London’s First Highway: Part 3 – Evolution of River Passenger Transport Policy

Its roads and trains clogged, ‎London has made a strong effort to bring passengers back to the Thames over the last two decades, as a return to its future past. TfL’s 2013 River Action Plan set the target to increase passenger journeys on the Thames to 12 million a year by 2020 – was the goal reached before COVID spread throughout the land?

With the latest lockdown in London set to ease on 29 March 2021, Thames Clippers is planning to return its flagship RB1 route between Battersea Power Station and Woolwich (Royal Arsenal) piers, then slowly reintroducing its other routes as circumstances demand. Given the unprecedented path back to normality, looking at river transport may seem unusual. However, since starting operations at the turn of the millenium, Thames Clippers’ River Buses have demonstrated remarkable growth and have added another mode to diversify London’s transport. To do so, however, it has been aided by a number of agencies and entities working together diligently in the background. And like the rail network, many of these are operational and regulatory authorities that govern Thames transport. Some of the players are the same, and some are new but fulfilling familiar roles:

Dramatis Personae

• Old Father Thames, Aqueous Diety
• London Transport (LT), transport agency
• Transport for London (TfL), son of LT, transport agency
• London River Services (LRS), stepson of TfL
• Port of London Authority (PLA), Thames oversight agency
• Mayor’s Thames and London Waterways Forum,Thames & waterways promotion group
• Thames Clippers Ltd (TCL), private river bus company
• Greater London Authority (GLA), local government
• London Development Agency (LDA), son of GLA
• Canal & River Trust, née British Waterways
• Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB), marine safety authority
• Environment Agency, operators of the Thames Barrier
• Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London
• Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London
• Sadiq Khan, current Mayor of London

Prologue

Reviving river passenger transport in London had been a dream of many a politician in the 1980s and 1990s, from former Conservative Minister of Transport Steve Norris’ “20-lane highway running through the centre of the capital” to Labour’s John Prescott park-and-sail scheme from Barking and Woolwich to Central London. But with no hint of a subsidy or other long term government support, most potential operators have stayed away, given the failure of multiple private operators before the millenium.

In this article we look at the evolution of Thames river passenger transport policy, from the traditional hands-off laissez faire approach of the previous century, to one initiated and directed by London’s mayors.

Act 1 – Laissez faire

Powers to operate or procure river passenger services for the Greater London area were included in the London Regional Transport Act of 1984, with remarkable foresight. At that time, river companies were on their own to lease piers from which to operate, as it had always been, with a few short grants here and there, but no long term government funding or goals.

London Transport started the transition to goals and support for river passenger transport by creating a stand-alone company, London River Services (LRS), in December 1997. This company was bestowed with its own corporate aims, chiefly to provide or secure a network of public passenger Thames transport services in Greater London, as well as its supporting infrastructure (namely, piers) and facilities (ie for ferry maintenance). LRS also took over the various river infrastructure tendering processes, whilst continuing to work closely with the bodies that initiated it.

LRS is also legally obliged to have due regard to Greater London’s transport needs, and the efficiency, economy, safety and environmental impacts of operation. River passenger services must be physically integrated with land-based public passenger transport, and where possible, with its ticketing and marketing.

TfL‎ disavows river passenger transport

The young TfL, born in 1999, was gifted with LRS, but the new transport agency did not initially see much use for River Buses. Andy Griffiths, then head of London River Services, told the Independent in 2003: “The capital cost of the craft and the crewing costs are just so vastly out of kilter with other modes of transport on cost-per-passenger basis”. He added that the view within TfL is that the Thames will never be suitable as a mass transit market, so the possibility of subsidising commuter river services had to date been rejected by TfL as very poor value-for-money.

Mayor’s 2005 Transport Strategy for London

Notwithstanding TfL’s disavowal, Mayor Ken Livingstone’s 2005 Transport Strategy for London stated his vision of the role the Thames could play in London transport:

The safe use of the Thames for passenger and freight services should be developed. Passenger services will be encouraged, particularly services that relate to its cultural and architectural excellence and tourism. Use of London’s other navigable waterways for freight, consistent with their roles for leisure use and as ecosystems, will be encouraged.

