u n d e r a c h i e v e r wrote:
Although it's a nice idea, TfL have already looked at
this and concluded that it would require far too much
subsidy to run - it would need the biggest subsidy per
passenger of any mode of transport in London. I

and it is more reliable and more comfortable than bus, nr or
tube. So it might be more expensive? It is much better,
perhaps that's why.

Here comes the other issue with Thames boat services - the Thames is
tidal, and the tides don't neatly coincide with rush hour. So at one
point a boat might be able to float merrily (and cheaply) into the
centre of town, but at a later time it might be struggling against the
tide. This can wreak havoc with scheduling of a high-frequency service
and puts the costs up too.

The problem with the river is that any pier will by its
nature only have half the catchment area of an inland
rail/Tube station.

true, but a high capacity boat service from the east end to
westminster would have cost a minute fraction of the cost of
the J L E. And journey times would not be appreciably
longer. I frequently use the boat instead of the jubilee,
even though the pier is a longer walk than the tube. This is
because the boat offers a vastly better service for a very
small premium.

How many less people would use the boat service compared to the JLE? How
would they get from Stratford to London Bridge, from Canary Wharf to
Baker Street or from North Greenwich to Bond Street by boat? The boat
only offers a better service if it actually goes where people want to go.

Can a boat service carry ~25,000 people per hour per direction?

A cheaper (or fully integrated) system, with 10 min
frequencies, would probably pull in more people ... and in
doing so would reduce overcrowding on other modes. Perhaps
the biggest boon would be to put the current approx. 20min
at peak frequency services from Thames Clippers on the
tube/London connections map. It's a great service and most
people simply don't know about it and hence don't consider
it when planning journeys.

The system could only be cheaper with a massive subsidy, which is not a
particularly good way to run public transport services which only
benefit a small part of the population. The Thames Clippers service may
be good but it also costs a lot more than using the Tube, rail or bus.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London