle, the Superloop map. Aesthetics was first for me, then I made a good enough justifiable destination.
Changes to existing routes:
- 375 withdrawn
Running time: up to 70 mins
Length: 17 miles
SLxx Limehouse - Lakeside
Via Canary Wharf, East India, Barking/River Road, Ripple Road/Lodge Avenue, Dagenham/New Road, Rainham Station
I have previously come up with rerouteing 173 to Canning Town with the 473 extended via 173 to at least Dagenham.
Rainham is already linked to Barking with low-frequency 287, is linked to the city with c2c train.
On the plus side it does seem that switching between 287 and 372 is popular.
What it lacks is some other links. I have been flip-flopping between Canary Wharf and Canning Town until I remembered a non-Superloop addition I've made, a Rotherhithe Tunnel bus. It can be done with Silvertown so it can't not be done with Rotherhithe... which cannot take bikes aboard the minibuses it is forced to use due to vehicle size restrictions.
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 20 miles
SLxx Stratford - Erith
Via Plaistow, Greengate - Newham Hospital - Beckton DLR - UEL Docklands Campus - Gallions Reach Shopping Park -Beckton Riverside DLR - Thamesmead.
It will probably be a DLR-only bridge extension but it will be very amiss not to have buses alongside it at the very least, if cycle lanes won't also be added, though that would be a minor own goal.
I chose Stratford as the destination due to Westfields, otherwise I was just about close to sending it to Walthamstow vaguely via 58.
Changes to existing routes:
- 262 and 473 both reduced to every 12 and contractually combined. Extension to Stratford City to create space at Stratford.
- not a route but the bus stops at Gallions Reach a lot closer to the store, sacrificing some parking in a space swap if this is yet to be done.
Running time: up to 65 mins
Length: 11 miles
SLzz Stratford - Ponders End
Via Bow Church - Homerton Hospital - Hackney Central Stn - Hackney Downs Stn - Stoke Newington Common (Brooke Road northbound) - Stoke Newington Stn - Stamford Hill Broadway - South Tottenham Stn - Seven Sisters Stn - Bruce Grove Stn - Tottenham Hotspur Football Club - Silver Street Stn - Edmonton Green
Every 10 Mon-Sat, every 12 Sunday and evenings. Uses tri-axle dual-staircase dual-door double deckers.
Tottenham to Stratford is a glaringly noticeable link that does not exist. Could have easily been achieved with a 349 extension or a 425 reroute via Stoke Newington. Since neither has been done, Superloop to the rescue!
Changes to existing routes:
- 349 withdrawal
Running time: up to 65 minutes
Length: 12 miles
SLxz Streatham - Hammersmith
Via Tooting Bec Stn - Wandsworth Common for Station - Wandsworth High Street - Putney High Street - Putney Bridge Stn - Charing Cross Hospital
Running time: up to 70 minutes
Length: 9 miles
SLxx Hammersmith - Harrow
Via Shepherd's Bush Stn - Wormwood Scrubs, Du Cane Lane - Harlesden, Jubilee Clock - Stonebridge Park Stn - Wembley Stadium Stn - Wembley Central - Sudbury and Harrow Road Stn - Northwick Park Hospital
Running time; up to 65 minutes
Length: 10 miles
My initial idea for the Streatham-Hammersmith idea was actually a Wandsworth-Streatham-Bromley route but I deemed it too long and thus truncated both. Regardless, I have achieved linking Streatham and Wandsworth directly which has never existed. Wandsworth Common also linked to Wandsworth directly as a result.
The latter is a straight copy-paste of 607's formula. Express from main destination - Shepherd's Bush. Terminate at suburb - Harrow. I added the bit to Hammersmith since it is not linked to Wembley. No. I first thought of an express 266 variant but settled on 220's routeing instead.
Changes to existing routes:
- 72 withdrawn
- 220 freq reduced from every 8 (6-7 peak hours, 7-8 Saturday) to every 10.
- N220 extended to Wembley Stadium
- 258 rerouted at Harrow to Wembley Central via H17
- 283 renumbered 72. Frequency increased to every 8.
- 340 extended to South Harrow, replacing 258
- G1 diverted at Ullathorne Road via Aldrington Road (return via Abbotsleigh Road), Eardley Road (return via Westcote Road) terminating at Streatham Common Station. Perhaps further extended via unserved Grove Road to Pollards Hill creating a new Tooting-Pollards Hill link may require splitting G1 in two with north half terminating at Tooting/The Mitre.
