In a move City Hall is calling a “bold reimagining of urban mobility,” Mayor Sadiq Khan has confirmed that selected Superloop routes will transform into fully fledged party buses every Friday night from 8pm.
Key routes including the SL3 (Thamesmead to Bromley), SL4 (Grove Park to Canary Wharf), SL5 (Bromley to Croydon), and the hotly anticipated SL11 (North Greenwich to Abbey Wood) will swap their usual low hum of mild despair for basslines, strobe lighting and what one TfL insider described as “a faint but persistent smell of WKD Blue.”
It’s April 1 remember… Did we fool you? 😂
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “We wanted to make public transport more appealing.
“Londoners deserve a night out that starts the moment they tap in.”
Passengers can expect live DJs on board, free booze and Sadiq Khan merchandise, including glow-in-the-dark bobble hats and “Mind the Gap” crop tops.
The themed nights will depend on each route – early leaks suggest the SL3 will host “Garage & Grime Through the Ages,” while the SL5 is rumoured to lean into “Divorced Dad Anthems.”
Local resident Barry Buswell, 54, from Bexleyheath, was cautiously optimistic.
He told the News Shopper: “I only get the bus to Lidl and back, but if there’s a DJ playing a bit of Shaggy, I might stay on till Bromley.
“Live a little, you know?”
Meanwhile, self-described “transport enthusiast and part-time raver” Chantelle Wheelwright, 23, said the move was “iconic.”
She added: “I’ve been manifesting this since the night bus N89 got stuck in traffic and someone started a conga.”
Despite many south east Londoners gearing up for the commuter rave, not everyone is convinced.
Derek Standclear, spokesperson for the campaign group Keep Buses Boring, warned of potential chaos.
He told the News Shopper: “Buses are for quiet reflection, missed stops and passive-aggressive sighing.
“The introduction of ‘vibes’ could undermine decades of carefully maintained social awkwardness.”
TfL insists safeguards are in place.
Drivers will remain sober, though some have reportedly requested to “go on the decks.”
Conductors, rebranded as ‘vibe managers’, will ensure revellers don’t attempt to crowd-surf down the aisle or press the stop button ‘for the drop.’
There are also plans for a ‘Bus Clubbing Etiquette Guide,’ reminding passengers to move down inside the bus and not shout “this is my stop!” unless they actually mean it.
Perhaps most intriguingly, the Mayor hinted at future expansions.
He said: “If successful, we could see karaoke on the Overground, silent discos on the DLR, and jazz hands on the Jubilee line.”
Back on the SL11 test run, DJ Deckchair (real name undisclosed) was already warming up a crowd of slightly confused commuters with a remix of the iBus announcement voice.
“Next stop… absolute scenes,” it declared, to polite applause.
As one passenger, Clive Tapper, summed it up: “I came for the ride, stayed for the glitter, and may never forgive myself for leaving.”
…Did we get you? Happy April Fools Day!
