London’s Superloop BRT Ridership Grows by 20% While Other Bus Ridership Declines

A London bus rapid transit (BRT) service launched last month is gaining in popularity even as other bus lines see a decline in ridership, reports Feargus O'Sullivan in Bloomberg CityLab.

The ‘Superloop,’ an “almost-ring” of express buses, circles through London’s outer districts, connecting to central London via several spoke lines. Now, the BL1 line, one of 10 planned new lines, brings BRT to the suburbs for the first time. “Ridership increased by 20% on three Superloop routes that replaced preexisting services, according to a 2024 report. Speeds are up too, with the Superloop’s northern section averaging 12 miles per hour (compared to a network-wide 9.2 mph).”

A passenger survey showed that 88 percent of riders found Superloop services superior to average London buses. And, according to O’Sullivan, “it has been achieved on equipment that isn’t necessarily different from the London norm.”

While the Superloop is gaining in popularity, the rest of London’s bus lines dropped in ridership by 25 percent between 2014 and 2025. This is attributed in part to a shift to other sustainable transportation modes like biking, as car ownership has dropped.

O’Sullivan points out that the Superloop has several advantages thanks to careful route planning: it doesn’t compete with other forms of transit, it fills some gaps in the existing network, and, unlike other London buses, it’s fast. 

These buses are actually a precursor to a planned Tube line running along the same routes, but they are in operation now, whereas a train could be more than a decade away.