Five new bus and coach routes: Part 3

Tuesday 15th September 2026

After Wigan, St Helens, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Stroud and West Drayton, I continued last week’s exploration of new bus routes by sampling the latest additions to networks in London and Hampshire.

TfL’s newbie joins its expanding Superloop network – route SL12. It’s been a while since a new route has been added to the network – the last being the SL11 between North Greenwich and Thamesmead in January, which itself wasn’t really new, being a straight replacement for route 472. Before that there was Bakerloop BL1 in September 2025 and route SL4 through the new SIlvertown Tunnel in April 2025.

So now its the turn of the new SL12 which began on Saturday 5th September and continues the tradition of adding an extra route offering quicker journey times with no compensating frequency reductions on parallel standard routes. Its trajectory is also part of what could become an outer loop in north east London commencing in Gants Hill heading east towards Romford then south via Elm Park to Rainham, bringing Superloop to the London Borough of Havering for the first time.

As always with TfL you can’t fault the comprehensive and impressive coverage provided by the timetable with a 12 minute frequency (15 minutes evening and all day Sundays) extending from 05:00 to 01:15, even on Sundays. Stagecoach were awarded the contract and operate the SL12 with 14 brand new Wrightbus Streetdeck Electroliner buses from its garage in Rainham.

End to end journey time averages around an hour with a further six minutes added for peak journeys meaning three of the 14 buses are effectively used as layover buses for recovery time.

My experience of travelling from Gants Hill to Rainham mid morning when trying out the route last Wednesday indicated the running times are about right but so far there were only small numbers of passengers travelling – around five or six on different sections of the route.

Leaving Gants Hill there’s a perception of a quicker journey along Eastern Avenue and North Street to Romford due to observing far fewer stops than the long standing parallel route 66 (also every 12 minutes) but the reality is route SL12 is given 29 minutes for that part of the route and the 66 takes 31 minutes, so a negligible difference.

From Romford to South Hornchurch the SL12 offers a much more convenient direct routing than comparable routes 165 and 365 – for example buses on the SL12 travel from Romford Station to the large Tesco Extra at Rainham in 26 minutes but on the 165 it takes 44 minutes having gone via Emerson Park. I think it’s this end of the route where there’ll be the most potential for genuine passenger generation rather than just abstraction.

The far southern end of the route brings a bus service to the Ferry Lane Industrial Estate on Rainham Marshes alongside the north bank of the River Thames for the first time.

I’m sure employees at the various factories, warehouses and businesses located here will appreciate the new service but a 12 minute frequency (15 minutes evenings/Sundays) across 20 hours a day is somewhat of an overkill. TfL’s obsession with running all its routes (except the 166) from one terminus at one end of the route to the other come what may, is to blame here, as it would make more sense to terminate the majority of SL12 journeys at Tesco Extra with only one or two an hour continuing to the Industrial Estate and save at least one and maybe two buses. It’s an expensive way to serve this Industrial area which, late morning on Wednesday, was dead.

Another oddity on Wednesday was the next stop announcement continually advising passengers “route SL12 to Leytonstone” rather than Rainham which the driver told me she thought was a software problem back at the depot rather than just this bus.

Even odder, an original draft of the second phase of Superloop produced at the time of Sadiq Khan standing for election in 2024 showed the SL12 (then expected to be numbered SL13) with its western terminus at Leytonstone rather than Gants Hill.

Then on the return journey from Rainham a different bus was telling passengers it was “route SL12 to Romford Station” as per the internal visual display, but not the external destination display – which correctly showed Gants Hill.

Most odd. And confusing for anyone actually listening to such announcements.

Route SL12 represents a significant investment for TfL with increased annual operating costs of the order of around £4 million for the 14 intensively used buses alongside fairly limited potential for generating revenue over and above existing use of parallel bus routes – especially the northern end of the route.