Act 2 – Mayor initiates London’s first river passenger policy

Following the Mayor’s direction, the GLA Transport Committee investigated commuter services along the Thames. The GLA’s resulting London’s Forgotten Highway report issued in September 2006 noted that both London River Services and Thames Clippers Ltd had worked hard to expand the River Bus service. However, their success had been limited by TfL’s apathy, lack of direction and leadership. Nor had the Port of London Authority’s work been well integrated with LRS and TCL either.

By that time, Thames Clippers was carrying around 2,500 passengers a day, or 524,700 a year. London’s Forgotten Highway noted other issues that were holding back service expansion, including:

• complex pier ownership and management structures
• lack of consistent funding for new piers
• commuter services having to share limited pier space with tourist boats
• inconsistent signage

But this report also noted that increased river passenger transport had the potential to take some pressure off the Capital’s increasingly congested tubes, trains, and buses.

Furthermore, the GLA found that a number of private developers had also offered funding and support to build new River Bus piers, but TfL had not taken them up on it. The GLA Transport Committee report then made a number of recommendations on how to enhance river services:

As well as meeting the everyday needs of commuters and residents of new mixed-use riverside developments, the river service is ideal for people travelling to and from large events, including the 2012 Olympics. This means it is essential that this undervalued form of public transport is given the investment and attention it deserves as quickly as possible.

TfL needs to change its attitude and take river services seriously. Most of the barriers to making river transport a viable, integrated service could be removed if TfL and LRS got together with operators, developers and boroughs to put in place a coherent strategy for improving services – with realistic timescales and adequate funding.

GLA Transport Committee report

Like a large ship starting a turn, it would take some time to make progress on these recommendations.

Port of London Authority

The other major player in river transport is the PLA, a self-financing organisation established by an Act of Parliament in 1909 to bring order to the congestion on the Thames. Competing wharves, docks, and river users had all fought for business, greatly reducing efficient operations. The PLA’s current 350-strong workforce is now responsible for safe navigation, protecting the marine environment, and promoting more use of the 95-mile tidal stretch from Teddington Lock to the North Sea. The PLA works with companies and entities that work and use the river or its shores, as well as overseeing Thames dredging and controlling the legal status of piers. PLA revenues come primarily from piloting services, with some from leasing use of its piers. Any financial surpluses PLA makes are reinvested in river infrastructure.

Act 3 – Other actors have their own river policies and plans

From 2006 to 2009, it was becoming increasingly evident that the PLA, LRS, and TfL had divergent goals that were hampering improvement of river transport. Whilst they were talking to each other more frequently, which was progress, there was no single agency leading or co-ordinating the efforts or plans. Richard Everitt, Chief Executive of the PLA, admitted that they had been spreading their resources on too wide a field. Additionally, the PLA had a policy of maximising revenue from the many piers it controls, even though lowering these fees could benefit London in a wider sense by increasing use of river commuter services and leisure trade.

Responding to this, in April 2009 Mayor Johnson announced the River Concordat, a voluntary agreement between more than 40 organisations to improve River passenger transport and integrate it into London’s transport network, and to ensure its readiness for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Concordat signatories include the aforementioned three entities, as well as the GLA, the Olympic Delivery Authority, British Waterways (now the Canal & River Trust), boat operators, individual pier owners, riverside developers and riparian boroughs, who agreed to work together to improve passenger services on the Thames. The Concordat brought together these groups to meet annually to ensure the continued involvement of the wider river community to improve river transport services.

River Bus route cause analysis

After ten years of operation (1999-2009), no entity had conducted formal planning of River Bus routes – unlike what occurs regularly with bus routes on London’s roads. River passenger routes had been initiated almost entirely by private operators responding to the anticipated demands of the market. The exception was the River Bus route initiated by the Millennium Commission (and funded by the Cross River Partnership) in 2000 to provide river access to the Millennium Dome. City Cruises won this tender and purchased new vessels for this service.

