TfL have made another addition to the Superloop network, this time coming in the form of new route SL11 running between North Greenwich Station and Abbey Wood Station

The introduction of the SL11 is the first Superloop introduction which has included the direct removal of a parallel all stops service. While other Superloop routes such as the SL7, SL6 and SL8 have all seen renumberings of existing express routes, the routes themselves were left completely unchanged. Route 472 however, is now no more. But why was the 472 withdrawn? 

Route 472 was introduced in 1999, around the time the Jubilee Line was extended to Stratford via North Greenwich, providing the borough of Greenwich with its first London Underground link, while simultaneously providing a bus link to the newly opened Millennium Dome (today's O2 arena) while running through to Thamesmead. Over the years a growing population of people at Thamesmead, alongside a lot of new house building in the Woolwich and the Greenwich Peninsula area had seen demand for the 472 shoot up as it was a fast and frequent route linking these areas to their nearest stations. The opening of the Elizabeth Line saw the 472 rerouted to also serve Abbey Wood, adding another station to its portfolio. The demand for the 472 continued to grow and eventually it was decided that the 472 would become part of the Superloop network, providing an even faster link from dense housing areas to the stations in the area. The night service on the route was to be spun off as new route N472 instead. 

Route SL11 (and N472) in what could arguably be classed as major tendering upset saw the contract awarded to Go Ahead London, as opposed to Stagecoach London who had operated the 472 throughout its operational life. The route was to be run out of a new base in Thamesmead, however a pending planning application means that the SL11 is temporarily being operated out of Morden Wharf (MG) in the meantime. When the route moves to Thamesmead brand new electric buses are going to be introduced, but in the meantime the route is currently using a mix of New Routemasters that were previously on the SL3 alongside some Volvo B9TLs that Go Ahead have brought together from the rest of their fleet. 

The route was initially meant to have a full New Routemaster allocation, however extreme unreliability alongside the batch of buses being sat idle ever since they were relieved off their SL3 duties meant quite a few buses had issues passing their MOTs. While these are being rectified the Volvo B9TL buses are filling in, with themselves having been made free from electric conversions elsewhere in the company. For this reason the Volvos are also not branded with Superloop livery and are in plain red, something you don't frequently see on Superloop routes. 

I went to have a ride on the SL11 shortly after its introduction. For some bizarre reason before even boarding the bus I noticed that the stop sign at North Greenwich Bus Station did not have the SL11 on its tiles inside, although they were present on the flag. A New Routemaster showed up, complete with branding both inside and outside, including maps for the SL11 and even the N472 in a first for a night route. 

The route runs express, with some stops in the Greenwich Peninsula before heading non-stop to Woolwich and then running express through Thamesmead before reaching Abbey Wood. An interesting anomaly though is the SL11 shares a small parallel with the SL3, where the SL3 runs non stop past Linton Mead Primary School but the SL11 stops, so could be the only example in London where one Superloop stops but another one goes past express. We did have a few passengers on board who boarded in the Thamesmead area under the assumption this was an SL3 (we even had one person board thinking the route was a 301) and then stormed the driver with questions when we reached our last stop at Abbey Wood.

There is not much else to say about this route, it's effectively a 472 replacement that runs express. It's certainly going to be of huge use to the residents that live along the route that need to get to North Greenwich, Woolwich or Abbey Wood stations in decent time. Whether it will stimulate more growth on the route remains to be seen.

Superloop will continue to grow, with the SL12 being the next route to be introduced between Rainham and Gants Hill later this year!

 TfL's financial status these days is no secret, with increasingly constrained budgets and a reduction in money coming in over the past few years there is a real challenge to ensure that TfL continue to have enough money to stay afloat and provide to the transport needs of the average Londoner. 

Today's post focuses on the Bakerloop, the latest route addition to TfL's network of buses that operate in the capital. The route is called the BL1, running between Waterloo and Lewisham.

