SUPERLOOP & BAKERLOOP NEWS - BL1 Operator & Start Date CONFIRMED! TfL London Bus Changes EXPLAINED

New details about the BL1 Bakerloop have been announced. This route has now been confirmed to start on Saturday the 27th of September 2025. The BL1 will be operated by Go-Ahead London. Ten existing electric double deckers will be used. The route will run from Waterloo garage.

0:00 BL1 introduction
1:20 Route map / line diagram
1:36 What will the buses look like?
1:53 Interior
2:00 Frequency
2:48 Lewisham Centre
3:09 Molesworth Street
3:36 Lewisham Centre to Lewisham Clock Tower
4:00 Lewisham Clock Tower
4:30 Lewisham Station stop change
5:18 Loampit Vale
5:51 Loampit Vale to New Cross Gate (321)
6:28 New Cross Gate Station
6:54 New Cross Gate to Old Kent Road, Ilderton Road (53)
7:25 Old Kent Road, Ilderton Road
7:55 Old Kent Road to Burgess Park, Dunton Road (453)
8:40 Burgess Park, Dunton Road
9:05 Burgess Park to E&C (53)
10:10 E&C, New Kent Road
10:30 E&C NKR - LR (363)
10:50 E&C, London Road
11:07 Lambeth North
11:39 E&C, London Road (2)
12:00 E&C, London Road to Waterloo Station, Waterloo Road (188)
12:54 Waterloo Station, Waterloo Road
14:38 Bakerloo line trains (Thanks for watching)

The Bakerloop BL1 will be part of the Superloop express bus network. It will follow the unbuilt Bakerloo line extension. And is expected to be withdrawn when / if the extension opens. The BL1 will only serve around 7 or 8 stops (more on this later).

Buses will look something like this, With line diagrams and Bakerloop branding... And Bakerloo line seat moquettes.

The BL1 will be a high frequency service. Buses will run every 12 minutes during the daytime from Monday to Saturday. And every 15 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays. The BL1 will run between 05:00 and 00:30, with no service at night.

The BL1 would start and stop on Waterloo Road, at the same bus stop as the 172.
After serving Waterloo, route BL1 would stop at Elephant & Castle. The route would not stop at Lambeth North, located between Waterloo and Elephant & Castle.

Route BL1 would serve two stops in Elephant & Castle.
The bus stop at London Road will provide access to Elephant & Castle Tube station.

The bus stop at New Kent Road will provide access to National Rail services.

A journey between these stops would take 1 to 2 minutes.

After Elephant & Castle, route BL1 would stop in Burgess Park. The route is proposed to serve Dunton Road bus stops.

After Burgess Park, route BL1 would stop at Old Kent Road / Ilderton Road.

The BL1 would then stop at New Cross Gate station.

Route BL1 would terminate at Molesworth Street in Lewisham.

Between Lewisham station and New Cross Gate, Route BL1 would follow the 21, 136, 321 and 436.

From New Cross Gate to Old Kent Road / Ilderton Road and Burgess Park, Route BL1 would follow the 21, 53, 172 and 453.

Between Burgess Park and Elephant & Castle / Newington Causeway, Route BL1 would follow the 63, 172, 363 and 453.

Between Elephant & Castle / London Road and Waterloo station, Route BL1 would follow the 1, 68 176 and 188.

Subject to the outcome of the consultation, route BL1 will use double deck buses. On-board facilities such as USBs and real time information will be available.

It's not yet known what type of buses will be used on the BL1. A GoAhead BYD BD11 was wrapped in a livery for TfL's press release. However the operator of the BL1 has not been announced yet.

Also subject to the outcome of consultation, should we decide to proceed to introduce route BL1, unique design features inspired by the Bakerloo line would be developed.

In addition to the Bakerloo line at Waterloo and Elephant & Castle, Route BL1 is set to connect to several rail lines. These include:

The Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo & City lines at Waterloo,
South Western Railway and Southeastern at Waterloo and Waterloo East,
The Northern line and Thameslink at Elephant & Castle,
The Windrush line and Southern at New Cross Gate,
And the Docklands Light Railway and Southeastern at Lewisham.

The Bakerloop would only connect to one other Superloop route. This would be the SL6, which runs from Russell Square to West Croydon at peak times.

What are your thoughts on the BL1? Let me know in the comments. Please consider subscribing, as these videos take a lot of time and effort to make. This video was created by MostlyBuses. Thanks for watching.

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