THE 168 bus will be axed in September, it was announced this week.

Instead, the popular route from South End Green to Old Kent Road will be merged with the No 1 route as part of a revamp by Transport for London.

Critics say extra miles added on the new route will hit timetables and efficiency, and will lead to overcrowding at rush hour – with Camden Council calling on TfL to carefully monitor the effect of scrapping the long-serving 168 has on patients, staff and visitors to the Royal Free in Hampstead.

Radio presenter Edward Adoo, who grew up taking the bus into Camden Town, said: “The 168 should remain local – it provides vital links.

“My concerns are overcrowding with the No 1s and if buses end up getting stuck on the other side of town.

“Also will the current new Routemasters be used? I don’t think they will.

“There might be fewer buses on the road – a bus every 10 minutes as opposed to every eight during the day currently on the 168.”

Between November and January, passengers were asked their views regarding the proposed merger. More than 300 responded – and only 18 backed the scheme in any form.

In a consultation, Camden Council told TfL to make sure hospital patients were not negatively affected, adding that “longer routes typically tend to have less reliable journey times and often result in early journey curtailments”.

A TfL statement said: “Following careful consideration of consultation responses, we have decided to proceed with the proposal to merge routes 1 and 168, creating a new route that will operate between Hampstead Heath and Canada Water.

“This new route will be renumbered as ‘route 1’.”