But why is this called the Bakerloop? Why not just another standard Superloop route? Well this story runs a lot deeper. This starts with the Bakerloo Line, the Underground line running between Harrow & Wealdstone and Elephant & Castle, identified by the brown colour on the tube map. It currently operates with 1972 stock and its stations and the entire line itself has grown famous among Londoners for its somewhat unique state of care. Some people like the fact it's a time capsule, although many people also do not like the fact that the line still looks like it was last touched in 1972, especially when you've had lines like the Elizabeth Line open since then which are effectively an entire world away. The line is also a relatively short one, only starting in Zone 1 at Elephant & castle as opposed to running through Zone 1 and out of the other end. This has made it a prime target for an extension. It is well known that in the UK if you build an infrastructure project then it rapidly gains popularity. The Elizabeth Line and Northern Line extensions are prime examples of this, so an extension of the Bakerloo Line has been proposed from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham. Although TfL's funding constraints mean that this is not something currently funded but merely exists as an idea. 

TfL is likely going to need to find such funding somewhere, but in the meantime there was no reason that the links could not be started by bus! The Superloop network had proven the concept of express bus routes over the past year and a Lewisham to Waterloo service to link with the Bakerloo Line was effectively a no brainer, so much so that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan turned this into a manifesto pledge. Following a successful 2024 election campaign the new proposed route was put up for tender and Go Ahead were the successful bidder with the BL1 to start operation out of Waterloo (RA) garage. The route was to start on the 27th of September 2025 running express between Lewisham and Waterloo Station.

The buses were going to bear a livery similar to the one already seen on existing Superloop routes, although some livery inspirations were also drawn from the Bakerloo line and its existing identity. Go Ahead had won the contract using existing buses, so these were cascaded down from Northumberland Park's (NP) route 230 which had got a newer batch of electrics which allowed its older batch to go off and get refurbished for the BL1. This refurbishment saw them fitted with brand new LED destination displays replacing the old roller blinds that the buses used to have. The existing Go Ahead London moquette was also removed and replaced with two variations of the 'Barman' moquette which is found across multiple London Underground lines. One of them is identical to the seating moquette found on the Bakerloo Line's 1972 stock trains, but the priority seats have a blue variation of these to help them stand out to passengers indicating their difference. 

Publicity has also been put up at all stops on the Bakerloop route network. This is very similar to the existing Superloop branding at stops, although instead of a route tile on the stops in red, they are brown to lean into the existing Bakerloo Line brown theme. As the route is still a part of the Superloop network, the route is limited stop many stops are skipped on the route, with passengers travelling between these stops expected to take routes like the 21, 53 and 453. The stops served include Lewisham Centre, Lewisham Clock Tower, Lewisham Station, New Cross Gate Station, Old Kent Road/Ilderton Road, Burgess Park/Dunton Road, Elephant & Castle and Waterloo Station.

Initial impressions of the route show an already growing user base, with passengers using the faster links that this route provides. The route itself doesn't do anything new apart from a link to Waterloo that Lewisham previously never had by bus, but already had by train. Although I have to admit my favourite part of the route is using the Bricklayer's Arms flyover to avoid all the traffic down below and seeing the roundabout below you, alongside the added benefit that you don't have to wait in any of it! The route otherwise is unremarkable, just plodding up and down the Old Kent Road, but its existence is a testament to how faster journeys can attract users from an already established user base, new links don't always need to be provided but existing ones being improved will always be welcomed by everyone!

There is another phase of Superloop routes currently being consulted for, with two routes the SL11 and SL12 already confirmed with Go Ahead and Stagecoach taking these on respectively. Unfortunately life gets in the way which has limited our ability to post lately, but please ensure that you keep an eye on the 'Tenders' page on the blog which gets updated regularly and remains up to date. 

Do you want to see more 'Bakerloop' style routes? Where potentially extended rail lines instead get turned into express bus routes? Let us know in the comments section what you would like to see introduced next!

As electric buses start to enter London tick and fast, Stagecoach are part way through introducing a large batch of Wright Electroliners onto routes 86 and 199 out of North Street (NS), Lea Interchange (LI) and Catford (TL) garages. 

It's certainly been a long time coming for these buses and their entry into service, with the tender award for route 199 being in October 2022 and the tender award for the 86 being in November 2022. While we knew that brand new electrics were on the way for the retains, Stagecoach and other sources remained tight lipped for a few months until it was announced that both routes would be recipients of Stagecoach's first batch of Wright Electroliners, a departure from Stagecoach's usual orders from Alexander Dennis, but notably not their first order from Wright as they had previously placed an order for route 53. 

