The 5.6 mph Superloop Express

Tuesday 12th December 2023

I knew there might be challenging peak hour traffic conditions on the North Circular Road on a Monday morning…….but never expected it to be as bad as it turned out yesterday.

If TfL knew about the disruptive utility roadworks on the North Circular Road near Colney Hatch Lane (and presumably someone in the organisation must have known they were scheduled from 22:00 on Friday), the introduction of route SL1 should have been delayed until next weekend, or even today, as I see the works are due to be completed by 05:00 this morning, Tuesday. Hopefully things might improve compared to yesterday morning which is best described as carnage with the super new Superloop route nothing more than a Superjoke.

All was well at 08:00 as we left Walthamstow Central bus station yesterday morning. Encouragingly nine passengers chose the SL1 over the 34 which took the lion’s share of boarding passengers….

…. and left just ahead of us…

… but we were able to nip in front at Forest Road/The Bell where we picked up just one passenger and the 34 was deluged.

They may have wanted a stop not observed by the SL1, or maybe they weren’t aware of the new SL1 or perhaps they had foresight and knew what was to unfold over the next hour.

After a convenient short stretch of bus lane approaching the Crooked Billet roundabout…

…where another passenger boarded us, our first mistake was to be too eager to join the inside lane of the North Circular rather than use the full length of the slip road which becomes the new inside lane as far as the next junction

That’s what the 34 did …

… in readiness to pull into the upcoming bus stop at Trinity Park which it did …

… and so slow moving were the middle and outside lanes that the 34 kept in front of us gaining distance all the time such were the relative speeds of the lanes …

… until we approached the Cooks Ferry turn off which turned out to be coned off by police…

… due to a nasty crash involving a motorcycle at the junction underneath the North Circular and hence the delays.

Having cleared that, we got going again and picked up speed (relatively speaking from the previous crawl).

Our next stop at Ravenside Trading Estate situated at the start of the slip road for the next exit for the Estate …

… must be one of the most dangerous in London. Whereas buses on the 34 continue on the exit slip road, SL1 drivers have to fight their way back on to the main carriageway, across fast moving traffic exiting, and weave back to the inside lane.

I’m amazed that manoeuvre has passed a risk assessment.

We then pressed on and finally overtook the 34 as we approached the slip road for the Hertford Road/Edmonton Angel junction…

… where we also come off to serve the main stop on the far side of the junction.

Five passengers boarded from a bus shelter overbrimming with school children who waited for another bus – possibly the 34 which was now behind us.

It was 08:23. We’d taken 23 minutes to cover the first four miles making for an average speed of 10.4 mph.

Not exactly an Express experience. But far worse was to come.

We continued on to rejoin the North Circular which had been in the underpass (under the junction) ….. and two minutes later, that was it.

We joined the queue that stretched ahead for the next 3 miles to the aforementioned roadworks. With hindsight it would have been far quicker to have walked.

The phrase ‘inching forward’ doesn’t do our progress justice.

It was millimetre-ing forward at best.

At the Great Cambridge Roundabout we resolutely stuck to the North Circular as in normal times one would think it was the way to send an ‘Express bus’, but not yesterday morning.

It turned out we took the slow route.

While we were still at the Great Cambridge, the 34 that had left Walthamstow at the same time as us, and we’d passed at Forest Road, and it had passed us at the Crooked Billet, and we’d passed again at the Angel was now way ahead of us – somewhere between Palmers Green and Arnos Grove – thanks to it using Silver Street and the Great Cambridge roundabout slip roads which proved to be the better bet than staying on the North Circular.

After 37 minutes of crawling forward we finally reached the bus lane that would give us some respite…

… although that proved frustrating to inch towards as the National Express coach from Stansted Airport to Paddington also found.

Once in the bus lane it took three minutes to travel the 0.7 miles of free flowing tarmac to the Green Lanes junction….

… arriving there at 09:09.