- H17 withdrawn. See 258.
- P13 extended to Green Lane, creating stand space
SLxx Hounslow - Harrow
Via Heston - Southall - Dormer's Wells - Greenford Broadway - Greenford - Sudbury Hill - Sudbury and Harrow Road - Northwick Park Hospital
My philosophy behind this is plugging in gaps of the map if it is reasonable to do so. Quite innovative if anyone wants to go from Harrow to Hounslow but at least there are some other new links made, reaching Greenford from Hounslow for example. Southall to Harrow?
Regardless, 120, which has jumped significantly in patronage and passengers per kilometre may well benefit from a parallel fast route.
Running time: up to 85 minutes
Length: 10 miles
SLxx Hounslow - Thorpe Park
Via Cranford - Harlington Corner - Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 - Heathrow Terminal 5 - Staines
An unusual choice to have a leisure route serve an airport, though it is the closest Elizabeth Line station upon leaving Hounslow without making a lengthy route to Staines.
Staines is no doubt linked to Heathrow Central but reaching there just a bit quicker may be reasonable even outside Thorpe Park's opening hours.
My case for this route is rather simple, capitalise on Thorpe Park's existence. Sullivan Buses can, why not the major source of traffic - Greater London?
It's no secret many of these leisure destinations had summer Sunday extensions of normal services. Chessington had the 72 for many years, then 152 briefly.
London Zoo had the 2 briefly then 74 for many years had a supplementary service alongside regular 74, 74 then terminated at Camden Town (if 274 wasn't a giveaway).
Winston Churchill's house has the 246 serve there on summer Sundays.
Hampton Court Palace had the 267 serve there on summer Sundays for several decades until it's unreliability was a large thorn.
Thorpe Park had a route too! The 216 from 1996 to 2002. Even currently the route is long, 13 miles and takes over 80 minutes on a Sunday, not to mention it's half hourly frequency. The 203 is a better choice to reach Staines quickly then connect to a Sullivan Buses route which may be more expensive than the total of your bus+tube fare the entire day.
No doubt with the connection to the Piccadilly Line just like the 203, a new connection to the faster Elizabeth Line, this route will be successful in holiday periods. It also caters to Heathrow traffic in the normal times, both nearer Hounslow by paralleling 81, as well as at the Staines end.
Running time: up to 70 mins
Length: 17 miles
SLxx Kingston - Chessington <all stops> Dorking
Via... it's 465 but with less stops
It is more for appearance's sake to have another radial Superloop bus route but I'll have it justify doubling it's frequency by becoming an express route... the 465 was born to kill express X71 so making 465 an express route is a return to the past.
I have thought of extending it out of Kingston, but Twickenham is the only place in my grand map that looks available but it might be cumbersome for this route's reliability. Maybe not. 465 currently has a maximum run time of 93 minutes. So that is why I retracted my idea.
Changes to existing routes:
- K4 diverted via Long Ditton (unserved) and extended from Kingston Hospital to Kingston Sainsbury's. New Sunday every 60 service.
Running time: up to 80 minutes
Length: 15 miles
SLxx Chessington World of Adventures - Battersea Power Station
Via Hook - Tolworth - New Malden - Roehampton Vale ASDA - Wandsworth - Wandsworth Town - Battersea, Latchmere - Battersea Park.
The 66 on the A12 gets a Superloop. The A3 road should too. The end.
But more seriously, diverting the 265 to Wandsworth temporarily during bridge closure was a well used phenomena, despite being temporary and not as publicised as an official permanent change.
So, this will slot that hole as a faster route.
My reasoning for adding Chessington is any extra patronage that could be squeezed from serving that theme park.
Changes to existing routes:
- 14 night service extended to Roehampton via N74, thereby 14 night service numbered N14. Frequency reduced from every 15 all nights to every 30 all nights, see N85.
- 72 extended via N72 to Roehampton. Frequency increased to every 8 and converted to double deckers. Early start and later finish, in replacement for night service N72.
- N72 withdrawn.
- N74 withdrawn
- 85 night service renumbered N85, extended via 14 to Hyde Park and then N97 to Trafalgar Square.
- 87 extended to Roehampton via 170. Cut from Aldwych to Trafalgar Square.
