Super(not)Loops & the new Superloops

As you may have heard, or even seen the TV ad/YouTube video, the 607 (White City to Uxbridge), a number used for the past 30 years (as well as between 1939 and 1961 for Trolleybus 607) has ceased to exist.

It is now SL8, with no changes at all currently (besides stop renamings). Come 29 August it will have earlier and later journeys added. Why they couldn't have done both simultaneously and score a little more brownie points is beyond my armchair comprehension.

The X26 will join also in August with a frequency increase from every 30 to every 15, christened the number SL7.

   Buses start and finish at West Croydon Bus Station instead of Delta Point.

   East Croydon, Wallington Green and Teddington (northbound) stops to have new shelters.

   New Malden The Fountain stop renamed New Malden Fountain Roundabout.

   An extra last bus out of Heathrow.

   1 journey starts at Wallington Green to Heathrow

   (4 weekday, 2 Saturday, 1 Sunday) journeys starting from New Malden to Heathrow

The X68 will change earlier, next week 29 July. No changes at all (Disappointed as a local).

  Addendum edit: It's buses (EH213/214/215-224) to receive USB charging.

   Branding a little tacky with the advert frame still in situ, which can't be used as a revenue stream.

   ^ in addition to above, buses can't be used on other routes - another revenue stream gone (e.g Rail Replacement).

Best of all: 

- no route number (when it was 607, maybe will receive it as SL8)

- it's branding omits Acton and Southall, larger towns than Hayes is.

- Don't mention it's frequency (yet Hayes and Barkingside brandings did).

- Superloop mentioned in large twice (in text and the roundel)

- "express bus service" capitalised but relatively small underneath the large Superloop text

- Why have an asterisk "at the tailpipe" as if combustion vehicles spout emissions elsewhere

The idea of orbital bus routes isn't new, if you read the Superloop wikipedia article, but in short, the last time they flirted with the idea, the X26 went from hourly to half-hourly and Boris Johnson halted plans for new routes as apparently he was told there was no need. We know the kind of man he is, who also stopped plans of a new crossing from Thamesmead to Beckton on the grounds of cost.

Map link.

Now we have new routes, the X123, X269 and X119 respectively.

SL2 consultation, SL3 consultation, SL5 consultation.

Every 12 M-Sat, every 15 Sunday/evenings
for all three routes (and SL1/X34, SL10/X183, SL9/X140)

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Next to be renumbered is an actual integral part of the Superloop scheme, the X26 which was once known as Green Line 726 until 2005 when TfL picked it up in what seemed to be a merciful move from it's unreliable 2-hour service back then.

Can't help but ignore how the full extent of the numbering scheme implies this is the final form, with a dead end. Unless more routes are added which can't fit in this clockwise numbering scheme, thus making them awkward additions.

I am yet waiting on what changes will be brought to my X68 which for the sake of making every express or limited-stop route part of this scheme, renumbered SL6... turns out to be none... held out too much hope...

   Again like the 607, uselessly changing a number that worked for long without any meaningful change whilst also not being a loop route in Superloop.

Contrast with 369 when it became EL1. East London Transit 1.

The meaningful change here is the introduction of EL2, serving Dagenham Dock. Bearing in mind the East London Transit scheme started off with the intention to be trams, then articulated single deckers, then hybrid double deckers. Then everyone involved cheaped out further by ordering standard diesel double deckers. You could argue 369 was renumbered for no reason, though it's been long enough that people have moved on. Seemingly even constantly confuse EL1/EL2/EL3 as apparently people there don't read number blinds let alone destination blinds.

Based on timing of drawing the map which was about 6pm

One aspect of Superloop is addressing the harsher ULEZ aimed at car drivers and other small motor vehicles (since for buses/trucks/heavy vehicles ULEZ is London wide currently).

Which begs the question, if 140 can be split to form X140 in a relatively short time, why not the same for 34/"X34" and 183/"X183".

Addendum: SL1 and SL10 respectively.

It seems in the new consultations some roads with congestions have been used, Penhill Road for SL3; Ilford Lane for SL2 - a road gridlocked enough to be complained to the Mayor.