However, changes also introduced on 5th September saw cutbacks in routes along the Tottenham High Road corridor (259, 279 and 349) resulting in a saving of 11 buses which, when taken with a frequency reduction on route 182 (Brent Cross to Harrow Weald) from the same date, makes for a saving of a further three buses which neatly funds the SL12 introduction.

The fifth and final new route to be featured in this three part blog is Stagecoach South’s route 8. Introduced on 30th August it provides a convenient new direct link between Yateley and Farnborough in Hampshire.

Yateley had been served by Stagecoach’s route 3 to Aldershot via The Meadows shopping centre at Sandhurst, Camberley, Frimley Park Hospital and Ash running every 15 minutes between Yateley and Canberley and half hourly on to Frimley Park Hospital, Ash Vale and Aldershot.

Route 3 has now reduced to a half hourly frequency across its entire route with the half hourly short journeys between Yateley and Camberley withdrawn but as part compensation new hourly route 8 now links Yateley with Farnborough which, although only six miles apart, have lacked a direct bus link for a number of years.

I took a look at this network development last Thursday morning catching the 11:40 departure on the new hourly service from its southern terminus at Farnborough’s Kingsmead shopping centre.

Route 8 inconveniently rounds in 64 minutes so has been operationally linked to hourly route 10 (to Fleet and Church Crookham) which rounds in 95 minutes making for a neat cycle of three interworked buses.

Additional peak time buses on route 8 extend beyond Yateley to Eversley and Finchamstead for school children who previously travelled on route 406.

It was good to see promotional posters on display in Farnborough for the new route and extolling the virtues of a free weekend travel offer during September which I also saw promoted throughout the route.

Stagecoach had also displayed timetables at every bus stop but sadly the county council had not got round to adding the number 8 to its otherwise smart bus stop flag displays except oddly I noticed a couple of stops in Yateley had been done.

I’ve no idea what HWPC 2/3 means!

The former Stagecoach Gold specified Enviro400 MMC arrived on time from route 10 and half a dozen passengers alighted with the driver changing the blind to read ‘Yateley 8’ and initially it was just me boarding but then three more passengers joined as our departure time of 11:40 approached.

Chatting to the driver he thought the route didn’t offer an attractive enough proposition to persuade passengers to travel rather than continue with their traditional route 3. He said many had expressed disappointment at the reduction in frequency to The Meadows where the anchor stores are a large M&S and a Tesco Extra as well as other retailers whereas the Kingsmead shopping centre in Farnborough, where we were, had a Sainsbury’s as anchor and a few other retailers.

Old shopping habits die hard.

Anyway we were off to Yateley and after calling in at Farnborough Main station we picked up another passenger at Farnborough Green before continuing on a new stretch of bus route along the B3272, Hawley Lane and Hawley Road, to serve a part of Frogmore as well as Darby Green both also served by route 3.

Yateley is served by means of a clockwise loop around the residential area which also has a Waitrose (yes, it’s that kind of area) at the far end of the circuit.

We dropped three of our four passengers off at Forge Court at the start of the loop, where another boarded travelling to Waitrose, with the other passenger also alighting on the loop.

A road closure necessitated a small diversion at the end of the loop and heading back into Farnborough we carried five passengers.

It was only the second week of the new link so I’m sure it will build and Stagecoach’s announcement about the changes indicated the withdrawn short journeys to Camberley on route 3 were poorly patronised and this new arrangement is “broadening the range of destinations available by bus to Yateley residents”.

I had to smile at the description of new service 8 providing “vital links” which makes you wonder if they were vital, why were they withdrawn in the first place. But it’s good to see the direct links now back on the map and good that this new route is being supported with LABG funding.

It’ll be interesting to see whether those shopping habits do change.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS

30 thoughts on “Five new bus and coach routes: Part 3”

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    2. I think HWPC 2 and 3 refer to the former twice-weekly Hartley Wintney Community Bus Service between Hook and Camberley which was withdrawn in April 2025 and replaced by a bootable door-to-door service – see https://www.hartleywintney-pc.gov.uk/hw-community/community-bus/

      In any case, they no longer operate and nor does Stagecoach 2, which was extended to Yateley between October 2016 and February 2019 to replace the short workings on 3. These were then re-instated and through on 2 reduced to hourly, with short workings from Farnborough to Hawley Lane Estate.