- N97 frequency increased, replacing N74. Contract combined with... 430.
- 170 rerouted at Wandsworth to Wandsworth Riverside
- 209 extended from Mortlake via 419 to Richmond. At Mortlake routed via 419 to Barnes, then via 378 to Putney, then 485 to Wandsworth. Every 12 single decker route.
- 220 frequency decreased to every 8 Mon-Sat
- 265 diverted at Roehampton via 419 to Castelnau and then when (or if) bridge opens, extended to Hammersmith.
- 378 withdrawn
- 419 withdrawn
- 430 later finish and earlier start, part compensating N74 withdrawal
- 485 withdrawn
PVR changes:
Cost changes estimate annually:
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 14 miles
SLxx Feltham - Hammersmith
Via Hanworth Leisure Centre - Twickenham - Richmond
If possible, I'd have it parallel more of the 490 but it conflicts with SL7 more than I'd like, so this is good enough for me.
Literally limited stop bus route on fast roads. As you can tell, I have taken the concept and am milking it desert dry.
Running time: up to 75 mins
Length: 10 miles
SLxx Hounslow - Richmond
Via St Margarets - Isleworth, West Middlesex Hospital - Isleworth Stn
This is my West equivalent of SL5. The H37 is rather busy, at one point roughly every 6-7 until the 110 was rerouted and extended via St Margarets and Richmond. The 110 has since been decreased in frequency too.
H37 is hampered by the low bridge in Isleworth. If parked cars weren't such a nuisance on the side roads, the 37 could've been split in two instead of three, perhaps 337 from Hounslow to Clapham Junction instead.
Changes to existing routes
- 116 extended to Ealing Broadway via 65
- 117 cut to Hounslow. Double decked.
- 216 double decked
- 235 rerouted to West Middlesex Hospital replacing 117. Freq reduced from every 7-8 (6-7 AM peak) to every 10
- 290 double decked.
- H37 decreased from every 7-8 to every 10
Running time: up to 40 mins
Length: 5 miles
SLxx Slough - Greenford
Via Langley - Stockley Park - Uxbridge - Yeading/White Hart Roundabout - Greenford Broadway.
A link from Uxbridge to Slough was popular at some point, but now it doesn't exist. I do vaguely remember First providing some service that keeps changing it's number, perhaps I am imagining things! In any case, this is an example of Free Real Estate. Passenger patterns change, though it is still worth noting those two destinations had a high frequency of London Country services at the time.
Running time: up to 80 minutes
Length: 20 miles
SLxx Finsbury Park - Hendon
Via Holloway - Camden Town - Chalk Farm - Swiss Cottage - South Hampstead - Kilburn High Road - Kilburn Stn for Brondesbury Stn - Cricklewood - Brent Cross West - Brent Cross Shopping Centre
I needed an excuse for an addition to North London, so I chose the 16's corridor. Then I realised going further than Colindale is negligible. My genius genius plan to parallel 31 from Camden would result in it being similar links to the Northern Line, bad enough 31 parallels an Overground line. If it was one line, like with H91's Superloop, I could easily overlook.
This does feel like an addition for the sake of addition and I admit that it is exactly that.
Running time: up to 85 minutes
Length: 7 miles
SLxx Brent Cross - Walthamstow Central
Via Colney Hatch - Muswell Hill Broadway - Hornsey - Turnpike Lane - Tottenham Town Hall - Tottenham Hale - Blackhorse Lane
A more inner version of SL1 which is another example of me drawing gaps on a map and creating an excuse after. I think, as wacky as this seems, it will certainly work, definitely as a faster version of 102 and 230 and partly the 123.
I struck gold with my 37 parallel and this is me discovering purple gold.
Running time: up to 80 minutes
Length: 12 miles
SLxx Southgate - Notting Hill Gate
Via Arnos Grove - Colney Hatch - Finchley, Henlys Corner - Golders Green - Finchley Road & Frognal - Finchley Road Stn - Swiss Cottage - St Johns Wood - Paddington - Lancaster Gate
I needed another radial route and I chose by rail terminals. This is me selecting Paddington. After selecting that, I chose one road corridor. I have already chosen the 16's corridor which means I may have to use 13's corridor. Even baring in mind that Finchley Road lost an entire route (old 13) because it had a significant amount more buses than demand.
