Superlook for Superloop

Sunday 10th December 2023

Yesterday saw TfL introduce the Superloop route that heads up its new SL number sequence. Route SL1 covers the northern arc taking over where route SL10 ends in North Finchley thereby extending the loop via Arnos Grove, Palmers Green and Edmonton to Walthamstow, terminating in the bus station by Walthamstow Central Overground and Underground stations.

It looks like it’s the shortest Superloop taking around 40-45 minutes but what it lacks in length it gains in some impressively fast stretches of running around the North Circular Road giving passengers a real sense of getting somewhere quickly which is going to be a real boom for passengers travelling across this part of north London suburbia. Ir also provides a new convenient link between Palmers Green/Arnos Grove with North Finchley.

Operated by Arriva from its Palmers Green bus garage, conveniently situated halfway along the route at the North Circular Road’s junction with Green Lanes, 11 ADL Enviro400 City buses (formerly used on route 78) are providing a daytime frequency every 12 minutes (15 minutes evenings and Sundays).

Route 34 which parallels the SL1 from Betstyle Circus, just north of Arnos Grove, to Walthamstow has had a compensatory frequency reduction from every eight minutes to every 10 minutes (retaining every 12 minutes evenings and Sundays) saving four buses, thereby bringing its peak vehicle requirement down from 22 to 18.

Which gives a net increase of seven vehicles but I’m confident this will prove a worthy investment that’ll soon pay for itself from increased passenger numbers attracted by the much improved journey times.

Where the SL1 really gains is staying on the North Circular rather than coming off to serve every bus stop, not least it avoids the Great Cambridge Road roundabout (the junction with the A10) by using the underpass as well as avoiding most of Silver Street in Edmonton.

Between Arnos Grove and Walthamstow the SL1 observes just seven bus stops whereas the 34 potentially stops at a whopping 29 bus stops.

But, on the other hand, the North Circular is notorious for traffic delays not least along the non segregated junction section through Bowes Road, Palmers Green and yesterday morning’s SL1 inaugural day saw a good test of the usual challenges thrown up by this hyper busy road.

A lane closure for roadworks from where the bridge takes the Piccadilly Line over the road near Colney Hatch as far as Bounds Green Road (not on the SL1 route) saw a westbound queue stretch back to the Green Lanes junction when I passed through at around 11:00 …

… and by midday was stretching back almost to the Great Cambridge Road roundabout.

Luckily a bus lane on this latter section minimised the delays to buses, but it wasn’t a pretty sight and buses and drivers on the SL1 were forgoing most, if not all, of their layover time at North Finchley to get eastbound journeys back on track.

Having lost nine minutes but finally clearing Bowes Road and passing swiftly through Arnos Grove we then joined a long slow moving queue of traffic inching towards the Colney Hatch Lane junction in Friern Barnet leading us to lose another six minutes before speeding up again for the last stretch into North Finchley.

The North Circular delays were doing more damage to route 34 which continues on to Barnet, itself often congested, leading to short workings with buses turning in Edmonton leaving the already reduced service to Walthamstow even thinner.

However, this gave buses on the SL1 an unforeseen boost with first day Superloop high-vis helpers stationed at every bus stop encouraging passengers to use the new route instead of waiting for a delayed 34, leading to some impressive loadings.

TfL’s bus stop plate contractors had been out and about installing SL1 and Superloop signage along the route but there were noticeably fewer Superloop roundels on bus shelters and, as usual for day one, a few buses hadn’t yet gained their Superloop vinyls.

There was also confusion in the gloomy North Finchley bus station where buses on the SL1 take their layover.

The high-vis helper was reassuring everyone buses do pick up at stop P inside the bus station despite no reference to it on the information panel…

… but buses were also picking up at Stop S immediately outside which seemed rather odd.

Even more confusing was the situation at Walthamstow Central bus station where both high-vis helpers were adamant route 34 no longer picks up at stop C despite the bus stop plate and posters saying otherwise.

I challenged this but they were insistent, sending waiting passengers on a three to four minute walk to the next bus stop lettered G by the Market, which they reckoned was the route’s first pick up point.

This turned out to be nonsense as although arriving journeys on route 34 have been kicked out of the bus station as well as no longer using the layover spaces on the site, buses certainly do call at stop C, being the first picking up point for Barnet Church bound journeys.

I’m afraid this again shows the problem of employing agency staff who lack detailed knowledge and haven’t been properly briefed. No doubt as the morning wore on, and they saw buses on route 34 stopping at stop C, they ceased giving out misinformation.

It’s not going to help reliability on route 34 to send buses out of service down to, and back from, the bus stand at St James Street along Selborne Road which took almost five minutes…

… on a route 212 which, with the 275, carry passengers on this section, which made me wonder why the 34 doesn’t do so too – as no time was saved by going out of service on this narrow and busy road.

Although I appreciate there’s more room at St James Street to layover…

…there also seemed to be room in the bus station at Walthamstow Central.

As we all know it’s lamentable that TfL don’t produce a network bus map, but you’d think for Superloop it would at least show willing and publish a map to clearly show which bus stops the routes use to avoid misunderstandings and provide clarity.

Renowned YouTube transport vlogger Geoff Marshall published his own excellent map on his website last night showing TfL it can be done.

Even better, Geoff’s map ignores the radial spokes of former limited stop routes X68 and 607 (now SL6 and SL8) which undermine the presentation of an orbital network and should never have become part of Superloop. Without them, the network is now becoming a Superlook.

By the way, the Download page on Geoff’s website is a veritably gold mine of excellent maps he’s drawn over the last few years and is well worth a visit.

To minimise bus stop confusion, it would also help if the on board next stop announcements clearly stated what the next stop will be after the one the bus is just stopping at, to try and eliminate the constant bell ringing from disappointed passengers wanting to alight at a non-observed stop. The announcements on the buses I travelled on yesterday didn’t call out any stop names, although they were displayed; only the terminus was announced.

The real test for route SL1 is going to be whether it can cope with weekday peak hour traffic on the North Circular and through Friern Barnet which is something I aim to find out tomorrow morning, so will report back later in the week.

In the meantime, I reckon the omens are good for a successful route.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS (Today’s is an unscheduled ‘bonus extra’)

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