LRS’ new route evaluation and approval process

Then, as now, individual boat operators submit route suggestions to LRS, who ensures that no existing commuter or tourist service is adversely affected. LRS also consults with the PLA on any navigational concerns a new service may raise. If LRS is satisfied with these, it then considers licensing the new service and negotiates the proposal with the operator. Some of the River Bus routes have evolved over time, with changes subject to negotiation with London River Services. Additional River Bus services have depended on the ability of operators to fund new boats and finance the service, sometimes supported by an initial subsidy grant from LRS.

Trial routes and incentives

From April 2005 to November 2006, Thames Clippers trialled a London Eye to Tower of London Express route aimed at tourists, at half-hour frequencies and 15 minute journey time. It was not a commercial success and the company terminated the route.

River Bus routes as a strategic transport link?

There has only been one attempt to define and market a river commuter service based on a deficiency in the strategic transport network (however that might actually be defined) and promote it as a partner offering interchanges with other mainstream services. From July 2009 to November 2010, Thames Clippers operated the Canary Wharf Express co-ticketing partnership with First Capital Connect train operating company, connecting rail passengers from London Bridge Station via the close by London Bridge City Pier to Canary Wharf Pier. As this lasted just over a year, and no other such rail-River Bus fare promotion has been trialled or suggested, river borne strategic transport links appear to be a dead end concept. If a River Bus connection from London Bridge to Canary Wharf to avoid the very crowded Jubilee line could not pay its way, it’s difficult to think of another rail-River Bus link that could.

Policy Exchange’s At a Rate of Knots Report 2010

However there were some, including the Policy Exchange, a right leaning think tank, that have called for a more formal River Bus expansion planning process to be lead by TfL, similar to that used to determine new London bus services. The Policy Exchange claims that this would provide fact based decision making and more stability for companies purchasing boats, as well as coordination with LRS to upgrade piers to support increased river services when needed.

Annual River Bus ridership has grown from zero at the May 1999 startup to 4.3m annually, with little public subsidy. Most new routes have become self-supporting within a few years, as increasing numbers of riverside developments feed the boats with passengers travelling to jobs at Canary Wharf, the City and the West End. Leisure and tourist ridership is also significant, using ample off peak capacity, making up the majority of ridership on the River Bus tourist routes.

For particular journeys, if one is within reasonable walking distance of a pier at either end of a journey, a River Bus trip can be the fastest and least stressful choice. However there is no disguising the fact that River Buses are a premium public transport service, as described in Part 2 of this series.

Policy Exchange report recommendations

The At a Rate of Knots report recommended the creation of a waterborne ‘Tube line’ operated by frequent high-speed boats stopping at 20 piers from Putney to Woolwich. This the report estimated could increase River Bus ridership to 12 million per year in just three years, for a public investment of £30 million. They further calculated that this would be about a quarter of the time and less than a hundredth of the funding that a similar capacity project would need on land.

Furthermore, the report also proposed a long term River Bus capacity of 450,000 passengers a week, or 23 million a year. If all of the recommended pier improvements are made, they purported that the River could in fact eventually support 35 million passenger trips a year, nearly the ridership of the Hammersmith and City Underground line. This Policy Exchange report generated much press and public discussion about the role the River could play in increasing transport capacity and options in London. Indeed, Reconnections’ first article on river transport analysed this report in 2010.

Policy Exchange’s River Bus subsidy calculations

Whilst the Policy Exchange report calculated the River Bus subsidy to be 14p per passenger, Thames Clippers’ own calculation in December 2009 put the per passenger subsidy at 56p, four times higher. The Policy Exchange had estimated the subsidy levels for different London transport modes, based on TfL accounts of net loss per passenger, but notes that these figures do not reflect capital costs. It is likely that the Policy Exchange figure has been arrived at by dividing the TfL contract payment over all Thames Clippers operations, ie both the supported and commercially self-supporting elements. So we submit that some of these Policy Exchange figures are inaccurate:

TfL subsidy calculations

When questioned about River Bus subsidies, Mayor Johnson suggested that Policy Exchange may have miscalculated by including non-subsidised journeys:

TfL financially supports Thames Clippers’ Monday to Friday peak hour service between Woolwich Arsenal and the London Eye which operates under contract. The actual subsidy paid is calculated every four weeks. For example in December Thames Clippers were paid £33,978. [And] 60,300 people travelled on the peak hour commuter service during these four weeks. This works out at 56p per passenger journey. This contract payment does not include the costs incurred by TfL to introduce Oyster Pay As You Go on Thames Clippers services in November 2009.