I have diversified a bit from paralleling 13 too much by... going to Arnos Grove to link with the SL1. The more I looked at the complete route the more amazed I am at an idea thought of on the fly and I drew as I went.
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 13 miles
Changes to existing routes:
- 46 rerouted at Hampstead via 268 to Finchley Road Tesco
- 113 use Brent Cross Flyover. Peak freq reduced to normal freq. See 288.
- 186 split, withdrawn east of Edgware. Rerouted to Broadfields. See 288.
- 187 rerouted at Finchley Road via 268 to Golders Green
- 268 rerouted from Finchley Road to Paddington via 46. Rerouted via 603 to Muswell Hill, extended to Southgate via 299. Converted to double deck.
- 288 rerouted at Edgware via 186 to Brent Cross, extended via 113 to Swiss Cottage. Freq reduced to every 12, converted to double deck.
- 299 withdrawn
- W4 extended from Oakthorpe Park to Edmonton Green via Haselbury Road, Northern Ave and Victoria Rd.
- W6 rerouted at Hedge Lane direct to Edmonton Green. Extended from Southgate to Cockfosters via 299. Converted to double deck.
- 603 withdrawn
- 616 withdrawn
SLxx Potters Bar - Finsbury Park
Via Barnet Church - High Barnet Stn - Whetstone - North Finchley - Colney Hatch - Muswell Hill Broadway - Crouch Hill Stn
Changes to existing routes:
- 84B into TfL as 374, rerouted via Kitts End Road and Dame Alice Owen School. Extended from Barnet Hospital via Dollis Hill Valley to New Barnet. Contractually combined with 384.
- 326 rerouted direct, not serving Dollis Hill Valley. See 374 and 389
- 389 extended to serve Dollis Hill Valley
- 699 one AM and PM journey withdrawn
I remember TfL did mention from witness accounts and math, that 84 (before Metroline withdrawn themselves from it) had low passenger usage that wouldn't justify a half hourly service. I do believe that.
However.
If the route was taken over by TfL just like they did with poor 405 and 351(now 498) then, with some investment and useful reroute in London, it would flourish. The 405 started TfL life as an hourly route with single-door single deckers. The 84 is half hourly. Thamesway 551 from Walthamstow via Manor Park was hourly and hardly used (not helped by lack of timetable information, and bus liveries were unhelpful to identify a London Bus) - it's been revived as a half-hourly W19 route, which gained custom to increase frequency to every 20. Many years on, it is now every 10 and warranted a support route between Leytonstone and Walthamstow - W12 restructure.
TLDR: Worth the stab in the clouds to see a link from Potters Bar to North Finchley do, I took it further to Finsbury Park to guarantee patronage as it would take long-distance users of W7.
Running time: up to 80 mins
Length: 12 miles
SLxx Watford Junction - Holloway
Via Watford High Street - Edgware - Mill Hill Broadway - Hendon Central - Muswell Hill?? - Highgate - Archway
Whilst this doesn't particularly parallel routes that provide the same destinations that much, it does use big roads for the majority of it, the A1 and A41. One section it does parallel faster is 142 from Watford to Edgware. As well as 263 briefly.
This is the most divorced from bus relations as it gets, by this point I have surpassed milking the idea of limited stop buses on fast roads and reached the dead end, not even air being squeezed out. On this route are sections without bus stops, of course. But alas, very bizarre and I have nothing else to sell this on... other than hopefully increase 142's and 263's reliabilities by taking some passengers from them.
Running time: up to 85 mins
Length: 19 miles
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Night routes!
I'll cover nightless areas with the light of my brush on your LED screen(!)
But more seriously, wasted opportunity to not have NightLoop map.
List of changes to mirror existing Superloop but given night coverage
(Insert my map of current Superloop night coverage) https://flic.kr/p/2oRodWr
N2: extended via Birkbeck to Elmers End Green
N3: withdrawn, 3 made 24-hour. See N358.
N19: extended via Clapham South, Clapham Park, Streatham Hill to Streatham
N21: rerouted back to Foots Cray. See 132.