Sadly TfL haven’t seen fit to publish a timetable for the SL1 (Why would they want passengers knowing bus times? Far better to keep such information top secret!) but I reckon the scheduled running time is 25 minutes for that section of the route. It had taken us 69 minutes.

After that short three minute respite we were all too soon back in the queue again along the always congested Bowes Road section of the North Circular, not least where the road reduces to two lanes.

The only saving grace is, after the Brownlow Road junction we could use the outside lane which acts as a lesser used filter for the upcoming junction for Arnos Grove …

… where the North Circular goes off to the left.

The only problem being when two HGVs occupy the nearside and middle lane….

… means there’s just not quite enough room.

However the poor 34 has to stick to the left hand lane in case anyone wants the bus stops on that stretch, but as explained earlier, the 34 which had left at the same time as us, was way ahead from its earlier manoeuvres.

That service was also clearly disrupted though, as evidenced by four buses running together towards Walthamstow …

… as we approached Arnos Grove.

But by then the inevitable had happened.

The controller had been on the radio to the driver advising of a short turn and sure enough at 09:11 came the news we’d all expected. The bus would be turning at Arnos Grove.

We finally reached there and all dozen passengers on board alighted at 09:19. It was 54 minutes after we’d hit that traffic queue and 79 minutes since leaving Walthamstow Central, 7.4 miles away. That’s an average speed of 5.6 mph.

There was another bus laying over alongside Arnos Grove Underground station which had also been turned short.

TfL’s Go app was advising us the next SL1 to North Finchley was in 22 minutes enabling us to enjoy a quick toilet stop and coffee …

… but 23 minutes later that bus was expected in six minutes and was also turned at Arnos Grove.

But, the good news was there was another one to North Finchley in 10 minutes. That was also turned at Arnos Grove, despite showing North Finchley (briefly) on the destination blind.

The TfL app then showed no upcoming departures on the SL1.

Despite wanting to finish the journey to North Finchley on an SL1 I decided to take the only practical option and walk the short distance to New Southgate station and catch a 221 which follows the same route from there.

We then endured further slow moving traffic, taking 13 minutes to reach the Colney Hatch Lane junction in Friern Barnet…

… and finally reached North Finchley at 10:38.

Two hours and 38 minutes after leaving Walthamstow Central.

An average speed of 4 mph (including waiting time at Arnos Grove/New Southgate).

I’m sure the conditions I encountered were exceptional. But roadworks are far from unusual. As are closures of slip roads due to a road crash. A busy road like the North Circular is prone to such things, and delays are inevitable.

Which is a shame. As I wrote on Sunday, the SL1 has potential. But not in the conditions applicable yesterday morning. The whole thing was a complete waste of time and money to run. It would have been better to concentrate resources on maintaining the 34, which is by far the busier route.

For the SL1 to have any chance of success a radical rethink of bus lane provision along the route is urgently needed, not least on those sections of the North Circular Road most prone to delays as well as westbound through Friern Barnet.

But the main lesson from yesterday must be … if the North Circular is seriously congested, divert the SL1 to use slip roads and pass through the junctions as well as using the full length of Silver Street as the 34 does.

Coincidentally I spent much of the journey with Sham from Transport Investigations Ltd, the company that works for TfL and other transport operators, and who was out and about getting hands on experience to report back to TfL. That was good to see but it would be nice if Arriva London controllers and especially TfL staff did the same to actually see the impact of the disruption on the ground, rather than be desk bound in a control centre, at Palestra or at home (as in WFH).

Maybe that would help ensure new bus routes aren’t introduced on the very weekend obviously disruptive roadworks are planned.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS

Comments are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.

57 thoughts on “The 5.6 mph Superloop Express”

  1. I’m glad I don’t have to commute in London. It’s bad enough in deepest darkest Derbyshire. The timings in this article would drive me insane.

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    1. Slow speed is normal for the ‘superloop’. The SL7 is time tabled to take 2hours 10 mins. to travel the 23 miles from East Croyden to Heathrow. That is 10mph. Quicker to go via Central London.

