South London bus users to get extended Route 415

Local bus services in south London are to get a boost from this Saturday (7 March), as Transport for London (TfL) extends route 415, which is operated by Abellio.

Route 415, which currently operates between Tulse Hill and Elephant & Castle via Brixton and Oval, will now be extended to Old Kent Road, Tesco via New Kent Road and the Bricklayer's Arms.

These changes follow a consultation which ran earlier this year after a review of capacity along the Old Kent Road.

Route 415 will continue to run every 12 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday, and every 20 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays.

John Barry, TfL's Head of Network Development for buses, said: `We are always looking at ways to improve London's bus network, so that we can continue to offer the best possible service to our customers. The extension of route 415 not only provides additional capacity along the busiest sections of New Kent Road and Old Kent Road but also gives new direct links which passengers have told us will be valuable.'

This service change is part of TfL's management and development of a network that comprises of around 700 routes across Greater London, operated by 7,600 buses at peak times, carrying more than 2.4 billion passengers every year. TfL keeps the network under regular review, working with the London boroughs and other partners to help ensure that services can respond to London's changing travel needs.

Since TfL was formed in 2000 it has invested strongly in London's bus network - resulting in a 69% increase in passenger numbers. London Buses now carry more than 2.4 billion passengers a year, which equates to half of all bus journeys made in England. In recognition of the continued need to invest in bus services - with a increase in demand from the city's rapidly growing population - TfL's latest Business Plan has dedicated around £500m to improve the network over the period from 2015/16 to 2020/21. This will include funding for over 500 extra buses, which will create capacity for an extra 2.9 million customer journeys each week. There is also an additional £200m which will be invested in supporting the reliability of the bus network at a local level with bus priority schemes. A further £25m will be used to fund customer-focused bus driver training to improve customer service.

• The extension of route 415 at all times means that the peak time only extra journeys on route 172 between Old Kent Road and Elephant which were introduced as an interim measure are no longer needed. These journeys ran only at the height of the peak whereas route 415 will run between around 6am and midnight seven days a week