These buses were to be the first for Stagecoach that were going to be specified to 'high spec', and Stagecoach were also the last major operator which were to introduce the new spec. The buses were spotted on delivery towards the end of summer 2023 before eagle eyed enthusiasts noticed that the standard Stagecoach interior was not present on these buses, followed by the revelation that the interior present on the buses wasn't a Stagecoach themed interior at all but was actually the TfL specified interior that had been seen on Sullivan Buses, CT Plus' buses and Arriva's E40H Citys. Did this signify the end of the famous and much loved Beach Ball interior? Quite possibly. These buses were unique in being the only batch of buses in London specified to the new specification interior, but having blinds on the front of the buses as opposed to LED displays. 

I went out in November shortly after the buses made their debut on the 199 to take a ride on the vehicles to get an impression for them. Following a very long wait due to a protest in Lewisham an Electroliner eventually turned up and I made myself comfortable on the upper deck. The new specification for buses require a digital LCD screen displaying next stop information on both decks. TfL have a standard format that they use across all routes but it needs to be programmed. When I rode the bus Stagecoach and/or TfL had not managed to do this yet and the next stop information was being displayed on the standard McKenna Brothers software, which actually isn't much use as it can only display the final destination and not the next stop information. Thankfully this problem has since been fixed and the next stop is now displayed in the standard TfL format alongside the final destination on all routes that these buses operate. The floors on the vehicle are a wood effect -  laminated flooring and not actual wood and the seats have leather headrests with priority seats having a 'Priority seat' sign on them so that passengers know whether they are sitting in one or not. The new bus specification also required a rear facing iBus display so that passengers in the wheelchair area can see the next stop information without needing to turn around, although on Stagecoach's vehicles these are to a slightly lower quality than the forward facing screens. 

The rear facing display has the slightly annoying quirk of not being centred, and the righting is slightly offset towards the right. The display also does not have the ability to scroll text (yet), which means longer destinations and stops often get cut off. I would imagine this will get solved in a future software update, but at the time of writing this post that is yet to happen. The buses also have the standard bells and whistles of USB charging points and up lighters on the stairs. 

82006 seen at Canada Water Bus Station

As I alluded to earlier in the post, the 199 and 86s batches of buses were ordered as one big batch. With the 199 getting the earlier buses (82001-82014) and the 86 taking the later buses (82015-82048). The batch for the 86 suffered a bigger delay with getting into service due to Romford garage (NS) facing delays with its electrification and the introduction of a partial allocation at Lea Interchange (LI) as well to ensure that all the buses could be accommodated. It wasn't until 2024 that buses started entering service on the 86. While I'm writing this post, the full batch of buses is still yet to enter service on the 86 and it's a really slow process due to the various restrictions at the garages that the route is running from. The buses otherwise are identical to the batch that is found on the 199. 

Old and new at Ilford, 19807 and 82025

82045 seen at Stratford Bus Station

While these were Stagecoach's first order for Wright Electroliners, they certainly aren't the last. A second batch of Electroliners is currently in the process of delivery for the recent acquisition of route 242 from Arriva, this newer batch have even more features such as a sky light and LED destination blinds. Alongside this there are also brand new MCV bodied Volvo BZL single decker buses arriving for routes 276 and 314, some new MCV bodied Volvo BZL double decker buses for routes D7, 58 and 277 and Switch MetroCity EV buses arriving for route W11. There are certainly exciting times ahead for the company!

All photos used in this post are © EastLondoner and may not be reproduced without permission. Please email LondonTransportConnected @gmail.com for photo use queries

20th of January 2024 saw Arriva once again on the receiving end of a tender blow, with route 133 making its way to Transport UK (previously Abellio London) at Battersea (QB) and route 333 returning to Go Ahead operation at Stockwell (SW). 

Routes 133 and 333 both operate in South London. Route 133 operates between Streatham Station and Holborn Station and route 333 operates between Elephant & Castle and Tooting Broadway. Their previous contracts saw them both with Arriva London operating out of Brixton garage (BN) with route 333 being allocated Alexander Dennis E40H Citys and route 133 was allocated with a mix of E40H Citys and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs. 

