London buses: Crystal Palace residents: ‘We need more bus routes like the Superloop’

More routes like the Superloop and quicker connections are needed to improve Transport for London (TfL)’s bus network, according to residents have told LondonWorld.

The new Superloop express bus service was unveiled earlier this year in March providing faster journeys for outer London residents.

The network is part of a £6m investment by the mayor to compensate for the impact of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion, which expanded to outer London at the end of August.

TfL recently celebrated reaching 1,000 zero emission buses in its fleet, as it aims for a fully electric fleet by 2030.

Other improvements to the service include a new Bus Safety Strategy, which aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by bus collisions and aims for zero serious injuries by 2041.

With the rollout of the Superloop and TfL’s mission for a zero emissions bus fleet, we asked Crystal Palace residents what they think of the bus provision in south London.

Nathan

“When I take public transport I feel there are plenty of bus routes,” Nathan told LondonWorld.

“That’s the one great thing about London, they have built such a great infrastructure with the TfL that I feel like with buses, trains and trams even in Croydon, I think there’s plenty of ways for people to get from A to B.”

Angel

“I think south London can be quite good for its buses, we’re quite well known for it but it is hard to jump between places,” said Angel.

“I live in Crystal Palace and getting anywhere is about a 30 minute journey and it absolutely should not be because driving is like 12 minutes.

“We need more routes like the Superloop ones that have just been introduced. It’s quicker for me now to get to work on the Superloop than using the train.”

Peter

“I think they’re very good,” said Peter. “A lot better than they used to be.”

Cuts to bus services

Despite the introduction of the Superloop bus network, new data from the Green Party has shown that several outer London boroughs have seen annual bus kilometres cut.

The Green Party said its analysis shows fewer than one million new bus kilometres have been added to the whole of outer London between 2014/15 and 2022/23. It claims this gap “fails to help the nearly one third of bus riders whose households earn less than £20,000 per year”.

Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman, said: “It’s disappointing to see these reductions in outer London’s bus services. Despite mayor Sadiq Khan’s implementation of the disastrous ULEZ scheme, residents are finding it increasingly challenging to access alternative public transportation.”

A spokesperson for the mayor said Sadiq Khan has “done everything in his powers to protect bus services”, but that government cuts and the requirements of the recent short-term funding deal mean some had to be axed.

They added: “Despite this, Sadiq has stepped in and provided an additional £25 million every year to save the majority of bus routes that were proposed to be cut in central and inner London, and has committed to adding one million annual bus kilometres to outer London’s network.”