01:00 There are two big bus stories today.
One is the extinguishing of four bus routes in central London.
The other has not yet been announced.
If you were trusted media you'd have been sent the second story last night. This would have given you sufficient time to write up your own version ready to publish at the officially-designated time this morning. You'd have lifted a few choice phrases from what you were given, tweaked the substance so it had your voice, added some of the photos and graphics provided, cut and pasted a few quotes from the Mayor and other transport officials, then set your story to appear the second the embargo was lifted.
I am not trusted media so I haven't seen the press release and I can't tell you what it contains.
Oh to be on the trusted media list. You receive top notch exclusives on a regular basis, always with sufficient forewarning to be able to knock up a thoughtful detail-packed piece of writing. You get to look like you're breaking the news, at least to your own followers, whereas in fact the story has been dripfed to multiple outlets to generate maximum simultaneous publicity. And TfL kindly hold back on publishing the story on their own press release portal, often for a few hours, so it appears that you as a journalist are doing your own bespoke work.
Friday isn't normally a day for significant transport announcements so it would be cynical of me to suggest that this bus story has been timed to keep the other bus story out of the news. While correspondents are busy feeding on the juicy fish fed to them last night they are not writing stories about the demise of key bus routes and the contraction of the network. Indeed TfL never published a press release about the implementation of the Central London Bus Review so many of the lazier media outlets have never mentioned it, preferring to focus only on the upbeat on-brand messages they've been spoonfed by the press office instead.
Today we do not mention the dead bus routes, only the super new shiny ones.
Await permission to be told.
06:00 The time has arrived.
The embargo has been lifted.
The consultation has appeared.
The story has been released by trusted media.
But no official press release has yet appeared.
Top toady points to This is Local London and LondonWorld for directly attributing the Superloop to the Mayor.
Kudos to Ross Lydall at the Evening Standard for slipping in that today is also the last day for three conventional routes "under Mayor Sadiq Khan’s cost-cutting plans".
The press release has revealed the route numbers the five new Superloop routes will use and also their proposed endpoints.
X183 (Harrow to Finchley) X34 (Finchley to Walthamstow) X123 (Walthamstow to Royal Docks) X269 (Bexleyheath to Bromley) X119 (Bromley to Croydon)
The press release also includes 'sector maps' which reveal places each route might stop along the way.
X183: Harrow → Kenton (for Northwick Park Hospital) → Kingsbury → Hendon → Finchley Central → North Finchley X34: North Finchley → New Southgate → Arnos Grove → North Middlesex Hospital → Silver Street → Walthamstow Central X123: Walthamstow Central → Gants Hill → Ilford → Barking → Royal Docks X269: Bexleyheath → Sidcup → Queen Mary's Hospital → Chislehurst → Bickley → Bromley X119: Bromley → West Wickham → Sandilands → East Croydon → West Croydon
Most of these places were revealed in the initial Superloop press release a month ago - only the underlined stops are new. But dripfeeding the information means TfL get two whammy headlines out of the same story, because that's press management for you.
The consultation for route X183 contains much fuller details, including frequencies and all the proposed stops.
X183: Harrow bus station → Kenton station → Kenton Lane → Charlton Road → Kingsbury station → Roe Green → West Hendon → Hendon station → Hendon Central station → The Quadrant → Finchley Central station → North Finchley bus station
Twelve stops from Harrow to North Finchley is a proper express service so it sounds like being dead useful locally. However Kenton station is a fair hike from Northwick Park Hospital, so I dispute the top-level claim that the X183 will properly serve the hospital.
A map has been produced to show how the X183 will overlap with existing routes 183 and 125. It's actually a pretty good map for a change (other than not showing the proposed stops on the express route).
A second map shows all 37 routes which will overlap with route X183. It's an amazing map, not least because they've used a different colour for each route, and is more an attempt at showing off than being practical. But it is possibly the most complex bus map TfL have produced since they stopped printing them seven years ago, so they can do it, and if you're a regular traveller in northwest London you might find it useful.
n.b. The consultation and press release both claim that the X183 will connect with 38 other routes, but the key on this second map suggests they've included the X183 in that total so it's really only 37.
n.b. TfL no longer produce a spider map for Harrow, indeed if you wander round busy Harrow bus station you won't find a bus map anywhere. Hopefully the arrival of the X183 will inspire TfL to amend this lamentable omission.
• The X183 will run every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday. That's maybe not too long to wait for a fast bus, but sometimes jumping aboard the ordinary 183 or 125 will be quicker.
• TfL also propose to cut the frequency of route 183 from eight buses an hour to six. That shouldn't be a problem if you live between Harrow and Hendon where the 183 and X183 double up, but it's a disappointing worsening of service between Pinner and Harrow.
...and what nobody who's been sent the press release has mentioned is the important news tucked away in the consultation's FAQ, which is that the X183 won't be operating before spring 2024. Even this is dependent on "the outcome of this consultation, further feasibility and commercial terms", so the much-vaunted X183 may not be expressly shuttling by this time next year. Meanwhile the X34, X119, X123 and X269 aren't even at the consultation stage yet, so don't get your Superloop hopes too high, but do expect a regular volley of upbeat press releases as plans progress.
09:00 Trusted media now have another new TfL story to report - the news that Kentish Town tube station willclose for "up to a year" from June 26th so its escalators can be overhauled. The news has not yet appeared on TfL's bespoke press release page, where the Superloop story is also still missing.
10:03 The Mayor is now tweeting about the Superloop. "We’re excited to be kicking off the Superloop journey with new detailed maps of proposed stops on six of the routes. See for yourself where the buses will be stopping and how the Superloop will make it quicker and easier to get around our city ⬇️" I don't believe the Mayor writes all his own tweets.
12:20 The Mayor has tweeted again with a link that purports to "find your closest stop". It fails to do so unless you live in a borough the Superloop serves, and even then only shows you a graphic so you can find it yourself, approximately, so as novelties go it's interesting but lazy.
13:30 The Mayor is now retweetingtrustedmedia who wrote about the Superloop story... based on the press release TfL originally fed them. Such is the virtuous circle of incestuous media management.
16:00-ish The Superloop press release is finally available for the general public (and untrusted media) to read what trusted media told them ten hours ago.
