TfL wants to withdraw the 415 from Tulse Hill and extend the 333 instead. Its own assessment says 1,700 daily passenger links break. Reply by 15 November.

Transport for London wants to withdraw bus route 415, the double-decker that links Tulse Hill station with Brixton, Oval, Kennington, Elephant and Castle and the Old Kent Road. A public consultation opened on 5 October and closes on 15 November (TfL Have Your Say).

In its place TfL would extend route 333. That bus already runs from Tooting Broadway through Streatham, Tulse Hill, Brixton, Stockwell and Kennington to Elephant and Castle. It would carry on to Old Kent Road (Tesco) along the 415’s current roads.

TfL’s own equality impact assessment, published with the consultation, puts numbers on the change. The withdrawal “would break 2,500 direct bus passenger links”. The 333 extension would restore 800 of them. That leaves 1,700 daily passenger links broken (TfL Equality Impact Assessment, dated 29 September 2026).

Tulse Hill is about two miles south-east of Clapham Common. The 415 does not serve Clapham itself. It does run through Brixton town centre and up Brixton Road, and TfL says the stretch between Tulse Hill and Brixton is its busiest.

What TfL is proposing

  • Route 415 would be withdrawn entirely.
  • Route 333 would be extended from Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road (Tesco) via New Kent Road and Bricklayers Arms, following the 415’s current route.
  • The 333 would use different stops at Elephant and Castle. It would no longer serve its present first and last stops at Newington Causeway, which TfL says are less than 300 metres from the replacement stops.
  • The 333 would gain new direct links between the Old Kent Road and Stockwell, Streatham and Tooting.

TfL gives three reasons on the consultation page. Demand on the 415 “has dropped significantly since the pandemic”. Routes 2 and 432 “have sufficient capacity to meet demand should bus route 415 be withdrawn”, which it says “will be kept under review”. And the change would “reduce operating costs on the Elephant & Castle, Brixton and Tulse Hill corridors”.

The equality assessment is blunter about the money. Its first stated objective is to “make significant mileage and cost savings to help meet financial targets”. It calls the withdrawal “Option 2”, with a no-change “Option 1” also specified.

Who would have to change buses

The assessment’s figures, per day:

  • 900 passengers travelling between the Tulse Hill to Brixton section and the Brixton to Elephant and Castle section would need to change, mainly at Brixton.
  • 450 passengers travelling between the Brixton to Oval section and the Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road section would need to change, mainly at Elephant and Castle.
  • 350 passengers travelling between the Tulse Hill to Brixton section and the Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road section would need to change, mainly at Brixton.

Of the rest, TfL says 3,700 passengers a day “would see lower frequency and extra congestion on their bus on the remaining direct links”. It says 1,500 a day would see a higher frequency and less congestion on the Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road stretch, where the 333 runs more often than the 415.

Bar chart of what TfL's equality assessment says the 415 withdrawal would do to passengers each day. 900 would change buses at Brixton between Tulse Hill and Elephant and Castle; 450 would change at Elephant and Castle between Brixton and the Old Kent Road; 350 would change at Brixton between Tulse Hill and the Old Kent Road; 3,700 would see fewer buses on the remaining direct links; 1,500 would see more buses between Elephant and Castle and the Old Kent Road. Source: TfL Equality Impact Assessment, 29 September 2026.
Passengers a day affected by the 415 withdrawal, as counted in TfL's equality assessment. Chart by Clapham News.
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

TfL says the change at Brixton and at Elephant and Castle would be either at the same stop or a walk of at most 40 metres to an adjacent stop. The Hopper fare allows unlimited bus journeys within an hour of first touching in for £1.75, so a forced change made within the hour costs nothing extra.

How often the buses run now

We checked TfL’s published timetables through its open data service on 10 October. From Upper Tulse Hill towards the Old Kent Road, the 415 runs:

  • every 10 to 12 minutes from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday
  • every 12 to 20 minutes in the evening, and every 20 minutes after 10pm
  • every 20 minutes all day on Sundays
  • 90 journeys a day in that direction on a weekday, 84 on Saturdays and 60 on Sundays

The 333 from Brixton station runs every 10 to 13 minutes through the weekday, every 10 to 14 minutes in the evening, and every 12 to 14 minutes on Sundays. It makes 103 weekday journeys in that direction (TfL Unified API, route timetables).

So anyone boarding on the Old Kent Road leg would get a better service from the 333, especially on a Sunday. For anyone between Tulse Hill and Brixton, the question is whether the 2 and 432 absorb the 415’s passengers. TfL says they can.

Which buses TfL says you would use instead

TfL lists these alternatives on the consultation page:

  • Tulse Hill to Brixton: routes 2 or 432
  • Brixton to Elephant and Castle: route 133
  • Brixton to Oval: routes 3, 59 and 159
  • Oval to Elephant and Castle: route 155
  • Tulse Hill to Oval, Kennington or Elephant and Castle: routes 2 or 432, then change to the 133 or 333 at Brixton
  • Tulse Hill to Old Kent Road (Tesco): routes 2 or 432, then change to the extended 333 at Brixton

A route created to add capacity

The 415 began on Saturday 8 March 2008, running between Tulse Hill and Elephant and Castle via Brixton. TfL introduced it to “provide extra capacity on the very busy Tulse Hill routes”, in the words of John Barry, then its head of network development (TfL press release, 4 March 2008).

It ran every 12 minutes, every 20 in the evening and on Sundays. The 432 was cut from every eight minutes to every ten to make room for it. The route has since been extended to Old Kent Road (Tesco).

Eighteen years on, TfL’s case is the reverse. The capacity is now surplus.

What it means for you

  • If you use the 415 between Tulse Hill and Brixton, you would switch to the 2 or 432, which share the road. TfL says their capacity “will be kept under review”.
  • If you ride through Brixton to Oval, Kennington or Elephant and Castle, you would change buses at Brixton. The Hopper fare covers the second bus if you change within the hour.
  • If you travel to the Old Kent Road Tesco, the 333 would run there more often than the 415 does today, but from Tulse Hill you would change at Brixton.
  • If you catch the 333 at Newington Causeway, those stops would go. TfL says the nearest replacement is under 300 metres away.

How to respond, before 15 November:

  • the online survey on the consultation page, which TfL says takes no more than ten minutes, or a shorter quick response on the same page
  • by phone, through TfL’s call-back service on 020 3054 6037
  • in writing, to FREEPOST TFL HAVE YOUR SAY

The consultation page lists no public drop-in events. After it closes, TfL says it will publish a consultation report and decide whether to proceed, amend the plan or not take it forward.

Lambeth Council is separately consulting on bus priority measures on Acre Lane, between Clapham and Brixton, until 18 October: see our Acre Lane bus plans story. Our roadworks and travel page carries this week’s closures, and our trains and travel page covers the rail options from Tulse Hill.

Sources