      It’s a shame that HCC didn’t take the opportunity to remove the references to 2 and HWPC 2/3 when they added ‘8’ to the flag !

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  3. Service 1 seems to have been the only major success story in the Blackwater Valley, and all those around in this largely “Waitrose”, car saturated territory have struggled. But I note a small trend in providing some new services such as the 8 by absorbing the previous school bus(es) routes, which would lay idle otherwise. Just takes a little imagination, and this trend could accelerate, providing some more “vital” links at little extra cost. Southdown PSV, now Metrobus, did this very successfully with their 357, formerly school service 657 and now Metrobus 411.

    Perhaps the London SL12 may get to Leytonstone eventually after a few more cuts to other services! I note the 137 is to lose six buses at next contract change, so there is hope. Can this be the only Superloop service not to have had passengers hanging out of the windows from Day One?

    Terence Uden

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    1. I would suggest that a number of services in the Blackwater Valley would still qualify as successes, meaning vastly better service than historically. For most of my childhood what is now the 3 was an hourly tendered service running Monday to Saturday 8-6 with gaps at school times between Aldershot & Camberley. Now it is a half-hourly commercial service with evening & sunday services assisted by the council. A huge improvement and with loadings on most trips far higher than I remember seeing on that tendered service. The improvements began very soon after the Stagecoach takeover of Alder Valley and have been gradually added to ever since though the Yateley to Camberley section has been a little complicated (it could probably support a 20-min frequency but that is difficult to fit with a half-hourly service but not enough to remain attached to the much enhanced 1 that it used to work with).

      There are a couple of other routes that may have dropped back slightly from their frequency heights pre-COVID but are still much better service levels than they used to see (the 20 between Aldershot & Guildford immediately springs to mind and some of the town services in the area also match this). There are some of the more rural work to the south of Aldershot that have declined significantly but within the urban area it has held up well and loadings seem higher than I remember (before I went to Uni which is over 20 years ago now).

      Dwarfer

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      1. One useful side-effect of the change to the 3 timetable is that buses towards Aldershot now leave Camberley at xx00 and xx30, so fit in with the 11 (to Farnborough via Deepcut) at xx15 and xx45 to give a joint 15’ frequency from Camberley to Frimley Green and Mytchett, as well as over the common first mile or so to Ravenswood roundabout. Towards Camberley it’s not quite so neat, but still at 10’/20’ intervals from Mytchett.

        The recent changes also saw the Sunday service on 3 increase from 90’ to 60’ as well as improved M-S evening services with last buses from Camberley to Yateley now at 2240 (instead of 2105) and to Aldershot at 2205 (instead of 1913), both really useful improvements.

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  4. I notice Stagecoach is advertising the free weekend bus travel as its own promotion “a free day out on us”. It does much the same for ENCTS in its radio adverts in the east midlands (and probably other regions): travel free on a Stagecoach bus with your over 66 bus pass.

    JM

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  5. Artificial Intelligence on my phone agreed when I asked if London bus routes run end to end to prevent the incombant operator with a garage on the line of route having a competitive advantage.

    Experience with franchising/tendering in Greater Manchester and Merseyside shows that allowing routes to be run by an area garage hasn’t taken away the inefficient culture where running buses empty to and from routes is now an acceptable norm.

    There is nothing more annoying to intending customers than seeing a bus go by with “Sorry, not in service” on it running empty along the line of a bus route.

    I’m sure many in the industry are blissfully unaware of the perception this gives of buses.

    While waiting at Manchester Piccadilly for a bus to Stockport invariably the first bus coming around the corner is running dead to Hyde Road.

    However unpalitable it may be to readers efficient operation by Local Authorities would enhance perceptions and save money too.