N28: extended on A3 road to Tolworth
N34: Walthamstow - Arnos Grove - North Finchley - Mill Hill East - Mill Hill Broadway - Edgware
N45: Shepherd's Bush - via 49 to South Kensington - via 345 to Peckham - Peckham Rye - Nunhead - Brockley - Lewisham Stn - Lewisham Shopping Centre
N47: rerouted at Catford via 75 to Lewisham
51: made 24-hour
64: night withdrawn, see N250
N68: cut from Old Coulsdon to South Croydon
N86: extended via Homerton Hospital, Hackney Central, Stoke Newington to Tottenham Hale. Cut from Harold Hill to Romford Station.
N97: extended via H91 to Hounslow West
N102: extended to Brent Cross just like day 102
N105: extended to Harrow via Sudbury
N109: extended via 60 to Old Coulsdon
N112: Ealing Broadway - Brent Cross - Wood Green
119: Freq reduced to every 40. Interworked with N353.
122: made 24-hour
132: made 24-hour
N140: rerouted at Harrow via 186 to Edgware
141: made 24-hour
N154: Wimbledon - via 164 to Morden - via 154 to West Croydon - Thornton Heath Pond - Thornton Heath - South Norwood Hill - Crystal Palace
159: night withdrawn, see N250
174: made 24-hour
185: made 24-hour
N196: Shirley - Norwood Junction - West Norwood - Tulse Hill - Brixton Hill - Brixton - Vauxhall - Elephant - Waterloo - Aldwych - Holborn
N199: cut back to Orpington Perry Hall Road. See 51
N205: extended to Leyton Bakers Arms
N213: extended via 285 to Heathrow replacing N285
N220: extended at Harlesden to Wembley, First Way
N222: double run Heathrow Central Bus Station
N229: Bromley North - Sidcup - Thamesmead
N250: Oxford Circus - Streatham - East Croydon - New Addington (journey time the same as N89 N199 N207)
285: night withdrawn, see N213
N305: Streatham - Eltham
N307: Edgware - Barnet - Enfield - Chingford
N321: merged into N21.
N337: Extra 37s but extended via 337 to Richmond.
345: night renumbered N45
N353: Purley - Croydon - Orpington (every 40, interworked with N119)
N358: Green Street Green - Crystal Palace - West Dulwich - Tulse Hill - Brixton
N365: extended from Havering Park - Marks Gate - via 66 to Leytonstone - via 257 to Stratford
N453: extended to Lewisham (the N53 used to go via Lewisham before 453 was created)
N518: As proposed (18 split in to 18 and "82" Wembley-King's Cross via flyover, therefore N518 on "82" contract)
N550: extended via A13 road to Rainham, Abbey Wood Lane.
W7: made 24-hour
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This is where we go even further beyond.
To fictional craziness territory.
Just to preface, funded by the counties and the government as a large grandiose idea to reduce traffic on our dear three ring motorways single London motorway the M25.
SuperRegional
The Superloop but for areas surrounding the M25 motorway. If you can't increase road space, then reduce it by giving people a reason to not utilise the car on commutes. This certainly requires solid local buses which there mostly is in these towns in the vicinity of the M25.
Superloop but around the M25 isn't my own idea, which I will happily admit. In a Geoff Marshall video on doing the loop on Superloop routes, he did mention that.
Some other aspects of this post contains ideas I have taken inspiration from or blatantly copied. Art involves blatant copying anyway. Copy me if you can, that is merely praising me.
Anyways, it was a little hard getting a coherent loop with decent running time, I've gone through many variations but this is the one I am confident on realistically. Crazy idea but realistic. Many an enthusiast critised the 112's extension to North Finchley but it truly worked wonders. I am not anywhere near TfL nor any bus planner in general, but even with my armchair expertise I am sure a similar iteration can be achieved.
Pretend the outside authorities copied the Superloop and got the government involved for assistance in finances. After all some projects, such as the Bus Rapid Transit in Thamesmead does have it's £23 million pricetag from the government anyway. So a bunch of bus routes that TfL can do with new electric buses with good bus interior spec can easily be done.
All of them will have a frequency of every 15 minutes Mon-Sat and use tri-axle dual-door buses.