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  2. Grim stuff.

    Your journey was scheduled to take 37 min. The driver was on relief on the return journey so I can see why it got curtailed. However the next two weren’t so that looks like poor service control.

    (Source for the above : Google “TfL bus schedules” – in this case it really is all on line!)

    I’m sure as drivers and controllers get used to the route short cuts as per the 34 will be used, but of course that doesn’t solve the interminable problem of the North Circular being at a standstill much of the time roadworks or no roadworks.

    Peter

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      1. I’d like to know how you know what the drivers are ment to be doing as to the comment also how do you know that there wasn’t an issue with driving hours how do you know that the engineering team may have requested the bus the to be returned to the garage asap for work to be done on the bus as there are many outcomes and what ifs and maybes but without knowing the full facts how can you even comment I’m sure from your response it’s clear that you work with the busses maybe and controller or even a bus driver who is clearly miss informed.

        They could have been a driver doing overtime on this duty who has to finish at a set time so let’s not just read into a schedule that you have read online and think that you have all the information to hand ✋.

        So may I ask you a question if none of these busses had been curtailed what you have done about the gap that was on the opposite side please let me know because you clearly have all the answers without knowing any of the facts.

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        1. That is such a negative reply. Of course any of those could apply, but whilst drivers hours etc have to be adhered to, the service is not operated for the convenience of those running the route, but for the passengers, who deserve something better than what they got yesrerday, with so many consecutive Arnos Grove turns, major delays or not.

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        2. Anon @12:29 based on your somewhat defensive response I think you have a lot to learn about controlling a bus service, something I first started doing in London over 30 years ago without all the excellent tools that are available these days. Providing the best possible service to the customers in often difficult circumstances should always override operational convenience, but that view seems to be increasingly unfashionable, or not within the competence of those taking the decisions.

          Peter

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      2. Roadworks or no roadworks the North Circular along that stretch is always bad. Always in the mornings traffic goes back from Arnos Grove to Walthamstow roundabout. It gets even worse near Arnos Grove because of the unwanted LTN. Superloop? Super waste of money

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  3. Leaving the full/proper destination in I-bus, but having the turn short destination on the front of the vehicle, and then have it go out of service there, is a well known I-bus “fiddle” which TFL need to get a grip on, but don’t seem to do anything about… sometimes (not in your case though it would appear) the bus then runs fast and out of service along the rest of the route, so that i-bus is fooled into thinking the journey was completed in full, when in reality, of course, it should be logged as lost mileage…

    And in your example, 4 in a row turned at Arnos Grove… is that REALLY an acceptable practice for the passengers needing to get to and from North Finchley..?? Surely every other 1 or at least 1 in 3 must be sent on to make sure the rest of the route gets SOME sort of service mustn’t it?? I realise that everything TFL does is for operational convenience and it seems to have no conscience about providing its passengers with any level of service, but are there no rules on that??

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    1. It seems to be very poor regulation of the service. In the past they would have little real idea as to where the buses where on a route but that not the case now., They should know exactly where every bus is so should not need to turn 3 consecutive buses short

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      1. Again if there was a limited service in place to said delays witch you clearly know nothing about how can you even begin to comment.

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        1. Not like railways have to contend with broken rails, signal failures, overhead wire damage or leaves on the line….

          BW2

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  4. That route is ill suited to an Express service. The congestion that day may have been slightly worse than normal but not by much

    I doubt the SL1 will ever be any faster than the 34 which really makes it pointless and turning endless SL1’s short proves the point

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    1. That route is actually great on paper in terms of express service as it uses North Circular. Bearing in mind the 34 is already slow as-is, so anything will help.