Mayor Johnson

This LRS subsidy was removed once this route achieved commercially self-sufficiency – the remainder of the Thames Clippers’ services are operated on a self-supporting commercial basis. Nonetheless, it must be appreciated that even the quoted government support levels are incredibly low by international standards.

Imaginary barriers to Thames passenger transport

Most of the traditional arguments against using the river for commuting – slow journey times, low boat capacity and the tides – have been demonstrated since the millennium to have been non-issues. In their place are relatively minor and surmountable issues such as pier capacity and congestion, integration into London’s transport networks and expanding River Bus services, which are political, policy and funding related.

The London Development Agency (LDA) was a functional body of the Greater London Authority established in 1999 with the mandate to drive sustainable economic growth in London. The LDA had called for sustainable freight and logistics, including ways to encourage the use of the River and canals for freight movement. The LDA unfortunately suffered an untimely death on 31 March 2012 as a result of the coalition government’s spending review.

Act 4 – TfL’s River Action Plan 2013

Whilst the River Concordat and its Steering Committee had made some progress coordinating efforts, a larger vision and concrete goals were still needed. In addition, it was becoming increasingly clear that TfL, as the region’s transport provider, needed to take the leadership role. Furthermore, the Mayor of London has a duty under the Greater London Authority Act, section 41(5)(d), of “promoting and encouraging the use of the River Thames safely, in particular for the provision of passenger transport services and for the transportation of freight”.

This has been echoed since in the Further Alterations of the London Plan (FALP), first published in 2013 and approved in 2015, which incorporated the goals of and made specific references to this River Action Plan. The FALP states that river transport should be increased within sustainable limits, and that owners and users of riverside sites should consider how they could contribute to or benefit from river transport.

TfL and Mayor Johnson recognised that London’s river passenger services were not yet reaching their full potential and that action was required to improve the situation. So in 2013 the Mayor initiated the River Action Plan (RAP) which set a target to increase passenger journeys on the Thames from 6.5 million (in 2012) to 12 million a year by 2020 by maximising the potential for river travel (these ridership figures and goals include River Buses, river tours, charters and the Woolwich free ferry). The RAP assigned the implementation to TfL, as they are responsible for all transport in London, as well as the leadership role of the River Concordat.

TfL’s vision is for river services to become a truly integral part of the transport network in the Capital, as they offer a relatively ‎quick and cheap way to add transport capacity, as an appealing alternative transport mode for commuters and an exciting attraction for visitors. The RAP sets out specific ways on how TfL and LRS can achieve this goal:

• develop a strategic pier network to increase river services
• provide clearer, simpler information for passengers
• position the river as an integral part of London life

TfL estimated at the time that these improvements would require an investment of £10m. Less than the Policy Exchange’s proposed £30m investment, but less ambitious.

The RAP also identified the need for increased capacity at Embankment, Westminster and Bankside Piers, updated the signage, iBoat real-time arrival information, contactless Oyster ticketing, and installing new cycle facilities by the River. Most of these have since been implemented.

Around 6.5 million passenger journeys were made on the Thames in TfL’s 2011/12 fiscal year, a stupendous increase in the use of river services over the past 10 years. This rise has been driven by a growing number of residential developments and attractions along the river, as well as substantial investment in services by boat operators.

In 2013 TfL adopted a more accurate method for counting passenger journeys made on the river, based on the internationally recognised mandatory shipping Automatic Identification System (AIS), which uses the actual passenger numbers collected by the boat crew so that emergency responders will know the exact count in case of accident. The AIS was seen in the first Londonist video in Part 2 of this series.