Seems the community can agree on alternatives (SL3 and Camden Road), whilst for SL2 it's a choice fo least worst.

Serve Barking? Then use Ilford Lane or use 145's route. 

Not serve Barking? Fast along the A406 then.

On the purer positive side, SL5 using Eden Park to be quicker and reduce parallel with the existing 119. That is a nice from me... if only they don't admit in fine print that it might not use double deckers due to low trees running via Monks Orchard Road and South Eden Park Road.

Perhaps a bus-only ferry installed at Thamesmead and along North Woolwich would've allowed a complete loop... costly upfront (Barking Riverside cost £7.3 million) and probably would take a while (Barking Riverside took a year), that's to say it could be done by the time SL2 SL3 and SL5 have their contracts start as they're rushed to fit in the current tender programme and the next ones due among the many overdue.

A suggestion mentioned for X239/SL4 is the use of Southeastern shuttle between Grove Park and Bromley North. It is half hourly, so not many people would use it between the two destinations. There is 126/261 vastly more frequent, which you could do in around 10 minutes.

Taking those tracks and turning it into a busway would do wonders in capacity and frequency - the X239/SL4 will be every 8 minutes - 2.5 times more frequent!

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Super loop

Like a clock, it starts at the 12 o'clock hand (North Finchley)

Unlike a clock, it has a gap, which would be filled by the DLR's extension to Thamesmead - not a bus.

Not super circle.

Thanks for reading my poem that's too long to be a haiku.

Contrast the idea the Superloop brings, with other places in the world which do have separate tier of buses, Metrobus in Berlin. SB in Gladbeck.

All at least semi-express bus routes, in the case of the Metrobus, guaranteed 24-hour.

Night coverage of parallel routes to Superloop routes
Bad, to say the least

A nice quirk of the Metrobus (and Metrotram) is it's inclusion in the U-Bahn map. 

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Other people in the community had some go at changing Superloop - at least the name, so for funs and giggles, so will I.

Fastbus EXPRESS

Slogan: Get to your destination quickly; comfortably; smoothly

           images of USB-charging, high-back seating, same fare as normal bus

Mention frequency

Route diagram more specific (then beneath landmarks if there are any)

Black bus stop tiles

Black bus stop timetables (or inverted colour scheme)

Liveries predominantly feature the color in the superloop map, with black accents

- routes numbered F1-10

- routes like XP2 (Brixton - Anerley) peak hour non-stop variant of 432 between Brixton and W Norwood

X68 would remain unnumbered to retain passenger clarity (and not waste money reprinting and hours on renaming files)

New vs Old
timetable

  Inspired by Tokyo Monorail's timetable - whereby peak hours has fully local trains but off-peak has local trains depart termini several minutes before an express, then the express overtakes the local reaching the opposite end several minutes before the local does. 

  particularly at tube terminals; Brixton; Stratford?; Morden; Ealing Bdy?; 

Waiting for the moment someone uses the F-word to describe the F-bus.

I'd have done things a little differently rather than modify the current Superloop design, pretending as if I was the one tasked with dictating the livery whilst the Mayor has an election coming and making the buses themselves look loud in order to scream the Superloop as an answer to ULEZ's expansion (which it barely is but we digress).

Not to mention, SL8's timetable is barely different to the other new timetables. A Superloop logo beneath the big route number, and at the bottom in a red background "This is an express bus stopping only at the stops above."

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So to conclude, the 607 X68 and X239 really shouldn't have been shoehorned in a loop scheme. 

Alternatively a better name than "Superloop", that way 607 X68 X239 wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb anytime you come across it's Superloop advertising or branding or the like. 

   I didn't suggest an amazing name, though coming up with one that isn't as contradictory as Superloop for radial routes 607 X68 X239 isn't hard, even if the name itself could be meh or bad.

As always, thanks for reading, stay safe until the next one!

You can support me by donating to me, buying from my store, or perhaps order from my Fiverr!

String diagrams are cool if you wanna study timetables and make effective scheduling, like accepting the madness of Tokyo's Monorail working well.