© EastLondoner

Route 133 has a long history from prior to 1934, originally operating between Croydon and Liverpool Street via Elephant & Castle, Brixton and Streatham. 1942 saw the route cut of the main day service from Croydon to Streatham, but evening variations of the route continuing to Croydon continued for a while alongside a short lived Hendon extension on Sundays. 1971 saw the route permanently cut to Streatham in the South while Liverpool Street continued to be the northern terminus. 1985 saw the route restructured to run between Tooting Broadway and Liverpool Street. 2003 saw the route cut back to Streatham, St Leonard's Church from Tooting with that section being replaced by brand new route 333. 2012 saw the route extended from St Leonard's Church to the new bus terminus at Streatham Station. Further change didn't come until April 2023 when route 133 was rerouted at Bank via route 8 to terminate at Holborn, taking it away from the Liverpool Street area for the first time in its history. 

Unlike the 133, route 333 does not have such a long history, as mentioned above it was introduced in 2003 to replace the 133's Tooting leg. The only change to its routing ever came in 2008 when it was rerouted between Brixton and Oval via Stockwell. 

 © EastLondoner

Both routes 133 and 333 were awarded to their new operators on the premise of using brand new electric buses. Go Ahead London opted for their mainstay, the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City bodied BYD electrics while Transport UK chose their new standard, the Wright Electroliner. Needless to say that both routes at the time of writing do not have their allocation in place due to production delays of the vehicles alongside time required to prepare the garages they operate out of for electric operation. Route 133 in the meantime is using a mix of Electroliners from elsewhere in the fleet, New Routemasters and Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMC buses while route 333 is using MCV EvoSeti buses.

© EastLondoner

I went out a few days after the new operators took over to grab a few rides. My ride on the 333 was MHV70, which judging by its state had a very rough morning with the passengers with litter all over the bus and a very weird smell on board, but other than that there wasn't much to report. My ride at midday meant that I pretty much had the entire bus to myself and had a relatively quiet journey with minimal traffic apart from at Brixton, I'll savour those when I get them as with the increasing presence of LTNs within the borough of Lambeth it won't be often we'll be getting fast journeys such as this. It certainly wasn't long until we reached the last stop on the route at Elephant and Castle. 

© EastLondoner

© EastLondoner

Upon disembarking I made my way to get the 133, hoping to get one of the Electroliners on the route that were borrowed from various other routes within the Transport UK fleet. Much to my luck I got 3034. The bus was to the new higher TfL specification, with high backed seats and an updated iBus display. The bus also had wood effect flooring and glass pillars at the front instead of the standard opaque ones. But journey wise this was the complete opposite to the 333 that I had earlier, we were travelling really slow and got caught up in traffic all over the place. We regulated for a while at London Bridge before slowly trundling through the City despite an obvious lack of traffic. One thing I was certainly glad for was the high backed and more padded seat, a small consolation in the grand scheme. 

© EastLondoner

After what felt like forever we eventually made it to Holborn Station where I was the only passenger left on the bus. My journey today had given me two completely different experiences, a mediocre bus that was worn down and desperately needed a clean, but a very fast and seamless journey which was then followed by a nearly brand new bus with all the bells and whistles that you'd want but accompanied by a really slow and painful journey. I'll leave it up to you, the reader, to decide what you'd prefer out of the pair but I can certainly say that when I want to get somewhere I'd much rather be there in a timely manner and maybe have a less comfortable journey rather than having a comfortable journey just to arrive with a higher than average blood pressure and later than you expected.

© EastLondoner

My rides showed the past and the future. Both routes will get their permanent allocations over the next few months. If you'd like a ride on the 133 and 333 before the electrics (fully) take over on the routes you will need to get a move on! The future is most certainly zero emission.

Superloop is a scheme which incorporates new and existing express routes to form an orbital loop around London, with a few extras. On London Connected we will try our best to provide coverage on the new routes being introduced as part of the scheme. Today's post will focus on brand new route SL1 which has been recently introduced running express from North Finchley Bus Station to Walthamstow Central Bus Station. This route is operated by Arriva from their Palmers Green (AD) garage. But before I get into some details about the SL1 in particular I've listed the various routes below that will make up the complete scheme.