Barriers to growth

The River Action Plan identified a range of factors that were preventing wider expansion of passenger services on the Thames:

• Lack of integration with the rest of London’s transport network
• Constraints on pier capacity in central London at peak times
• Gaps in the pier network outside central London
• Lack of public awareness of river services
• Many different pier owners, resulting in inconsistent pier facilities and appearance
• Lack of boatyards to ensure adequate maintenance capacity

It was noted that a passenger arriving at London Bridge by train can reach the London Bridge City Pier quicker than the Tube platforms, but as the pier is hidden behind a private development which refuses to acknowledge or sign its existence, the River Bus service remains unbeknownst to most passengers.

Sean Collins, Thames Clippers Managing Director, stated to the GLA Transport Committee that the piers in general are the biggest problem:

We currently operate 15 piers and out of those there are 10 different owners. No other major transport mode has to cope with that situation. LRS’ main focus has been on a very few select central London piers, mainly to support river tour operators.

TfL responded that none of these were insurmountable, given some effort and a relatively small amount of funding.

The River Action Plan components

The RAP builds on the successes to date, and TfL anticipates that the boat operating companies will continue to invest in new boats and expand their services.

TfL also identified piers in Opportunity Areas set out in the Mayor’s London Plan.

Most of the following recommendations have been implemented, which is already driving river ridership growth:

• Enlargement and development of piers and surrounding land to standardise the look and feel, including neighbourhood signage
• Better visibility, information and integration of river services and integrating piers into the surrounding urban and suburban fabric and transport interchanges
• Improved real-time information pierside, online and via mobile apps
• Improved and larger capacity embarkation facilities, including coach parking
• More frequent services
• Better promotion of the Thames as a destination
• Promoting use of the Thames Path in conjunction with a river boat journey.
• Cycle parking (all River Bus routes can already carry bikes)
• River services improvements are being tied into other TfL projects such as Cycle Superhighways, the expansion of the Cycle Hire, Legible London wayfinding and Oyster ticketing.

As TfL neither controls nor franchises the boat operators or the private pier owners, all TfL can do is encourage them to provide and allow regular services respectively.

TfL’s Journey Planner ‘near me’ feature was updated to allow users to discover piers near other transport modes, and to make a tradeoff between journey time and ambience, similar to the ”I don’t mind walking” option on the Journey Planner.

Better integrated river services

TfL can certainly do a much better job marketing River Buses, as most Londoners don’t know much about them, and River transport is barely mentioned in the Transport in London Reports. Nor does the mode appear split out in any of the Report ridership tables. River Buses are still the seldom acknowledged step child of the TfL transport family.

This is one of the very few River Bus posters that TfL has produced:

New opportunities for passenger growth

As part of the business case for improved river services, TfL predicts that an additional 2m annual River Bus passenger journeys will come from:

• New riverside residential developments (with some new River Bus piers) in the wider Thames Gateway, and new cross-river passengers ferries at Woolwich (potentially adding 1.5 million journeys a year by 2020)
• Connections between outer London, the City, and Westminster (potentially an extra 0.5 million journeys a year by 2020)
• Continued growth in riverside leisure, tourism and attractions
• Population and employment growth overall, resulting in more river passenger journeys

With the relatively low cost initiatives underway in the River Action Plan, River Buses are slowly becoming a better known and better integrated part of London’s transport network, and are making an increasing contribution to mobility in the Capital. ‎

Given the TfL 2020 goal of 12m river passengers a year, annual ridership growth, and the relatively cheap opportunity to provide additional capacity to central London as well as to growing riparian (those that border the river) office, leisure and residential developments, this provides a solid case for continued fluvial transport expansion.

To put the 2020 ridership goal into perspective, the Waterloo and City Underground line currently carries 9.6 million passengers annually.

