TfL Superloop: West Croydon to Heathrow express bus service to launch this weekend

An express bus service between south and west London will be launched this weekend as part of the new Superloop network, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.

Customers using the Route X26 between Heathrow Central and West Croydon will see this bus renumbered to SL7 from Saturday August 19.

The SL7 will double in frequency from a bus every 30 minutes to one bus every 15 minutes. Other improvements, including improved customer information and USB charging, will also follow on many of the buses.

Buses on the SL7 route will call at the same stops, with some of the bus stop names changing to better reflect their locations, such as Wood Street, which will now become Kingston Wood Street.

On July 15, the first bus route to become part of the network, running from Uxbridge and White City, was renumbered SL8 and rebranded as a Superloop service.

This weekend the timetable will be extended to provide more early morning and evening buses.

TfL has also confirmed that subject to consultation, the complete loop of the Superloop network will be in service by Spring 2024.

This is with the exception of route SL4, which would be launched when the Silvertown Tunnel opens in 2025.

The full proposed Superloop network consists of existing bus routes, which are being given new route numbers and branding, and newly proposed bus routes, which TfL is consulting on.

The network is part of a £6m investment by the mayor to compensate for the impact of the ultra-low emission zone expansion, due to start on August 29.

From Saturday August 26, customers in outer London will also be able to take advantage of other improved bus services including:

• Route 123 will now be a 24-hour service, seven-days-a-week travelling between Wood Green Station and Ilford
• Route 158 will now be a 24-hour service, seven-days-a-week travelling between Stratford Bus Station and Chingford Mount
• Route 86 travelling between Stratford Bus Station and Romford Station will see its frequency increased on Sundays. It will run every 8-9 minutes instead of every 10 minutes during the day
• Route 141 travelling between London Bridge and Palmers Green will see its frequency increased at certain times. It will run every 10 minutes instead of every 12 minutes in the evening every day of the week, and all day on Sundays buses will be running every 10 minutes instead of every 12 minutes.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The  Superloop will be a gamechanger for travel around outer London, delivering quicker links between transport hubs, town centres, schools and hospitals.

“Last month, we launched the first Superloop buses to our roads, and from today, even more Londoners will benefit from a doubling in Superloop journeys between Heathrow Central and West Croydon. These new services will provide Londoners with even stronger alternatives to private car use, and help us to build a better, greener London for everyone.”

Louise Cheeseman, director of Buses at TfL, said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer the newly branded SL7 to our customers travelling between Heathrow and Croydon with a more frequent service. Customers should start looking out for it in their local area and the upgraded frequency will make it even easier for people to travel using public transport.”

Tory critics have however dubbed the Superloop initiative the “Superflop”.

Nick Rogers, the City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman, said: “Sadiq Khan’s Superloop announcement is a Superflop, amounting to nothing more than a repackaging of existing routes and vague promises that will not be delivered before his Ulez expansion hits Londoners.

“This is a microscopic level of investment. The mayor’s rushed plans have been thrown together in a panic, and do nothing to address the devastating impact of his ULEZ tax.”