Route SL1 - North Finchley to Walthamstow Central via Arnos Grove (Arriva from Palmers Green AD)

Route SL2 - Walthamstow Central to North Woolwich via Gants Hill, Ilford and Barking (Arriva from Barking DX) - To be introduced early 2024

Route SL3 - Thamesmead to Bromley North via Bexleyheath (Stagecoach from Plumstead PD) - To be introduced early 2024

Route SL4 - Grove Park to Canary Wharf via Silvertown Tunnel (Go Ahead London from Henley Road DS) - To be introduced 2025

Route SL5 - Bromley North to Croydon (Arriva from Croydon TC) - To be introduced early 2024

Route SL6 (formerly X68) - Croydon to Russell Square (Go Ahead from Camberwell Q)

Route SL7 (formerly X26) - Croydon to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 via Kingston (Go Ahead from Croydon C)

Route SL8 (formerly 607) - Uxbridge to White City via Ealing and Acton (Metroline from Greenford G)

Route SL9 (formerly X140) - Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 to Harrow, Bus Station via Hayes (RATP from Harrow SO)

Route SL10 Harrow, Bus Station to North Finchley via Kenton (RATP from Harrow SO)

All routes together will make up the Superloop network, an initiative to improve bus services in outer London. This will involve buses wearing a special livery to help distinguish them from standard bus services which will be calling at all stops.

Route SL1 was introduced on the 9th of December running express between North Finchley and Walthamstow Central, being the first route linking these two areas, the route predominantly follows the line of route of route 34, using the same route between Walthamstow and Arnos Grove before following route 232 to New Southgate, and then route 221 to North Finchley.

As mentioned earlier, the route is operated by Arriva from their Palmers Green (AD) garage, operating as a spin off on the existing 34 contract. The route uses E40H City buses that have been made free by the loss of route 78 a few weeks prior from Ash Grove as that moved to Go Ahead operation from Peckham (PM) south of the river. 

The iBus display for the SL1

I went down to Walthamstow Central on the 9th of December to try to ride the route, however faced with the prospect of a half an hour wait for 4 to turn up together I decided against riding the route and opted to come back another day. I went back on the 22nd of December, this time to North Finchley to have a second attempt at the route. Upon arrival I was lucky to see HA4 preparing to depart and it wasn't long until I was sat comfortably on the front right hand side of the upper deck. I was only one of two people who boarded at the first stop, but there were a few people at the second stop slightly further down on Woodhouse Road. It wasn't long until we were breezing down the road towards Friern Barnet and New Southgate, although we did get caught at some traffic on the approach to Betstyle Circus. Up until this point the bus had been relatively empty, however once we pulled up to the bus stop at Arnos Grove station we picked up quite a healthy load with only a few seats left on the bus to spare. 

New USB ports have been installed

After Arnos Grove, route SL1 uses the North Circular road to get to Walthamstow so I was expecting a fun ride. But before the fun ride could start we had to negotiate a long line of traffic spawning from the junction at Palmers Green. Just as we made that stop the dreaded announcement of a driver changeover went off on the iBus display and a unanimous groan came out of the mouths of many passengers - the first I've heard many people do this so loudly! To say it was quick would be a lie, during the time we were waiting we got overtaken by the all stops 34 before we could eventually make it on our way. Our new driver however was not hasty with the foot pedal, it wasn't very long until we caught up and overtook the 34 which had passed us during the driver changeover. One of the biggest benefits of the SL1 is that it can use flyovers and underpasses while the standard 34 has to exit at them to serve the various communities. We went through the underpass at the Great Cambridge roundabout before existing the North Circular Road to serve Angel Corner and Silver Street Station before we were back on the North Circular. We also had the luxury of using the flyover to go above Meridian Water and Ely's Estate before we could see the Sainsbury's at Crooked Billet, the sign that we were entering Walthamstow. 

All new Superloop buses have an interior map

Unfortunately this is where it all ended up going slightly pear shaped, severe traffic leading to the Crooked Billet ended up in us wasting 15 minutes on the entrance ramp, before we knew it another SL1 had caught us up behind (despite this bus was 20 minutes behind us as we had left North Finchley). Once we finally managed to break free from the traffic at the Crooked Billet, we were greeted by another line of cars with their brake lights on stemming from Bell Corner. After what felt like forever we finally pulled into Walthamstow Central Bus Station with the second SL1 right behind us, and just as I was walking to the station a third one pulled up too! What was a great journey, showing the strengths of express routes and their obvious place within our bus network was ruined at the end by excessive traffic and a lack of bus priority. I think many of us are in agreement that the public should be encouraged to use buses where they can, and that schemes such as the Superloop should be welcomed with open arms, but what's the point when they're subject to the same drawbacks as your standard bus services?

