London River Services is a
division of Transport for
London (TfL), which manages passenger transport on the River Thames in London
, UK
. They
do not own or operate any boats but
license
the services of other operators. The services they regulate are a
mixture of leisure-oriented tourist services and commuter
services.
The River Thames is generally no more than 300m wide as it runs
through central London, and is easily crossed by
bridge or tunnel.
River boat services in London therefore mostly travel east or west
along the Thames rather than across it, and the only major
cross-river ferry services are to be found further downstream where
the river is wider.
London's river service network is not as extensive as those of
Hong Kong or
Sydney, but with recent investment in river
public transport and the creation of London River Services, water
transport in the British capital is experiencing a revival. More
than 2,000 commuters a day now travel by river which adds up to
three million people per year, a figure that is set to increase
with preparations for the
2012
Olympics and tourist traffic during the games.
History
Traffic on the Thames in 1746
Before the construction of
London's bridges and
the
Underground, the River Thames
had served as a major thoroughfare for centuries. Attempts to
regulate the transport of passengers and goods began in 1197, when
King Richard I sold the Crown's
rights over the Thames to the Corporation of the City of London,
which then attempted to license boats on the river. In 1510
Henry VIII granted a licence to
watermen that gave exclusive rights to carry
passengers on the river, and in 1555 an Act of Parliament set up
the
Company of
Watermen and Lightermen to control traffic on the Thames.
For
centuries the only bridge across the Thames was London Bridge
. Crossing the river by
wherry (small wooden rowing boat) was a common mode
of transport.
The 19th Century
Steamers on the Thames in 1841
Passenger steamboats were introduced in 1815 and the use of the
river as a means of public transport increased greatly.
River
services ran from Gravesend
, Margate
and Ramsgate
via Greenwich
and Woolwich
into central
London. By the mid-1850s about 15,000 people per day
travelled to work on steamboat services – twice the number of
passengers on the newly emerging railways.
With increased
congestion on the river, collisions and other accidents became
correspondingly more frequent, most notably with the Princess Alice
disaster
at Woolwich in 1878.
While the introduction of large steamboats and bridge construction
had taken business from the Thames watermen, the growth of the
railways took passengers away from the steamboat services and the
use of the river for public transport began a steady decline. River
service companies struggled financially, and in 1876 the five main
boat companies merged to form the
London Steamboat Company. The
company ran a half-hourly service from Chelsea to Greenwich for
eight years until it went bankrupt in 1884. Nevertheless, river
services continued under different management into the next
century.
Many of the Thames paddle steamers around
this time were built by the Thames
Ironworks
at Bow
Creek
.
The 20th Century
In 1905 the
London County
Council launched its own public river transport service to
complement its new
tram
network, acquiring piers and investing in a large fleet of 30
paddle-steamers. Frequent services operated from Hammersmith to
Greenwich. The LCC river service was not a success; in the first
year it ran up debts of £30,000. It was shut down in 1907 after
only two years' service.
Numerous proposals for "river bus" services were considered
throughout the Twentieth Century, although the few that were
realised were cancelled after a short time in service. In 1940, a
temporary
wartime river bus service was
introduced using commandeered pleasure cruisers to replace train
and tram services which were disrupted by the bombing of the
Blitz.
With the
move of the Port of
London
downstream in the 1960s, regular river transport
was limited to a few sightseeing boats.
Revival of passenger services
In 1997 the then
Secretary of State for
Transport,
John Prescott, launched
Thames 2000, a £21-million project to regenerate the River Thames
in time for the
Millennium Celebrations and
boost new passenger transport services on the Thames.
The centrepiece of
these celebrations was to be the Millennium Dome
, but there was also a plan to provide a longer-term
legacy of public transport boat services and piers on the
river.
River traffic around Waterloo Pier in
2008
The
Cross-River Partnership,
a
consortium of local authorities,
private sector organisations and voluntary bodies, recommended the
creation of a public body to co-ordinate and promote river
services.
This agency, provisionally titled the Thames
Piers Agency, would integrate boat services into other modes of
public transport, take control of Thames piers from the Port of London Authority, and commission the construction of new
piers.
The result was the formation in 1999 of London River Services, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Transport for London.
Ken Livingstone's
Transport
Strategy for London 2005 states that:
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.
LRS today
Greenwich Pier with TfL branding
LRS is responsible for integrating river transport with the rest of
the public transport network, such as the Tube and buses. It
promotes boat services under the London River Services brand,
issuing timetables and river maps.
LRS is also responsible for directly managing eight piers on the
river, and has invested in LRS-branded signage and passenger
information.
Following its launch the service was criticised for its lack of
subsidy for private boat operators. LRS now supports the Thames
Clipper commuter service financially and has increased the peak
service frequency to a boat every 15 minutes. In April 2009, the
signing of a "River
Concordat" by London’s
pier owners, boat operators, borough councils and Transport for
London was announced, committing the various partners to improving
ticketing, piers and passenger information, and to closer
integration into the transport network.
London
River Services is not responsible for maintaining the river itself;
the Port of London
Authority
takes care of river traffic control, security,
navigational safety (including buoys, beacons, bridge lights and channel surveys),
and the RNLI operates Thames
lifeboat services
.
Branding
The public presentation of London River Services is visually
associated with existing TfL design standards, using identical
graphic design elements to those used on London Underground
publicity, signage and other elements, drawing on the design
heritage of
Harry Beck.
