Sadiq Khan has announced plans for a ‘Bakerloop’ bus route along the proposed Bakerloo Tube line extension.
The mayor of London, who is campaigning for a record third term running City Hall, pledged a new express bus route mirroring the mooted Tube expansion – if he is reelected.
He said the Elephant & Castle to Lewisham service, which would be a similar project to the recent ‘Superloop’ orbital bus network, would have a brown Bakerloo-style colour theme.
It would stop at locations including Burgess Park, Old Kent Road, and New Cross Gate.
But it comes as government funding for the Bakerloo Tube extension is still uncertain, in spite of warnings of the “escalating risks of inaction” with trains now dating back to 1972.
Borough partnership Central London Forward said the line upgrade and extension project would cut travel time from Old Kent Road to Oxford Circus from 38 to just 13 minutes.
Khan said: “I continue to make the case as strongly as ever that we need the Bakerloo line Tube extension to get underway as soon as possible.
“Transport for London (TfL) is lobbying ministers about the funding the project needs. In the meantime I’m determined that we do all we can to provide the very best service across south London.”
Construction on the 4.7 mile Tube expansion is expected to commence by 2030, according to TfL’s programmes and investment committee plans, and could cost between £5-8bn.
London Labour said the new service would be subject to consultation, but is mooted to run alongside existing stopping services in the area such as the 21 and 453 routes.
The new express bus service would be paid for from within existing TfL budgets, they added, and would kickstart housing development while the Tube extension progresses.
Khan said the May 2 election was a choice between him and a “Tory opponent who would take London backwards, opposed the fares freeze and voted against free school meals”.
Conservative candidate Susan Hall’s transport policy has focused on scrapping the ULEZ expansion on day one, if she is elected, which she called a “£12.50 per day ULEZ tax”.
She has pledged to launch a £50m pollution hotspots fund to tackle air pollution; and wants to “end Sadiq Khan’s war on London’s motorists” via a TfL review, encouraging councils to remove low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), supporting black cabs and ditching 20mph zones.
Hall is also opposed to London pay-per-mile schemes – which Khan has insisted will not be brought in under his mayoralty – and wants to see more electric buses, car charging points, a carbon-neutral TfL and the London Underground’s air quality improved.