If you are interested in checking out the new SL1 route, below are the stops that the route will stop at. Remember it's an express bus service so will not stop at every bus stop that it passes.

North Finchley Bus Station

North Finchley High Road

Friern Barnet/Friern Barnet Lane

Beaconsfield Road/New Southgate Station

Arnos Grove Station

Palmerston Road

Angel Corner/Silver Street Station

Ely Trading Estate

Crooked Billet/Walthamstow Avenue

Walthamstow/Crooked Billet Roundabout

Forest Road/Bell Corner

Walthamstow Market

Walthamstow Bus Station

Have to say we've not been posting as much as we'd have liked to over the past few months, unfortunately all members of the London Connected Team have been very busy over the past few months. However you can always keep up with the latest on the London Connected Online Chat where we are frequently found 

10 years of this blog, who knew we'd still be here all this time later! It's been a while since the last post, but here's one today. We are focussing on route 91 and its recent move to Go Ahead London operating obscurely out of Stockwell (SW). 

Yes, the route that runs between Trafalgar Square and Crouch End is being operated out of a garage in South London. There's a multitude of reasons for this, however the most widely acknowledged one is the crippling driver shortage at Northumberland Park (NP) up in North London (which was the garage which actually won the route) meant they were not in a position to take over the route. Stockwell garage isn't suffering as badly so were able to take the route on for now. 

Go Ahead are a new operator to this route, but if we look back into history the original plan where the 91 was meant to operate out of Northumberland Park isn't a completely new idea. The route is a relatively young one, starting operation in October 1992 running between Crouch End and Trafalgar Square via Holloway, Kings Cross, Euston, Russell Square and Aldwych. This is the same route that is in operation today. In 1992 when the route was introduced, it ran out of Holloway (HT) garage, at the time part of London Northern (Later MTL, and later Metroline). 1997 saw the route move to Northumberland Park (NP) under Capital City's (later First London) and in 2009 the route returned to operating from Holloway (HT) where it remained until Go Ahead took on the contract recently. 

© LondonBuses72

The previous two contracts at Metroline saw the route have an interesting allocation with it being allocated Enviro400s, then New Routemasters which were removed due to a variety of incidents on the route before using a mix of Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 and MCV EvoSeti bodied Volvo B5LH. The Go Ahead contract was won using existing hybrids, and these were soon after confirmed to be the unique EHVs that were previously allocated to the 135. Unique in the sense they are the only Enviro400 MMC bodied Volvo B5LHs in the Go Ahead fleet, and are part of only three batches in London completely. After being relieved from their duties on the 135, the EHVs initially made their way to Merton (AL) to provide cover for some grounded Optare MetroDecker EVs on the 200. They were then found on other routes at Merton before making their way to Stockwell. 

© EastLondoner

The Enviro400 MMC as a type are iconic to say the least, being present in almost every area of London, and you're never far from one. But I had special interest in doing the 91 on its first day at Go Ahead as the EHVs were the first MMCs that I rode. I made my way to Crouch Hill then grabbed a ride on the W7 to Crouch End broadway. I had to run to the bus stop to make my bus, which was going to be EHV8. Internally the bus felt like new, the refurbishment had very clearly been carried out to a very high standard. The ride itself was nothing out of the ordinary, we didn't have much traffic throughout the journey but this did have the negative effect of needing to stop three times to regulate the service. I wasn't too bothered about the regulation, but there was a large portion of people who got off my 91 that when the regulation announcement went off rushed off the bus and piled onto the 259 behind. Before I knew it we were along the Strand, stuck in traffic from the inevitable weekend closure of Whitehall due to a protest. 

While EHVs are to be the mainstay of the 91s allocation for the foreseeable future, Stockwell do have a variety of Hybrids available that can run the route. The first day itself saw WHV50, a Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 make an appearance on the route. 

© EastLondoner

I believe the eventual intention will be to move the 91 to Northumberland Park (NP) when the circumstances permit, so you may be limited in your time if you'd like to ride the route while it's operating out of Stockwell (SW). 

Go Ahead have been managing alright on the route so far (it's only been 2 days!), hopefully the operation remains consistent under their operation, and matches the standard set by their predecessor for the next 7 years!