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  5. Another aspect is the TfL controllers turning consecutive buses short without providing means of onward travel. Recently we fell foul of this travelling from Waterloo to Canada Water, 3 buses on our route turned short, we also ended up using a different service to complete the journey. Dennis Hemsley

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    1. When they should know where ever bus is on as route there is little excuse for turning endless buses short

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    2. Unfortunately iBus controllers can even decide to send one bus an hour (!) to do full mileage to the terminus, and curtail the rest, if the traffic turns diabolical. Fulham routes such as 28 had that happen quite a bit in the past

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    3. TfL controllers? Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I thought day-to-day operation of the routes (including service control) was the responsibility of the operator – Arriva in the case of the SL1; either Go-Ahead or Abellio in the case of Waterloo to Canada Water (depending on which route you were using).

      Malc M

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        2. @Anon 11:26 (and 11:27) – no, it doesn’t. Did I say that it did?

          I merely pointed out that day-to-day control of the service rests with the operator. If the controller turns consecutive buses short, it is the operator that is doing so, not TfL.

          Malc M

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  7. Judging by Google maps that section highlighted on the map screenshot is just as bad this morning (0835 Tuesday)!

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  8. I seemed to be a lucky one, left Walthamstow at 10:24am yesterday, and had a very skillful driver, who was not afraid to put his foot down, change lanes, overtake other vehicles, and made the executive decision to skip the the congested underpass that took 37mins to clear in the article, and instead went topside which undoubtedly saved lot of time. His driving style and confidence was well suited to the route’s brief. Approximately 4-5 34s overtaken, and we also caught up a Palmers Green curtailed SL1 in front, so the passengers of that lucked out as they could transfer straight away. We also encountered another RTA involving a motorcylist, near Cambridge Roundabout, which was quite scary, and I hope the poor fella will be ok.
    Whole end to end journey took me 58mins in the end. If everyone on the route drove like my driver, it would definitely run a lot better!
    I must say though, so far passengers loadings seem quite light.
    — Alisha RBG

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Would be intetesting to know whether drivers are given the discretion to alter the route to avoid delays (as long as no stops missed).

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  9. As I feared, the very notion of an express service involving the North Circular is a contradiction in terms. Add to that the widespread confusion and uncertainty over where it stops and doesn’t stop, and it’s no recipe for attracting or building up usage.

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  10. Back in the dim and distant past, before IBus, when London Buses service control was all done by radio and point inspectors had been done away with . . . we had a Service Controllers Lament:
    “I know where all the buses should be; I know not where they actually are; I DO know that all the buses will come back to the Garage tonight, and tomorrow we’ll start again”.

    My point is that, just sometimes, it is impossible to control the service in such a way that both ends of the route receive a decent service, and not just the middle. When buses are taking around three times the scheduled time to complete a single journey, then the route is “lost” in service control terms, and nothing will get it back . . . other than a complete restart, and that’s never an option.

    Bearing in mind that the section between Tally Ho Corner and Arnos Grove is “new”, perhaps the intention was to preserve some sort of service at the Walthamstow end (where the 34 had been reduced in frequency), and starve the North Finchley end, where fewer passengers might have been affected?

    Believe it or not . . . a Controller will always try to provide a service of some sort if possible . . . it is easy to criticise when you don’t see the full picture, and there is often a good reason behind the decision.

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  11. It looks a bit better this morning: the 0800 from Walthamstow reached Palmers Green at 08:58 (“only” 28 minutes late). All that time has been lost crawling from the A10 roundabout, and the next 2 are already in the queue.

    Ian McNeil

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  12. Good article Roger. This is the reality of the NCR and reflects years of TfL and political inaction by all parties. Failing to upgrade this road to save money and political unrest has led to a constant traffic congestion. For superloops to work bold decisions about bus priority need to be made but then their introduciton was not uninfluenced by ULEZ and a carrot to car drivers! Graham

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  13. While this is clearly one of the worst cases, it is a sad fact that bus travel in London is now far too slow, whether due to roadworks, heavy traffic, 20 mile limits, getting through narrow sections with parked cars or just slow scheduling. I find short journeys are often better walked (and I mean up to 2 miles at times) and longer ones better with train or tube even going into town and out! Perhaps you should try doing a comparison journey at a similar time by taking the Victoria Line from Walthamstow Central to Finsbury Park and then Piccadilly to Arnos Grove or Great Northern to New Southgate and see how long it takes? Appreciate it would cost more and could still get delayed.