    John Nicholas

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    1. Although it took some time to fully implement the principle of running all buses from end-to-end in London dates back to Busplan 78 so pre-date tendering by several years.

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    2. I agree that passengers seeing their buses turned short is a problem, but why not make the route Gants Hill to Rainham, with some journeys extended to the industrial estate? Use the same timetable, but it just sounds more positive and acceptable.

      MotCO

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      1. @MotCO – looking at the SL12 timetable, the additional journey time to the industrial estate is 5 minutes in each direction. Daytime frequency is 12 minutes. It may save one bus if the whole service ends and starts at Rainham station. However, as soon as one journey in any period of time is extended to the industrial estate, the “saved” bus has to be reintroduced into the schedule and any saving is lost. So, turning part of the service at Rainham station with a less frequent service continuing to the industrial estate may not save very much at all.

        That assumes there is somewhere suitable to turn at Rainham station.

        Malc M

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    3. There is nothing more annoying to intending customers than seeing a bus go by with “Sorry, not in service” on it running empty along the line of a bus route.

      This is something that really does annoy me seeing buses out of service coming from Potters Bar Garage along the Barnet Road or Cuffley Hill. A bit of flexibility and common sense would see vastly better buses for the towns north of the M25 than the existing 242 and 243 routes.

      I always get the excuse ‘it’s not London’ but London Buses are always on those roads, just let people ride them!

      I think if London ends up running its buses directly then it should create catchment areas for each garage. Actually tie routes to a specific garage to create a more efficient system, reduce dead mileage as much as possible and actually use the garage capacity properly.

      Aaron

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      1. Actually tie routes to a specific garage to create a more efficient system, reduce dead mileage as much as possible and actually use the garage capacity properly.

        That’s exactly what London Transport did for decades, in the main. The subsequent tendering system created a lot of wasted mileage due to certain operators not having garages close enough to the routes that they won. Added to the mix was the closure of many former LT garages because of the loss of routes to competitors. For example, former LT route 65. In its hey day the route was serviced by no less than 3 garages namely, Kingston (K), Norbiton (NB) and Turnham Green (V) – all subsequently closed. When London United took over the 65, the garage chosen to serve it was Fulwell (FW), over 3 miles off route.

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      2. The fact is that running in service rather than “dead” is generally more expensive for the operator as a) you’re extending the driver shift as in service takes longer or b) if the existing driver shift is getting close to an acceptable max length for drivers hours, that has an impact too. I don’t know who’s saying “it’s not London” but across the UK, centralisation of depots into fewer, larger sites means extended bits of light mileage and not all is registered. Often, the hassle of registering stuff like that and the limited market is why operators make those decisions.

        At the moment, you have compulsory tendering and that has reduced costs etc. It is notable that even with those bits of dead mileage (and I’d assume that they tend to be concentrated in the early morning and end of day), they are still cheaper than, for instance, Arriva at Enfield.

        BW2

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      3. @Aaron – the thing with buses running into/out of Potters Bar garage is that they run for the convenience of the operator, at times to suit the operator. They also only run for as long as the contract for the route is held by Metroline, and for as long as it suits Metroline to operate it from Potters Bar rather than another base. If the contract is lost to another operator, or is moved to another base, those journeys to/from Potters Bar vanish.

        The other consideration is what happens if the usual route to/from Potters Bar garage is closed, or congested. Running empty enables the operator to use an alternative routeing which may be very different to the usual one, to get buses to where they need to be to start service or to get them back to base. Much of that flexibility is lost if the bus is scheduled to do an “in service” garage run where it has to follow a particular routeing, to the detriment of the service which the bus is actually allocated to.

        Malc M

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    4. “Artificial Intelligence on my phone agreed when I asked if London bus routes run end to end to prevent the incombant operator with a garage on the line of route having a competitive advantage”

      It is unclear how short workings provide an advantage to an incumbent. Having a garage on line of route would be an advantage regardless of whether the service runs fully end-to-end or has short workings, surely?