The following improvement actions helped almost double River Bus passenger numbers from 2009 to 2016, from 2.3m to 4.3m par annum. This has in turn provided the incentive and justification for the Mayor and TfL to further improve and expand river passenger services:

• Extensions to Tower and London Eye Piers
• New piers opened at Imperial Wharf (Chelsea Harbour) and St George Wharf (Vauxhall)
• Implementation of Oyster pay as you go payments
• Improved and standardised river services signage at piers
• New river services maps and identity branding for River Buses, cruises and tours

TfL’s Business Plan has allocated £10m to 2020 for further pier improvements and to unlock further funding from partners and investment from river service operators and commercial developments. A successful example of private investment are the two new Thames Clippers catamarans delivered in October 2015, and a further two catamarans ordered in October 2016.

Ongoing information design issues

Recognising the role of design in transport, in August 2015 TfL and London Transport Museum together launched an 18-month programme of events, exhibitions and competitions highlighting how transport has shaped London and, through good design, made life in the Capital better, under the slogan ‘Good Design Makes Life In London Better’.

Starting with pier signage, TfL had introduced a number of River Bus and River Tours design standards, to their high standard of information design:

Thames Clippers has the cleanest River Bus network map, but it resembles a primitive computer game graphic:

However, the London River Services map is much too cluttered to be of much use for either commuters or tourists:

The surprising success of the Overground is arguably due as much to its inclusion on the Tube Map as to its cleaner, improved stations, and increased frequencies. A better designed and clearer River Bus map would also increase network comprehension and thus river ridership. Despite using some of the Harry Beck Tube Map design principles, the LRS map is a muddy mess, and does not come close to achieving TfL’s information design excellence. London River Services can start to greatly simplify river information by splitting it into separate, much clearer maps for each of their two main demographics – commuters/travellers, and tourists.

As a partial improvement, River Bus services on TfL’s main Tube Map have been made more visible, by adding a circle around a small boat icon next to Tube stations. This circled boat icon and the dotted line indicate a 10 minute or less walking transfer, and the direction to or from the Tube or Overground station. Unfortunately, for piers like Canary Wharf that are a further walk away, the boat icon is free floating, so it is ambiguous which shore of the Isle of Dogs its River Bus pier is actually on:

Furthermore, the Nelson Dock Pier in Rotherhithe is not indicated on this map, used by the RB4 Canary Wharf – Doubletree Docklands River Bus shuttle, being more than a 10 minute walk from the East London Line. In all, only about two thirds of the River piers are shown on the Tube Map, despite it being a TfL overseen service – as it only includes the piers near Tube and Overground stations. This all demonstrates that River Buses are still considered a niche mode by TfL.

It would be ideal to provide a simplified River Bus ‘route’ on the map to highlight the services, if it could be done without adding undue clutter. Additional improvement of such depiction of River Buses on TfL maps are necessary to increase awareness and use of this mode.

Although the River Roundel, and all other TfL modes, are prominently displayed at Tfl HQ:

Act 5 – Denouement: Beyond the River Action Plan – Thames Vision 2035

The Port of London Authority was already planning for beyond the Mayor’s London River Plan 2020, so in 2015 the PLA started a public consultation and detailed study process to develop a 20 year Thames Vision for the future of the River in all aspects. It released the plan in 2016. Essentially, the PLA believes there is still much untapped potential for trade, travel, leisure and sport on the River, to make it a low-carbon super highway, a natural ‘outdoor gym’ for water sports and exercise, and a haven for wildlife.

The Thames Vision Goals for 2035 relevant to transport are:

• Double the number of people travelling by river – to 20 million commuter and tourist trips every year.
• Continue cleaning the Thames – it’s the cleanest it has been since the Industrial Revolution – but much more needs to be done to reduce pollution from vessels
• Attract people to the river for recreation and sport.
• Handle 60 – 80 million tonnes of cargo a year.
• Take more lorry trips off the region’s roads – every year more than four million tonnes carried by water take over 400,000 lorry trips off the road.

The Vision also predicts much future development to face the river, mostly in east London where population growth is expected to be concentrated. This will require new crossings – by ferry, tunnel, and bridge.