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  15. Dear Roger

    First of all, can I say how much I enjoy your blogs which convey a superb mix of professionalism, enthusiasm, and objectivity from a passenger’s perspective. It has been many years since I retired from the transport industry and these days I do not take more than a passing interest in developments. So I am really grateful to your blogs and the updates which they represent.

    However I do use buses in London from time to time and have found the website http://www.londonbusroutes.net/ is very useful. In particular it has timetables for every service including the SL1 (attached). I have never found these timetables on TfL’s own website which to me is one of life’s mysteries. Provided there is no significant disruption, I am always impressed by the close adherence to the timetables on Tfl services, even on frequent services. Departures from termini always seem to be punctual, particularly on early morning journeys.

    The website even shows the duty schedules under the “Working Timetables” button.

    One thing that strikes me as odd about the Superloop is that its radius is rather larger in the south than north. If there is demand for express buses between Bromley, Croydon and Kingston, why not between Edgware, Enfield and Romford? And if between Harrow, Finchley and Walthamstow, why not between Lewisham, Streatham and Wandsworth for example?

    Anyway thank you for your blogs . I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and happy blogging in 2024!

    Best wishes Robert

    Robert Monroe 1 Laurel Close, Burgess Hill RH15 0UG

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  16. If we were Paris the North Circular would be having a light rail built on a completely grade separated alignment. But we’re not.

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  17. Cetrainly makes for interesting reading. I’ve yet to try out any SuperLoop services but I will certainly endeavour to sample one or two on my next visit to the Capital. I must say though, I fear this re-branding exercise will fall flat on its face.

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  18. The North Circular needs to be drastically reconfigured. One lane in each direction for traffic, and a central median with bus lanes, as illustrated via this link.

    https://images.app.goo.gl/PCc8LLDJ1Dz4ZrjH9

    The current arrangement isn’t a serious public transport corridor, it’s designed to inconvenience motorists.

    Peter Brown

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  19. I had a ride on the SL1 today (Tuesday 12th). First trip was on the 13:00 from Walthamstow which is scheduled to take 48 minutes. Everything was ok until Palmers Green, in fact we were held at Ravenside Trading Estate for 2 minutes to regulate the service, and then another 2 minutes at Palmers Green for a driver change. It was the next section where we had a slight delay, and were 4 minutes late at Arnos Grove, before finishing at North Finchley 5 minutes late. Not bad, in the scheme of things.

    On the return, I took the 14:39 from North Finchley, due in at Walthamstow at 15:33. Arrived about 3 minutes early, and that was with a few minutes delay near Walthamstow Market due to a road traffic accident.

    So it is possible to run on time, but any roadworks or lane closure on or near the North Circular can clearly destroy the service.

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  20. Look on the bright side Folks! It looks as if it will be the only TfL route where passengers don’t have to endure, “the Driver has been advised to wait at this stop to even out the service…”

    These Superloop routes really do need to be referred to as “limited stop” rather than “Express”, as how on earth can anything be called express in 98% of Greater London? With 20mph speed limits, never ceasing road works, little bus priority and no efforts ever made to reduce the ridiculous and unnecessary “school run” which brings everything to a standstill for at least two hours every day……..need I go on?

    I am sure at some point whatever the shortcomings of SL1, and bear in mind all the other SL routes so far seem to have been even more successful than predicted, problems will hopefully be ironed out. Perhaps just a good old X34 stopping a fewer stops may be the answer in this case……..

