News round-up May 2025

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter May 2025

Bikes through the Silvertown Tunnel

Silvertown Tunnel opened on schedule on 7th April. Bikes and pedestrians are  banned from the tunnel, as they are from the Blackwall Tunnel. Pedestrians and most wheelchairs can travel by bus but cyclists are catered for by a service of bespoke cycle-carrying buses. A fleet of three electric buses have been refurbished to take cycles and the service will be free for at least the first twelve months. On 25th April the tunnel was temporarily closed when a mass of angry cyclists rode through it protesting at the ban.

But does this account for all cycles and mobility scooters? It seems not. The shuttle bus imposes a width restriction of 0.76 metres, and cargo bikes can be in excess of a metre. Mobility scooters are not accepted although a member of staff told FTL that he understood they would be allowed on board at the driver's discretion (ie, subject to available space and cyclists being given priority). They can, of course, be taken on buses; again subject to a maximum width.

An alternative way to cross the Thames in this area is via the Greenwich or Woolwich foot tunnels. However the relevant lifts have a record of non-availability: the north lift of the Woolwich tunnel has not worked for several years, while one or other of the Greenwich lifts is out of order more than a quarter of the time. We understand that Cutty Sark station is now facing a six-month closure and the Rotherhithe Tunnel is also facing a long closure.

Greenwich Waterfront resurrected?

Slower buses mean fewer passengers using them. TfL is fighting the decline in average bus speeds with a second tranche of 10 ‘Superloop’ express bus routes. The latest idea to go out for public consultation would replace existing route 472 (North Greenwich-Abbey Wood) with SL11, a more direct, limited stop route operating from 05.00 until midnight. All existing route 472 stops would be served by other routes during the day and by route N472 from midnight until 05.00. The SL11 scheme bears a striking resemblance to the Greenwich Waterfront Transit scheme (GWT-please see ‘The  Rise and fall of the Greenwich Millennium Busway’ in Newsletter 47 January 2023). Both GWT and SL11 were designed to reduce journey times between Thamesmead and North Greenwich/Woolwich Town Centre/Abbey Wood. https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2019/02/26/greenwich-waterfront-transit-the-history-cancellation-and-rebirth1/#google_vignette

Left Behind Londoners

In 2023 London TravelWatch published a report exploring the impact a digital-first approach can have on people and who was most affected by it, reported in newsletter 48. A new report, Logged Out, assesses the progress transport operators have made to reduce digital exclusion and disadvantage for people travelling.

A key finding is that passengers often have to pay more if using cash than if they used an electronic method. This reaches extreme levels in London where buying a paper ticket can be much more expensive than using pay-as-you-go (PAYG). A one- zone single ticket on the underground costs £7 whereas with PAYG the cost, depending on distance and time of day, varies from £2.10 to £3.50. A single off-peak ticket from Maidenhead to Paddington costs £16.40 whereas with PAYG you would pay £8.30. To make matters worse this penalty is most likely to hit people who struggle financially. Ticket machines are still difficult for people to use and often fail to give information about the cheapest fares.

In other areas London TravelWatch detected some improvements. Most train operators have made some effort to make staff or helplines available for people who need advice or assistance. On the other hand a report from the House of Commons Transport Select Committee said it was thought that ‘since COVID, it feels to some extent things are not progressing the way they were’ on improving accessibility. The report found that 65 per cent of 825 people surveyed had some difficulty on trains.

TravelWatch concludes that there is still much more that needs to be done to reduce the barriers hindering and stopping people who are digitally excluded and disadvantaged from travelling.

Lime bikes

With the increased popularity of bikes for hire comes a rapid increase in the inconvenience and danger of badly parked bikes. Lime has now promised to deal with the problem. They are creating 750 parking spaces across London and the team charged with removing badly parked bikes is to be expanded. The team is to be equipped with cargo bikes each of which can transport five bikes.

In February more than 100 Lime and Forest e-bikes that were blocking pavements in central London were seized by council officials. They were stored in a ‘safe place’ and their owners were charged a fee of £235 per bike for their recovery. Lime paid £25,000 to get their bikes back.

Islington Council has announced 78 new parking bays and restrictions for dockless bikes as it looks to address concerns about safety, noise and obstruction to public spaces. They are also introducing measures to shrink the size of fleets.

Technology is being introduced which will be able to detect bikes which are badly parked, and riders will be unable to conclude the hire until the bike is parked in a satisfactory manner. Bikes will be equipped with scannable QR codes on wheel covers for the public to report badly parked bikes. Lime is also funding a £250,000 safe riding campaign, to focus on deterring illegal behaviour, such as running red lights and riding on pavements.

Pedicabs

Pedicabs, regarded by some as a niche, bit-of-fun form of transport, are looked upon by others as a menace, clogging up the streets and ripping off tourists. Steve Macnamara of the London Taxi Drivers’ Association, sees them as ‘a fairground ride, only used by drunks late at night – except a fairground ride would be regulated and checked. The only possible thing is to ban them.’

On the other hand, Will Norman, TfL’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, says ‘Pedicabs should be a fun and sustainable way for people to see London but, without regulation, some drivers are behaving unsafely or antisocially, and charging extortionate prices.’

It is a peculiar quirk that pedicabs are not regulated in London. Elsewhere in the UK they are classed as Hackney Carriages and are licenced as taxis. The resulting free-for-all means that pedicabs in London and their drivers are uninsured and there is no means of assuring that they are safe for their passengers and other road users. Although there is no attempt to ban them altogether TfL recognises the need for regulation and is consulting on the subject.

Stop the school run

Air quality around private schools is worse than around state schools according to research conducted by charity Stop the School Run. This appears to be because students are more often driven to private schools. The charity suggests there should be more school street closures around private schools and that staffed ‘walking bus’ routes should be introduced to encourage parents to leave their cars at home. They also suggest investment in school buses and cycle storage facilities.

Nicola Pastore, the charity’s founder, described its work in our newsletter (52, September 2024) and also contributed a podcast which can be heard at futuretransportlondon.org/podcasts.