London’s Superloop bus routes could get night services, Sadiq Khan has said. The Mayor of London and Chair of Transport for London (TfL) told the London Assembly in November that the benefits of running the express buses at night were ‘not clear’.
Now, Mr Khan has told MyLondon that this may change as officials keep an eye on ridership of services. “The first Superloop began in July, and just a few months later we’re celebrating the whole city having a loop going around it – 138 kilometres,” he said, “We know it’s very, very popular.
“The reason why it’s popular, one of the reasons, is because it’s an express bus. It doesn’t stop at every single bus stop, which is why people love it, compared to the normal network, a 50 per cent increase. With a night bus, you want to be stopping at more bus stops.
READ MORE: Full list of every extra Superloop stop requested for SL1 London bus route from Finchley to Walthamstow
“And so, anyone that uses a night bus knows that what you want is the bus stop to be where you live rather than having long walks. But also we know the Superloop goes to transport hubs, connects the hub so transport links are very good.”
He added: “So, I’m not sure that a night bus would work on the Superloop, but we’ll always listen to what out customers want. If there’s a need for this, we’ll look into it. At the moment, we’re not sure there’s a need for it, but we’ll wait a see.”
Mayor doesn’t want to take demand away from regular night buses
In response to the suggestion that nocturnal Superloop services could connect well with night Tube services at transport interchanges in the city, the mayor said: “Yes, but one of the things we know is the night bus is incredibly popular.
“So what we don’t want to do is lose the attraction from the night bus. The night Tube works because it works with the night Overground and with the night buses, and it works pretty well. If there’s demand for the Superloop buses, of course we’ll look into it.”
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