    Terence Uden

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    2. @Terence Uden – I don’t think it is true that no effort is being made to reduce the school run. Think low traffic neighbourhoods, “school streets”. And yet, this story illustrates an example both the efforts being made, and the criminal lengths to which some individuals will go, repeatedly, in reaction to anything which gets in the way of what they consider to be their right to drive where they want, when they want: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67691305

      Malc M

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  21. If you were a regular user of buses in London you would soon realise that your view is not always right. Most routes run reasonably well during the daytime, and most mileage runs in the evenings. But my gripe is with drivers deliberately running early on lower frequency routes. I live on two routes with evening buses every 20 minutes. The departure times from the terminals are clearly advertised on the bus stop departure lists. However over half tbe drivers in both routes (different companies) deliberately leave several minutes early. You could understand early running furthe along the route, especially as both routes have ample running times, but there is absolutely no reason to leave early (which they even do on last buses). Indeed the only reason they must do it is to feel they are getting something out of it by being closer to the bus in front. Of course although this must show up on the controllers screen, but nothing is ever said. Last night was a good example, I caught the 0005 226 from Golders Green from the stop after Golders Green Station, where it turned up at 0004, even with green lights all the way, it must have left 3-4 mins early. I had to run for it, and got on saying to the driver ‘your early’ to get simply the reply that the previous bus (at 2345) was early, so he had to leave early to maintain the headway !!

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    1. An oversight in the penalty regime possibly, where headways are managed religiously but last bus times are not.

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  22. Just to balance my comment on multiple consecutive curtailments at the same location and my response to those who think that no one has the right to comment on such things, my overall experience of London bus services is that they are generally well regulated, and certainly better than a lot of other places. Things don’t always go right and sometimes controllers make poor decisions, but more often than not the services just get on and run themselves in even quite poor traffic conditions. I’m a firm believer that headway management (on high frequency routes) and limited use of curtailments if required rather than attempting and failing to adhere to a published full timetable are the key.
    My experience elsewhere, eg Leeds, Manchester is that when a service starts experiencing significant delays there’s no visible attempt to recover the service. The policy seems to be to get drivers to run full mileage as per their duty cards until they run out of hours.
    I’d like to see Roger focus on routes elsewhere outside London impacted by significant and unforseen disruption and let us know how well he thinks the operators cope.

    Peter

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  23. It fascinates me that in London with no Traffic Commissioners curtailment of services as exposed by Rogers experience here is condoned and encouraged, but outside of London I’m not sure that these massive lost mileages would be tolerated, even though they might be the right thing to do.
    That’s why buses tend to attempt to run the full route

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    1. Massive lost mileages?

      Latest stats (in the TfL annual report) show that in the year 2022/23, just under 96% of the mileage was covered. That’s not to say it is uniformly spread across the whole network. Some routes will be achieving better, counterbalanced by other routes where performance is less good. And, of course, lost mileage may be more concentrated at certain times of the day (which may also be busier), counterbalanced by better performance which may be when the roads are less busy, fewer buses are curtailed – but fewer passengers are travelling. A network average figure can conceal some individual cases where passengers are experiencing an unreliable service. However…

      Performance of London’s bus routes is published on TfL’s website, so I have had a look at route 34. Latest report is showing the route operating 97-98% of its mileage in recent months: https://bus.data.tfl.gov.uk/boroughreports/routes/performance-route-34.pdf It will be interesting to see how the Superloop routes are doing, once their reports start to become available.

      Malc M

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      1. ..but how true a reflection of the actual
        GENUINE mileage are the figures TfL uses… as has been pointed out earlier, there are ways around the system to make it look like more mileage is being operated than actually is. Just one example being ibus says in service, but driver sails past and doesn’t pick anyone up… mileage done yes, but not with any passengers able to board… who is monitoring all this? TFL certainly don’t seem to be!

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        1. Controllers work for the companies who want to keep the contracts, so it’s in their interests to massage the figures to make their performance look better than it is in reality, meanwhile TFL also want to make it look like their network performs brilliantly, so they aren’t bothered if the figures are massaged.. They are both marking their own homework and prefer to see fictional brilliance over a genuine analysis. The problem is no-one actually acting for the poor PASSENGERS to that THEY are getting anything like the service that they should be in all this!

