Route SL8: White City - Uxbridge Length of journey: 13 miles, 65 minutes
Don't worry, I'm not going to write a full report of my hour aboard the renumbered express bus. You've had quite enough Superloop content recently, plus I've already blogged a ride on the 607, and if you're a bus fetishist you can always go and ride it yourself. But I will bulletpoint a few highlights and items of interest, plus I'm not wasting these photos, and then that'll do for buses for a bit.
• It's called SL8 now, not 607. We got a few mystified looks.
• I'd say about 80% of the vehicles have now got the new Superloop branded wrap.
• The onboard display doesn't just show the name of the next stop, at the moment it says "Ealing Hospital Rte 607 is now SL8".
• If you're on the bus, presumably you've already worked out the 607 is now the SL8.
• At several key stops TfL operatives in Superloop t-shirts were present to reassure travellers and hand out leaflets.
• The leaflet was printed on thick glossy paper with a roundel on the front and a map on the inside.
• The leaflet contained minimal text, it was mostly map.
• The map showed the whole network, most of which a) isn't running yet b) is of no practical use for passengers in Hillingdon and Ealing.
• Despite the effort put into proofreading the map, the ferry symbol at North Woolwich had shifted on top of the text which therefore read North V🛳olwich.
• It was quite early in the day so we fair sped along.
• Then we changed drivers and the new one was a lot dawdlier, and why put a dawdly driver on an express bus?
• Almost all the bus shelters have Superloop roundels on top, but for some reason not Uxbridge County Court.
• They also haven't bothered with a roundel at the penultimate stop at Park Road, because it's pointless to ride just the last bit.
• The bus shelter outside Ealing Common station has been given a massive Superloop makeover complete with multi-coloured logo, promotional phrases and a large blow-up of the map.
• The Mayor sat in this shelter on Friday to promote Superloop, as seen in two tweets since mysteriously deleted.
• We twice caught up with the SL8 in front.
• Twice on the journey the driver slipped into a bus priority lane only to be stopped by a red light and all the normal traffic overtook us.
• We'd have got through Southall faster if a security van hadn't parked on double yellows and made us queue in the filter lane.
• We arrived in Uxbridge a couple of minutes early.
• I was hoping to bring you a by-election update but absolutely nobody was out campaigning in the town centre, which is odd given the vote's on Thursday.
• The only evidence of the upcoming by-election was a poster saying 'Remember to bring voter ID', because the previous MP was evil.
• The SL8 is my favourite express route and long may it run.
Route SL8: White City - Uxbridge
