Does London have Bus Rapid Transit? The short answer is no — there is no formal BRT system meeting international BRT-standard criteria. But several services use BRT-style features: the Superloop express orbital, East London Transit and (just outside Greater London) Kent Fastrack.
London does not have a Bus Rapid Transit system that meets the formal ITDP BRT Standard (dedicated right-of-way, station-platform boarding, off-board fare collection, signal priority for most of the route). The closest TfL service is the Superloop, a network of ten limited-stop express buses around outer London. The most BRT-like corridor inside Greater London is East London Transit (ELT), and the most complete UK BRT example near London is Kent Fastrack in Dartford / Gravesend.
Limited-stop express bus · Outer London orbital
BRT features: Branding, limited stops, high frequency
Missing: Dedicated lanes, level-boarding, off-board fares
Learn more →BRT-lite corridor · Ilford – Barking – Dagenham Dock
BRT features: Dedicated busway sections, signal priority, branding
Missing: Full route segregation, platform boarding
Learn more →Guided busway / BRT · Dartford – Bluewater – Ebbsfleet – Gravesend
BRT features: Dedicated guided busways, BRT branding
Missing: Some on-street sections share traffic
Learn more →Proposed BRT alternative · South-west to north-east London
BRT features: Hypothetical only
Missing: Never implemented
Learn more →The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) defines a BRT system as a high-quality bus-based transit network delivering fast, comfortable and cost-effective services with five core features: dedicated right-of-way, busway alignment in the centre of the road, off-board fare collection, intersection treatments (signal priority), and platform-level boarding. London services have some of these but no corridor scores high enough to be ranked as Bronze, Silver or Gold BRT.
Most cities adopt BRT because heavy-rail metro is too expensive. London already had the world's first Underground (1863) plus suburban rail, so the political case for BRT was always weaker than in Bogotá, Curitiba or Istanbul. New cross-city capacity has gone to Crossrail/Elizabeth line, Thameslink and the planned Bakerloo line extension rather than dedicated busways.