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  24. My understanding is that at least one big group has a policy to run all scheduled mileage regardless of how late it is or the consequences for quality of service in order to avoid the Commissioners’ attentions. This fits well with the apparent lack of personnel to regulate the service anyway! So the opposite end of the scale to London but with no more satisfactory result for that inconvenience, the long-suffering passenger.

    17A

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  25. Manchester was mentioned where attempts to run mileage over a useful frequency occurs. In Stockport a couple of years back buses on the 192 would be curtailed to one or more of the advertised stopping points if needed for driving hours or other reasons and often balanced in the other by another short turn allowing drivers to pick up on buses behind that were scheduled to call short going a longer distance, it was quite a clever working of a high core frequency route that indeed had a number of flexible terminal points at its outer ends ( not necessarily overlapping sections ), that just dont seem to be in place on TfL route schedules

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  26. When I worked for London Transport in the early 1970s at HQ, there was a public complaint about the lhe complete lack of 78s during part of the evening between Dulwich and Peckham. When it was investigated it was discovered that though two garages operated the route (Peckham and Dalston) owing to a scheduling quirk all seven Dalston vehicles that continued into the evening period worked en bloc, so if there were delays at the Shoreditch/Tower Bridge end of the route those vehicles tended to be curtailed at Peckham, On occasion, that meant seven buses in a row never reached Dulwich. Conversely, when the more numerous Peckham buses needed to be turned, Bermondsey was favourite so the Thames was never crossed. A directive then went out to the Schedules Department that, regardless of optimum schedule efficiency, the timetable had to be altered so there was a better chance of all parts of the route getting some sort of service.

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  27. Many thanks for this blog – it has certainly produced a large response! I absolutely agree with Peter Brown above – there should be bus lanes on the N.Circular. The selling point (to car drivers- many of whom drive because non-radial public transport in north London is poor) would be that buses are the best way of clearing the A406 of cars, so that everyone can get better use from it. But the buses/SL must be more frequent – every 12 minutes (when they are not turned back short) is not attractive enough.

    Roadworks – when will the bus industry flex its muscles on this? It would have the support of all the powerful road lobby, plus bus passengers – who would love not to have to get earlier services to keep appointments, just in case there are roadworks. Utility companies and anyone else who digs up the roads, should pay a hefty fee for the privilege – to be spent on (a) wide-spread, large, clear advance publicity to drivers, with details of avoiding routes; (b) paying for additional buses to ensure a nearly normal service is available at most stops; (c) advance publicity at bus stops (and maybe a leaflet drop at houses along affected routes) detailing the works and what extra/revised services will be arranged to counter them.

    Rick Townend

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  28. As a frequent user of route 34 from a stop between Ravenside retail park and Crooked Billet I now have a reduced service and have the frustration of seeing a handful of passenger on SL1 as it sails by. Of course TfL were coy about using 4 less buses but the 34 carries heavy intermediate loadings especially to Monoux College. The stupid out of service run to St James Street terminus is wasteful; when 34 was extended there whilst Bus station was rebuilt had an EXTRA bus to maintain timetable. Terminating on wrong side of at Crooked Billet roundabout is now common on both 34 and SL1 to the detriment of passengers Superloop is just a political gimmick to the detriment of normal services

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    1. Didn’t 34 become a 24 hour service? which means they have had to increase the number of buses for that route? I havent seen or read anything that suggests the 34 has had a reduced service – the bus route itself was already quite infrequent.

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  29. The night service was withdrawn during Covid and has not been reinstated. 34 is defined as a high frequency service and is often full and the stated reduction from 22prv to 18 is significant. SL1 does not serve heavily used intermediate stops – if those who planned SL1 did their pre-surveys properly they would have found this out as per Monoux College stop that should be a SL1 as it is so well used. TfL now state that Crooked Billet (west side) is Chingford so why have terminating buses to my knowledge shown Walthamstow (Crooked Billet) for the last 70 years?
    Owen Woodliffe

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