Yesterday TfL launched a consultation for the introduction of the next Superloop route, the SL11, which will run between North Greenwich and Abbey Wood via Woolwich. It's an express bus so it'll be great. It'll link up with existing transport connections and local centres so it'll be great. It'll improve travel in the long-term accessibility desert that is Thamesmead so it'll be great. So let's play devil's advocate and explain how it won't be great.
» The SL11 won't be a new bus route, it's a renumbering of the 472. The day the SL11 is born the 472 dies.
» It won't be the 472 exactly, it'll be the 472 with 25 stops missed out, so bad luck if you wanted any of those 25 stops.
» Because an express bus runs faster there'll be fewer vehicles on the route.
» The 472 currently operates with 16 vehicles so they'll probably cut that to 12 or 13, saving TfL a few million a year.
» The SL11 will run non-stop for 2 miles from Charlton to Woolwich, so anyone needing a stop inbetween won't be able to use it any more.
» If you live, say, near the Thames Barrier, you're going down from 20 buses an hour locally to just 12.
» It won't stop in Woolwich town centre because that eastbound loop's being scrapped in favour of speed.
» But it won't be express for the 2 miles from Plumstead to Thamesmead, it'll stop in all the current places.
» If you want to go from Plumstead to Abbey Wood, existing direct non-express buses will be much quicker.
» Technically the SL11 will serve Thamesmead East, but it you don't live near the only stop it won't be of much use.
» There's already a Superloop bus between Thamesmead and Abbey Wood, the SL3, so who needs another?
» ...and the SL3 does Thamesmead to Abbey Wood quicker, in two stops, whereas the SL11 will do it in three.
» The 180 mirrors the 472 for five miles from North Greenwich to Plumstead, but many people will now only be able to use the slower route.
» Those forced to switch to the 180 will enjoy only six buses an hour, whereas they currently enjoy a combined 14.
» We could have had this years ago, it's effectively Ken Livingstone's Greenwich Waterfront Transit, but Boris scrapped that in 2008.
» Superloop routes used to be numbered sequentially in a clockwise direction, but they've given up on that idea now.
» It won't link with the new SL4 through the Silvertown Tunnel because that's locally useless.
» The Superloop looks less like a loop with every new addition.
» The 472 needs to continue as a night bus, so now there'll be an extra N472 tile clogging up dozens of bus stops.
» TfL have £23m of government funding specifically for bus priority lanes on this new route, so expect years of roadworks.
» It goes nowhere near where 98% of Londoners live, so who cares?
A lot of these negatives have a counter "ah but", and it's a consultation so stops may change, and obviously it's good news but don't think it's all good news for everyone.