To meet the first goal of doubling river passenger ridership, this report recommends the following priorities:

• Make more efficient use of piers and river space, including new timetabling to manage peaks in traffic. Specifically, and unsurprisingly, near central London.
• Innovate to achieve more passenger journeys at current low peak times. Ideas include more riverborne dining experiences; park-and-glide (ie park further down the river and come into London by river); nature boat tours, and illuminated bridges. The latter have recently been implemented and are being expanded.
• Develop and implement a long-term pier strategy. Working with London River Services and commercial boat operators to develop a strategic plan for existing piers and potential future piers for the next 20 years.
• Secure the additional infrastructure required for growth in the transport of passengers and goods on the Thames. This will require investment in boatyards and a multipurpose marine hub that can facilitate dry docking/ship repair, among others.

As befitting a modern, comprehensive approach, London’s river strategy is also reflected in a number of other plans and strategies over the last five years:

River Capacity Study 2016

TfL and the PLA commissioned Marico Marine consultants in 2015 to study and determine the capacity of the river to accommodate passenger and freight transport in central London. The evidence demonstrated that there is considerable capacity for more passenger and freight transport on the river with better space and demand management, which is being input into the RAP.

London Environment Strategy 2018

The London Environment Strategy of 2018 sets out the Mayor’s vision of a greener, cleaner, and healthier London. Improving air quality and promoting cleaner transport are key themes and the specific areas of relevance to the river include:

• Reduce river transport emissions, for example refurbished wharves and piers to support cleaner vessels and shore power/refuelling facilities for low emission vessels.
• Seeking to introduce tiered fees for cleaner vessels.

London’s Passenger Pier Strategy 2019

London’s population is forecast to increase from 8.9 million today to 10.8 million by 2041. TfL’s London’s Passenger Pier Strategy was developed with this in mind, in conjunction with the Mayor’s Thames and London Waterways Forum members. This Pier Strategy sets out the revised aspirations to enhance the city’s net of piers as part of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. The main goal of the Mayor’s strategy is for 80% of all trips in London to be completed on foot, by cycle or by public transport by 2041.

The Passenger Pier Strategy recommends applying the Healthy Streets Approach to London’s river services and piers, to encourage more people to use river services by improving connectivity to walking and cycling routes, as well as improving pier visibility.

Passenger Transport Study 2020

The PLA and TfL commissioned ARUP to undertake a passenger transport study to identify opportunities for growth and potential obstacles to progress. The findings were released in late 2020 and derived projections for the following scenarios:

• Do Nothing Scenario, with trip increases from tourism and population. This could increase trips to 11-13m per annum by 2035.
• Scenario 1: Background growth and planned interventions increase trips to 13-15m per annum by 2035.
• Scenario 2: Improved marketing, customer service, and peak service capacity could deliver around 14-16m trips per annum by 2035.
• Scenario 3a: Fare capping, off peak demand growth, new piers and new River Bus routes to deliver demand for 18-20m trips per annum by 2035.
• Scenario 3b: As for 3a, but also including lower River Bus fares could deliver demand for 19- 22m trips per annum by 2035.

Thus the goal of 20m annual trips is achievable by 2035 with Scenario 3a and possibly 3b, but will require PLA and TfL investment of £121m-£163m. This growth will likely require an increase in the number of central London River Bus and tour boat trips in the busiest hour from 21 today up to between 26 and 42 in Scenarios 3a and 3b, which will require an increase of core river capacity.

This in turn could potentially increase CO2 and NOx emissions by 80%, but the forthcoming PLA Net Zero strategy and adoption of new cleaner motors by vessel owners could reduce future emissions to 50% lower than today.

New Canary Wharf – Rotherhithe pedestrian and cyclist Crossing

The complexity of engineering a bridge sufficiently high to allow shipping underneath (at least 90m, the height of the Emirates Air-Line cable car), pushed the cost to £450 million. So early in 2020 TfL announced that they were no longer planning a pedestrian and cycling bridge between these two points.

