North Greenwich, Charlton, Woolwich, Plumstead, Thamesmead and Abbey Wood get the Superloop treatment.
Transport for London has announced yet another new Superloop express bus route, to serve communities along the Thames east of Greenwich.
The new bus, numbered SL11, would terminate at North Greenwich in the west and Abbey Wood in the west, offering a fast service between the main population centres in-between. A consultation has now opened to allow anyone interested to give their views.
It should be noted that SL11 is not an entirely new route. It would effectively be a rebadging of the existing 472, albeit with fewer stops and a tweaking around Woolwich town centre to speed things along. The 472 would then be withdrawn, which might not be such good news if you live at one of the stops the SL11 will be ignoring. TfL points out that many other routes cover these areas, and an N472 night bus would serve the route through the small hours.
Among the winners here is Thamesmead, the largest residential area in London without any kind of rail station. The SL11 would make an unusually high number of stops in the area before running fast to the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood. In the other direction, it would pause at Plumstead, Woolwich and Charlton, before hitting up a run of stops on Greenwich Peninsula. As the SL3 also serves Thameslink, the area will become the most superloopy in town.
TfL hopes that the route will not only speed passengers along on their journeys, but also unlock development and regeneration potential in Thamesmead and beyond.
The proposed S11 adds to the nine Superloop routes already in operation, along with the SL4 which is set to run through the Silvertown Tunnel from April 2025 (and thereby hook up with the SL11 at North Greenwich). Another route called the BL1 or 'Bakerloop' will track the proposed course of the Bakerloo line extension through Southwark and Lewisham. TfL is also teasing an SL12, which would run from Rainham to Gants Hill via Romford. More on that one when we have it.
If you'd like to examine the proposed SL11 route in more detail and provide feedback, the consultation will remain open until 13 April 2025.
