Transport for London has consulted on their proposals to introduce a user charge for drivers at the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels. The proposals were for:
- a £4 charge at “peak times” for drivers using the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels. Peak times are northbound 0600-1000 and southbound 1600-1900 on weekdays only
- a £1.50 charge at “off peak times” for drivers. Off-peak times are all times between 0600-2200 that are not peak
- no charge overnight
- At the same time TfL announced details of a “green and fair package of supporting measures”, including: free bus journeys on routes 108, 129 and SL4 for “at least 12 months”; free DLR journeys between Cutty Sark-Island Gardens and Woolwich Arsenal-King George V for “at least 12 months”; free travel for those cycling on the Silvertown tunnel cycle bus for “at least 12 months”, with the service guaranteed to run for at least 3 years.
We neither supported nor opposed the proposals.
- Generally we support a fair and equitable system of road user charging. But this requires practical alternatives for people to make their journeys without driving.
- TfL has no coherent strategy for non-motorised river crossings in east London, meaning there is no practical alternative to driving for many journeys. Future political campaigns and administrations will target the user charge for abolition, allowing unfettered cross-river motor traffic.
- We continue to oppose the Silvertown Tunnel as a crossing for private motor traffic. It is a 1960s-quality urban motorway project that shouldn’t have been approved. We still have no confidence in TfL or the current Mayor ever delivering a viable cycle crossing east of Tower Bridge, despite the clear need for one.
We do not believe the proposed road user charge is high enough to deter people from making unnecessary journeys or switching to a more sustainable mode. We also think the alternatives are too expensive and too impractical.
It is particularly concerning to us that the proposed off-peak tunnel user charge of £1.50 is 25p cheaper than a single bus fare. Even at peak times, the tunnel user charge for cars is £2 cheaper than the Cable Car fare, and 10p cheaper than the Doubletree Rotherhithe ferry. At off-peak times, the Cable Car fare is a whopping four times the price of the charge a driver would pay.
We are disappointed that the “green and fair” package that TfL has supposedly already agreed for pedestrians and cyclists only guarantees free river crossings for those without a car for the first year, and only in specific circumstances. We maintain our scepticism about the practicality of the cycle bus, particularly considering it will finish at 9:30pm.
To apply a crude analogy: the stick is not big enough to be a deterrent, but is big enough to be annoying. Meanwhile, the carrot isn’t substantial enough to get people to move to a mode other than driving.
We urge TfL to work with the national Government to invest in and urgently progress the desperately-needed walking and cycling river crossings that east London has needed for decades.
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