Instead, TfL is now planning for a new, more frequent and environmentally friendly ferry service, with custom piers to expedite turn around time. Unfortunately, the pandemic has resulted in both the DoubleTree Docklands Hotel, and the RB4 River Bus route it subsidises, to shut down operations in July 2020.

COVID attenuation of London’s transport

In 2019, all modes of river services carried 9.9 million passengers. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic and lockdown have drastically reduced public transport ridership, to only 10% of regular levels. Thames Clippers and river tours shut down operations completely for lockdown periods. Whilst river transport is not currently a concern during the Lockdowns, at some point society, and life, will return to normal interactions. However, with TfL’s loss of more than a year of fare revenue, it may be many years until the agency can invest in non-core transport like River Buses. Furthermore, the Hammersmith Bridge repair/rebuild/replace saga may also sap any and all non-essential TfL monies.

What was the River Bus ridership trend before COVID?

The series of reports issued almost each year since 2015 demonstrate that TfL and PLA have continued to develop integrated strategies to improve river passenger transport. However, other than Thames Clippers ordering and putting into service new, larger catamarans, few other major river transport infrastructure improvements were made. As a result, between 2016 and 2019, total river passenger counts have plateaued around 9.8 million journeys per annum.

Part of the reason for the extended plateau was the poor reliability of the two new hybrid Woolwich ferries. In addition, even before the Covid pandemic hit, new housing construction had slowed, following the general slowing of the economy. As much new development is slated for the Thames Gateway. the expected opening of four new River Bus piers from Canary Wharf eastwards had not advanced nearly as quickly as anticipated.

Fortunately, River Buses are one of the most flexible transport modes – new piers can be approved and constructed much more quickly than a new rail line and stations. Moreover, increases in road traffic is relegating buses increasingly as the transport mode of last resort.

Epilogue – Passenger transport 2035 – More journeys

Old Father Thames has the potential to add much needed transport capacity, particularly in locations ill-served by other public transport. The PLA’s Thames Vision 2035 estimated that there were 23.4 million annual visitor trips to attractions beside the Thames, 4.7 million trips of which have a direct maritime proximity– such as the Globe Theatre at Bankside Pier, the Cutty Sark at Greenwich Pier, and HMS Belfast at Tower Pier. River Buses currently serve 35 Thames riverside attractions, and river access is increasingly important to the tourist trade due to the limited coach parking available in central London.

To achieve the 2035 Thames goal of 20 million annual river passengers safely and sustainably, the PLA consultation is proposing the following:

• Make more efficient use of piers and river space, including new timetabling to avoid rush hour delays near central London.
• Encourage more river use when there is extra capacity off peak and off season in central London. Ideas include:
• attracting people on the south bank onto the river
• boat tours to see nature on the river
• adding excitement at night, such as the Mayor’s proposed bridges illuminations from Tower Bridge to Albert Bridge
• park-and-glide for commuters and sightseers, ie park down River and take a boat into London
• Long-term pier strategy beyond the existing River Action Plan are for potential new piers at Thamesmead, Erith, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Grays, and Tilbury by 2025.

Some £68 million of private and public investment in river passenger and cruise-related services was planned over the next five years, before the pandemic hit. With river transport likely being one of the lowest transport priorities for TfL coming out of lockdown, it will be at least a year or two before Tube and bus ridership rebounds to pre-pandemic levels. Only then will any attention and investment return to river transport. Nevertheless, with the continued leadership of TfL and the PLA, the Thames is poised for an even more prominent role in London’s transport, once the economy and the country return to normal.

Exuent.

Fin.

Thanks be to ngh and Jonathan Roberts for their input and assistance with this article.

Previously on Reconnections’ river transport series:

Prequels

Soviet fleet on the Thames (Part 1)

Capitalist hydrofoils strike back! (Part 2)

London’s First Highway

Part 1 – The Fall and Rise of London’s River Buses

Part 2 – The surprising success of River Buses

Part 3 – Take Me to the River – The Evolution of London’s River Passenger Transport Policy

Part 4 – Pier Pressure and Speed Limits

Part 5 – River Freight