      As I understand it, the reason for specifying all buses running end-to-end is to simplify the bus network, making it easier for passengers (and potential passengers) to understand.

      So, if the bus is an SL12, it goes where the SL12 goes. Rather than an “it’s an SL12, but it isn’t going to some of the places the SL12 goes”.

      Where this does fall apart is with the number of buses which do get curtailed short of their scheduled (end of route) destination.

      The only situation where the incumbent would have an advantage would be having journeys which start or and at the garage, as buses enter or finish service. It could be argued, however, that those journeys are run for the convenience of the operator than the passenger.

      Malc M

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  6. Re: the SL12 – the Rainham Tesco stop was added after the Consultation, an instance of TfL listening to what passengers (actual and potential) really want! The stop gives quick access to Rainham Village via a footpath link, and the extra time penalty for serving this stop is minimal when considering the potential catchment. I reckon Rainham to Romford journeys will see significant growth.

    Re: the 8 – Stagecoach used to run a route 8 between Farnborough and Yateley, it continued to Reading and at one point was hourly. It had originally been a Fleet Buzz route, the 82. The bus links south from Reading have been cut back in recent years and nothing now operates into Hampshire, apart from the occasional Tadley journey on Reading Buses route 2.

    Julian Walker

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  7. not sure if John Nicholas means direct operation of buses by local authorities , as floated by London Mayor Khan recently , maybe if the co promise of being able to add back some of the withdrawn services or enhance more might just swing it, I think most Londoners would prefer it IF the problem of then giving unions a single monopoly to strike over fares (probably Maggie’s main reason for privatisation in the first place – including rail ), can be solved.

    LABG funding is rather contingent of Vital Links. IF The Meadows is so important to passengers then maybe a competing service might find filling a time gap works.

    SL12 apparently software updates for iBus due on 19th September 2026

    Bit short of space at Rainham Tesco hence Ferry Lane at all times , though indeed Tescos seems to be the most popular destination. Quite a few travelling on the free week I think will transfer peaks to SL12 for workplaces in Romford. I suspect North Street doesnt have capacity and will need big upgrade for full electrics. At Ferry Lane the shift changes are at funny times and a lot of the new big box warehouses dont really have that many workers per sq m of floorspace with a lot of automated internal logistics. The road shared with the 66 is getting new flats and houses so there is a bit of future proofing but the similar times indicate that even the 66 does not get requested at stops which are mainly in residential long terrace areas so not many houses per stop served and the buses pass by more times than needing to stop.

    The SL12 map is from the consultation thus misses Tesco stop off (that wasnt planned at first) and road conditions changed the location of the southbound stop at Rainham Station south, The map has a strange way of implying the Ferry Stop can also be served from Coldharbour Lane heading north , which it cant basically due to an office block filling the gap between the roads at that location.

    Hopefully others can let us know how the route reductions are being impacted

    JBC Prestatyn

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  12. Credit to Stagecoach for showing the connecting London train times at Farnborough Main in their timetable. There are reasons for catching a bus other than going to the shops.

    Pete

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  13. Am I alone in finding Stagecoach’s livery, which looks like an old-fashioned prison van, and ‘We’ve got you…’ strapline all a bit sinister?

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    1. No you’re not alone Stephen. I think you might be referring to Police Black Marias that were actually very dark blue. If that was what you were comparing it with, then your analogy is spot on. I wonder if any Stagecoach routes pass any prisons, as the strap-line would certainly be appropriate!

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    1. Agreed, I live in Camberley and we frequently visit Farnborough Kingsmead for shops such as Smyths Toys and Hobbycraft, which aren’t available in Camberley, and also Farnborough Gate Retail Park (also served by the 8) for various others, e.g. Halfords.
      Car users don’t think twice about having a choice of retail destinations, so giving Yateley’s bus users a similar choice levels the playing field just a little bit.

      Having said that, I sympathise completely with people’s unhappiness about the reduction in frequency from Yateley to The Meadows and Camberley Town Centre, especially as the 15’ service was quite longstanding.

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