Sure, the Underground is often the quickest way to zip across the city, but when you’re headed home after hours, many of us rely on London’s sprawling network of night bus services. And a new one connecting central and northwest London could be launched soon.
TfL has proposed a brand-new night bus route to run from Trafalgar Square all the way to Ruislip station, stopping via Wembley, Sudbury Hill and Rayners Lane. If approved, it’ll be called the N518.
The N518 would pretty much follow the current N18 route until the Sudbury and Harrow Road Station area, where it would split off towards Ruislip. It could mean new direct links between central London and areas including Northolt Park, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, Harlesden, Maida Hill and Paddington. It’d operate every 30 minutes on weeknights and every 15 minutes on weekends.
Since the 114, a weekend-only night bus route, was suspended in March 2020, there’s been no night bus route to the Ruislip area. According to TfL, demand at weekends for night bus services to Ruislip is around four percent higher than it was pre-pandemic.
You can have a look at the proposed N518 route map on TfL’s website here. We don’t know yet when it may come into service, though TfL is aiming to collect public feedback on the route by March 3. We should know more about the N518 then, so watch this space for updates.
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