The London River Services brand is a sub-brand of TfL which uses
the familiar
Tube roundel,
originally devised for London Underground and now established as
the corporate branding for all TfL services. The River Services
roundel is a dark blue bar (
Pantone 072) on
pale blue circle (Pantone 299).
Corporate signage, stationery and literature all use the
New Johnston typeface in common with
other TfL services.
LRS publishes diagrammatic river maps in the tradition of
Harry Beck's iconic
Tube
map. Tube maps published by TfL since 2000 denote river
interchange stations with a boat symbol.
Services
The service patterns advertised by TfL can vary according to
season. They are divided into three main types:
Commuter services
A commuter boat operated by Thames
Clipper on the River Thames
These river services run to a timetable through the day with more
frequent services during peak rush hour times. Most services run
seven days a week, although some do not operate at weekends. Many
operators offer discounted fares to
Travelcard holders.
Oyster
card pay-as-you-go is not valid on any of these services. The
main lines of operation are:
- * Embankment - Woolwich
- * Putney - Chelsea Harbour - Cadogan - Embankment -
Blackfriars
The
catamaran-hulled vessels have on-board
coffee bars, airline-style seating, are wheelchair-accessible and
have bicycle racks.
Ferry services
The Woolwich vehicle & passenger
ferry
In central London, the River Thames is narrow enough to allow it to
be crossed by many bridges; further downstream however, the river
widens and there are fewer bridge crossings. Two ferry services are
still in operation:
Two other
ferry services operate upstream in west London: Hammerton's
Ferry
and the Hampton Ferry
. These services are independent of London
River Services as they do not serve LRS-managed piers.
Leisure services
A tourist boat operated by Bateaux
London Catamaran Cruisers on the River Thames
Leisure boats are aimed mainly at the tourist market; as they do
not usually provide rush hour services, they are not normally
suitable for commuting. Some boat companies run regular scheduled
services, others may run twice daily, only on certain days of the
week, or only during certain months of the year. Boats may also be
chartered for private hire.
Destinations are often tourist attractions
such as the Tate
Galleries or
Hampton
Court Palace
. During the summer, the Scottish
paddle-steamer
PS Waverley operates
tourist services on the Thames.
- * Bankside - Waterloo - Millbank (Tate to Tate)
- * London Eye River Cruise
- * Multilingual Circular Cruise
- * Greenwich Sunday Evening Sightseeing Cruise
- * MV Balmoral and Paddle Steamer Waverley Cruises from Tower Pier
- * Richmond - Kingston - Hampton Court
- * Tilbury/Gravesend - Greenwich
- * Westminster - Kew - Richmond - Hampton Court
- * Westminster - St Katharine's Hop-on, Hop-off circular
service
- * Westminster - Waterloo - Tower - Greenwich
- * Westminster - Greenwich - Barrier Gardens
Operators
Scheduled tourist and commuter services on the river are operated
by a number of private companies, including:
Charter services, usually catering for large parties, are also
available from these and other operators.
Piers
An map of the main piers in central
London
London River Services lists 24 piers on the River Thames in its
publications, of which 8 are managed directly by LRS.
Millennium Piers
Millbank Millennium Pier - architect:
Steve Chilton
In 2000, five new piers were opened with funding from the
Millennium Commission under its Thames
2000 project, with a grant of
£7,177,000:
The new piers were provided to improve previously neglected travel
connections on the Thames and promote the river as an alternative
means of public transport.
List of piers
Scheduled tourist and commuter services use the following piers,
although no single service serves all the piers listed. The piers
are listed in order going downstream:
Fares and ticketing
Different ticket kiosks for each boat
operator
Unlike the
underground and
bus networks, boat operators have their
own separate ticketing arrangements and charge separate fares which
are generally higher than corresponding journeys by tube or bus.
The only
exception is the Woolwich Ferry
, which is free of charge.
Travelcards and
Oystercards are not currently valid, although the
boat operator Thames Clipper plans to accept Oyster pay-as-you-go
from November 2009. Most boat operators offer discounts to
Travelcard holders, as well as to freedom pass holders and
students.
Ticket sales at piers are managed independently by the operators,
and tickets are sold at separate kiosks with no facility for
cross-ticketing. Many piers have a line of several sales desks,
each owned by a different boat firm. Single tickets can often be
bought on board the boat, but this is down to individual operator
arrangements.
Some operators offer their own season tickets and
carnets of single tickets. Thames Clipper, for
example, offer a one-day Roamer ticket which allows multiple
journeys within off-peak hours.
See also
References
- ThamesClippers: Surf the Thames!
- Making waves | Society | The Guardian
- ISBN 0713488344
- LCC steamers were supplied by a number of different
shipbuilders: Thames Ironworks,
the Glasgow shipbuilders
Napier & Miller, J I Thornycroft of
Southampton and Rennie of Greenwich -
- Mayor of London - Transport Strategy -
River
External links
(also called the Hilton Docklands - Canary Wharf
Shuttle) operates between Canary Wharf Pier
and Hilton Docklands Nelson Dock
Pier
at the Hilton Hotel in Rotherhithe. Boats
operate roughly every 10 minutes, and can be used both by guests of
the hotel as well as by passengers not staying at the hotel.
, and is close to King George
V DLR station
. For vehicles, the service links the London
ring roads, the North
and South Circular roads, at their eastern
ends.
(operated by
Thames Clipper)
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
