Details of the second section of the Superloop suburban bus network proposed by Mayor Sadiq Khan have been unveiled.
This would link North Finchley and Walthamstow via the North Circular Road and upgrade the existing X34 limited stop service that is already in place, Transport for London said on Friday.
It would run every 12 minutes from Monday to Saturday in the daytime and every 15 minutes during evenings and Sundays.
Mr Khan hopes the Superloop will improve connections between suburban town centres for Londoners affected by the imminent expansion of the Ulez to the Greater London boundary on August 29.
However he has confirmed that at least two boroughs – Havering and Merton – will not have a Superloop route and two others, Haringey and Hounslow, will only have a Superloop bus stop within 100m to 600m of their borough boundary.
Havering council had urged the mayor to “stretch the Superloop” as it highlighted concerns about the lack of public transport alternatives to the car in the suburbs.
Superloop buses will be branded in “retro” colours in a bid to make suburban bus travel both fashionable and cheap – the £1.75 fare will be the same as a conventional bus.
The consultation on the North Finchley to Walthamstow section will be open on TfL’s website until July 21.
The route goes via Arnos Grove and New Southgate. It runs alongside part of the existing route 221 between North Finchley and New Southgate, and part of route 34 between Arnos Grove and Walthamstow.
Geoff Hobbs, TfL’s director of public transport planning, said: “The Superloop will have an important role to play as we strive for a greener, cleaner and more sustainable London.”
A consultation on the first section of the Superloop, the X183 between Harrow and North Finchley, closes on Monday. It is proposed to have four or five buses an hour.
The Superloop, a mostly orbital network consisting of seven suburban sections, plus three “spokes” heading in and out of central London, is due to be completed by 2025.
Other parts of the loop will include:
· X123 (Walthamstow to Royal Docks)
· X269 (Bexleyheath to Bromley)
· X119 (Croydon to Bromley)
Two other sections (the X26, which is due to double in frequency to four buses an hour by the end of 2023, and X140, which has up to five buses an hour) to be incorporated into the Superloop are already operating to and from Heathrow – one to West Croydon, the other to Harrow.
It came as Mr Khan admitted, via a series of written answers to questions from City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman Nick Rogers, a number of limitations to the Superloop scheme.
Asked to confirm whether Barking & Dagenham, Brent, Haringey, Havering, Hounslow or Merton would be excluded from the network, Mr Khan said it was “not yet possible” to confirm which boroughs would be served.
But he added: “However, Transport for London’s initial plans are that the London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Brent would host Superloop stops, while Haringey and Hounslow would have stops within 100-600 metres of their respective borough boundaries.
“Havering and Merton are served by Rail and local bus routes that could be used to interchange with the Superloop.”
Route X239, which was consulted on as part of the Silvertown Tunnel bus network proposals, is planned to run up to 7.5 buses per hour once the tunnel opens in 2025.