SRxx Heathrow - Staines - Shepperton - Lower Haliford - Walton-upon-Thames - Esher - Oxshott - Leatherhead
up to 80 mins, 16 miles
SRxx Orpington - Chelsfield - Oxted - Godstone - Bletchingley - Nutfield - Redhill - Gatwick Airport
up to 80 mins, 27 miles
SRxx Leatherhead - Redhill - Godstone - Oxted - Westerham - Sevenoaks
up to 110 mins, 30 miles
SRxx St Albans - Watford High St - Watford General Hospital and Watford Stadium - Rickmansworth - Gerrard's Cross - Slough
up to 100 mins, 33 miles
SRxx Slough - Datchet - Staines - Chertsey - Weybridge - Cobham - Leatherhead
up to 100 mins, 24 miles
SRxx Cockfosters - Potters Bar - Borehamwood - Elstree - Watford Junc - Watford High St - Hemel Hempstead
up to 100 mins, 28 miles
SRxx Stanmore - Watford Junc - Watford General Hospital and Watford Stadium - Rickmansworth - Chalfon & Latimer - Amersham - Hazelmere - High Wycombe
- seemingly Chalfont has no links east of Chalfont except Hemel Hempstead
up to 90 mins, 29 miles
SRxx Luton Airport - Luton <non-stop> Watford Junction - Watford High St - Mount Vernon Hospital - Harefield - Uxbridge
up to 90 mins, 31 miles
SRxx Waltham Cross - Cheshunt - Goffs Oak - Cuffley - Northaw - Potters Bar - Welham Green - University of Hertfordshire - Hatfield
up to 60 mins, 16 miles
Changes to existing routes:
- 456 extended to Cuffley Station
SRxx Waltham Cross - Theydon Bois - Pilgrims Hatch - Brentwood - Lakeside
up to 90 mins, 32 miles
SRxx Harlow Town - Chipping Ongar - Foxhatch - Pilgrims Hatch - Brentwood - Ingrave - Herongate - Basildon
up to 80 mins, ~30 miles
SRxx Dagenham Pier - Dagenham Heathway - Rainham - Pitsea - Stanford-le-Hope Station - Basildon University Hospital - Basildon - *Wier, Rayleigh Road* - Eastwood - Southend Airport - Southend-on-Sea
up to 80 mins, 35 miles
(*extra connectivity, new bus stops on A127)
SRxx Stansted Airport - Bishop's Stortford - Harlow - Thornwood - Epping - Debden <non-stop M11> High Street South Woodford - Leytonstone
up to 90 mins, 33 miles
X80 branded into SuperRegional without number change
SRxx Bluewater - Dartford - Swanley - Otford - Sevenoaks <non-stop via A21> Tunbridge Wells
SRxx Croydon - Tatsfield - Westerham - Brasted - Sundridge - Chipstead - Sevenoaks - Ightham - Borough Green - Wrotham Heath <non-stop via M26> Maidstone
up to 95 mins, 38 miles
Changes to existing routes:
- 464 restructured. Addington Village - Biggin Hill Valley. Evening service numbered N464, avoids Saltbox Hill by going via Coney Hall and extended to Croydon. The other end extended via Tatsfield to Westerham,
- alternative to above, no evening service on 464. Apparently extremely rare for there to even be *one* passenger at any hour after roughly 2000 hours.
Merging of 317 and Arriva 310.
Manchester has a few routes funded by not just TfGM (shock, contracted operation similar to TfL) but also other counties.
The 184 is joint funded by West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
Some other examples exist. Of course, both Combined Authorities have more brute money than simple counties like Surrey do - Surrey having around a dozen of TfL routes entering their territory, some only for a few stops and so they don't fund.
I'll make my point clear here.
More cross-border London routes, I'll explain a bit how.
Funding existing commercial cross-border routes in no different a fashion other counties fund TfL services. A bit 'eating your cake and having it' currently.
Why?
- More links for passengers. Reduce private traffic = increase road speed for all.
- Plugs gaps in network not financially feasible for a TfL service
- Hopper fare can apply
- appear on the same database (e.g countdown, journey planner)
- more visible in TfL maps
- encourage new cross-border routes, commercial or tendered by county
- Funding a bus or two on a busy route will work well, as returned investment
The above 184 example does prove cooperation can happen easily with lower population regions in the rather London-centric Great Britain. I don't have to bring up non-UK examples!
The RV1 wasn't in the tender program due to it's nature of hydrogen buses where the only facility for them was Lea Interchange (LI) which meant no other operator could operate it, so it was a negotiated contract.
The 96 pre-2000 wasn't a rare case of net-cost contracts, but Stagecoach made use of it and extended the route non-stop from Dartford to Bluewater, seeing an opportunity to make money, this extension past the contracted Woolwich-Dartford route meant Stagecoach took 100% of fare revenue profit from Dartford-Bluewater section. On the downside, 100% of the costs. Needless to say, this extension completely knocked it out of the water.
