The new express route will connect Gants Hill and Rainham via Romford and Elm Park from Saturday 5 September.
The new SL12 Superloop bus route will launch early next month, with passengers able to travel for free during its first week.
Transport for London will bring the new SL12 into service on Saturday 5 September, running through Romford and Elm Park before continuing to Rainham.
The service will mark the first expansion of the Superloop network into Havering and will also provide the first bus connection into the Ferry Lane Industrial Estate.
Image: TfL
Pay as you go journeys on the entire SL12 route will be free from 5.30am on 5 September until 11.59pm on 11 September.
Passengers will still need to touch in using a valid Oyster card, contactless card or device, but no fare will be charged.
The route will operate using new electric zero-emission buses fitted with improved real-time passenger information, air conditioning and charging points at seats.
Passengers will have connections to the Elizabeth and Weaver lines at Romford, the District line at Elm Park and the Central line at Newbury Park and Gants Hill.
The SL12 will also provide direct bus links to both King George Hospital and Queen’s Hospital.
Services will run from around 5.30am until 12.30am every day.
Buses will operate every 12 minutes during the daytime from Monday to Saturday, with a 15-minute service during evenings and throughout Sundays.
A small number of changes will also be made to stops used by routes 86, 498 and night route N86 in Romford town centre to accommodate the new service.
More than 81 million journeys have been made on Superloop routes since the network was launched in July 2023, according to TfL.
The addition of the SL12 means Superloop routes will have added around 9.6 million bus kilometres a year to London’s bus network.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Our Superloop network has been a gamechanger for bus travel in outer London, offering quicker, more convenient journeys around the capital.”
He said the week of free travel would give Londoners an opportunity to try the new service for themselves.
TfL’s Director of Buses Lorna Murphy said the SL12 would “boost travel and journey times in northeast and east London”.
She added that the new route would improve links to shops, amenities and rail connections across the area.
Further Superloop routes are planned for 2027, including the SL14 between Stratford and Chingford Hatch and the SL15 between Clapham Junction and Eltham.
TfL is also considering consultation feedback for a proposed SL13 between Ealing Broadway and Hendon.