Therefore, the same could happen in reverse. It's not as ideal to have routes with a guaranteed home (not being tendered = no competition = prices dictated by operator, basically) for a relatively trivial issue that could be solved by clear cooperation between Transport for London and the counties that border Greater London. In this case with 310, Hertfordshire.
But. This does mean the London section of the route is funded by TfL whilst the section from Waltham Cross to Hertford is fair game for the operator Arriva, operating how they would like with no penalty as well as taking fare revenue from that section at the fares they currently charge.
The next part, how would the different fares function?
It would be unfair for, let's say, Joe, to be charged £2 in Enfield northbound and then charged £1.75 (TfL fare) in Cheshunt southbound.
A simple solution is for it to be £2 flat fare. There's __only__ a 25p difference. __Only__. Whilst Metrobus manages to charge £1.75 in London for their route 420, being able to absorb those costs easily with the larger operation and Go-Ahead as the parent company (conversely, Southdown's few stops of London territory on 409 couldn't.)
Edit (18/12/24): Uno also to price match inside London.
I would suggest Tap in Tap out, just like Manchester.
This would charge the appropriate fare by the end of the day. Yes it will be slower for people exiting the bus. Perhaps people won't tap out at all.
An easy incentive for human beings in this case is **cashback**. I am sure you are familiar with gift cards, where you will receive some money back after using the service to buy things a fair amount.
Here, a 5p cashback for being kind enough to give your exit location. Or 25p if you did journey inside London only. Incentivise you to be wary of not being charged full fare.
Though, unlike Manchester's network of buses and trams... this 310/317 on it's own as a route with Tap in Tap out will be nothing more than a hopeful trial. Certainly will slow down London routes that serve inner parts of the capital, but is not a completely strange suggestion for an Outer London route, where road speeds are also superior.
The 310 is the most frequent ex-London entering bus route at every 15. Other routes can be added into this field for part-TfL-contracted commercial routes; Arriva 724; Carousel 581/583; Go Coach 3; Metrobus 409 and 420; Uno 610 614 644.
The infrequent/inconsistent nature of Go Coach 3 and Metrobus 409 could make it easier not to contract a portion of route, but a simple funding of the section.
One thing to note is that 724 is already funded by Heathrow, which is the reason for it's 23 hours of operation.
Uno is University of Hertfordshire, so, they also aren't in a dire need of an additional source of funding that isn't student debt.
Same can apply for Surrey tendered routes; 458; 461; 513; 514; 515; 715
In the opposite direction, just like the 96's revolutionary Bluewater success, existing bus routes that cross the border or reach near the border, to have the same Net-cost status as 96 once did.
The 411 is rather short and useful, though it quickly enters a portion of Surrey well within the M25 for a decent area. There is one slight downside, Kingston has a fair amount of commercial or Surrey-funded routes into Kingston. There can still be a case for an operator extending 411 to territory that could make them profit. A hypothetical merger of a commercial route into 411 would be an interesting yet unlikely scenario, I would imagine, unless I'm wrong and there is demand to be poached by Esher or surrounding areas.
Another example, 405 used to go Crawley before truncated to the closest main location it can turn around after the London border: Redhill.
Just a short distance after it used to go past East Surrey Hospital, which will be appreciated for the section served south of Coulsdon, especially parts only served by 405.
I could list more examples but I need not, as you understand by this point. There won't be convenient centres where people flock to for every route that enters another county. 96's success a geographical lottery.
I do believe the 310/317 will work, the 310 was popular to Enfield before and I believe it will be used well. Especially merging 310/317 will keep 317's patronage in the short term, meaning no real change happens ignoring the frequency difference since 317 is currently less frequent.
Finally
My promised rail ideas
A map may come soon or very late
For now, this is the draft plans I wrote up
Victoria Line via Brixton Hill, Streatham, Pollards Hill, North Croydon, West Croydon, East Croydon, Haling Road, Purley to Coulsdon
"Crystal Light Rail" King's Cross - Euston - Russell Square - Holborn - Aldwych - Waterloo - Elephant - Walworth then:
> via Camberwell, Brixton, Brixton Hill, Tulse Hill, West Norwood, Crystal Palace, Upper Norwood by Spa, South Norwood near Arena, Woodside, Shirley near Library, Addington Village.
> at Camberwell via Dulwich near Library, Lordship Lane near A205 junction, Upper Sydenham, CP, takes over Southern to Beckenham Junction allowing Tramlink to be two-track instead of one-track on that section
^^ SLR and Tramlink extended from Beckenham Junction to Bromley North Bus Station
"Crystal Light Rail" branch start at Angel - Clerkenwell - Farringdon - Blackfriars - Waterloo - Lambeth Palace - Vauxhall - Nine Elms - Wandsworth Road - Clapham Common (upgraded platforms anyways for cross-platform interchange) - Clapham Junction - Wandsworth - Roehampton
Northern Line split in two. The one via Hampstead renamed Hampstead.
Hampstead Line to CLJ
New LO West London Orbital - West Hampstead Thameslink or Hendon - Neasden - Harlesden - Old Oak Common - Acton Central - Brentford - Syon Lane - Isleworth - Hounslow. Branch off Brentford to Southall.
New LO. Full orbital. Old Oak Common - Willesden Jnc - Willesden Grn - Cricklewood - Golders Grn - Archway - Finsbury Park - Stoke Newington - Clapton - Leyton - Stratford - Canary Wharf - Lewisham - Sydenham - Crystal Palace - Streatham - Balham - Wimbledon - Roehampton - Hammersmith - White City - Old Oak Common
Bakerloo to Lewisham
Metropolitan to Watford Junction. Extended from Amersham to Aylesbury, reduce National Rail Chiltern, less complications for electrification.
^ extension of some using curve into Whitechapel to New Cross
^^^ extend LO further from New Cross
Jubilee Line quadruple track Waterloo to North Greenwich then branches off via London City Airport, Beckton, Thamesmead, Beam Park, Rainham, Dartford
C2c Renwick Road station between Barking and Dagenham Dock. Dagenham Dock renamed Beam Park and developed appropriately with bus interchange and not displeasing to walk to
H&C with new tunnel providing non-stop from Whitechapel to West Ham, then joins c2c tracks to Barking then takes over c2c until Grays.
District new tunnel and existing tunnel widening in Heathrow, replacing Piccadilly Line there. District made fast and Piccadilly made all-stop.
LO Liberty extended from Romford to form an upper orbital of North London terminating at Heathrow
LO Lioness branch to Stratford using Camden curve (from South Hampstead to Caledonian Road & Barnsbury) at a low enough freq to meet paths and not affect freight traffic
LO Mildmay extended from Richmond along SWR to ???
LO Mildmay extended from CLJ to Croydon along Southern, though not enough paths.. no problem, reduce some due to Victoria Line extension.
LO [insert name, Imperial?] Milton Keynes, Watford then West London Line to CLJ then to Croydon to Gatwick Airport but is low frequency. After HS2 hopefully some paths released for this to be increased from every 60 to at least 30 but preferably 15 or 20.
Crossrail 2 as planned
Crossrail 3 somewhere (Brighton? Horsham?) via East Croydon, Beckenham Junction, Catford, Lewisham, Canary Wharf, Stratford, Tottenham Hale to somewhere and Stansted Airport
Crossrail 4: Waterloo East stops at Holborn and connect to LO Lioness at Euston but uses LNWR tracks, stops at Wembley and Harrow and Bushey and Watford then goes to Tring.
Northern City Line extended via Cannon Street and London Bridge and then on Southern via South Bermondsey line to Croydon and beyond (Caterham? Tattenham?)
Crossrail 5: Marylebone connected via >insert< and Victoria on Southeastern or. SWR via Barnes
Usage of Brentford curve (Southall to Brentford)
Southern and Southeastern Metro into Overground. Some Southeastern Victoria terminator diverted via CLJ then along SWR somewhere.
Crossrail 2
Tramlink to CP, taking over west Sutton of Thameslink: Godstone - Caterham - Old Coulsdon - Coulsdon - Woodcote - Carshalton Beeches - Sutton then to Wimbledon (most Thameslink users empty out at Wimbledon and Sutton anyway), extension to Orpington
Bus Rapid Transit Greenwich to meet BRT east of North Greenwich
vvvvv
For as much of above, bus versions of tube extensiond just as Bakerloop is. I already mentioned Victorialoop.
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