"Dave Arquati" wrote

[snip]

Can you get from Heathrow to Canary Wharf by boat?

Well, it would be a bit slow, but actually you can, although not by a
scheduled service. The nearest point of the Grand Union Canal is
close enough that you could probably hitch a lift in one of
Heathrow's off-site parking shuttle vans

Or from most parts of
West London, Paddington, the West End etc?

Well, Paddington has the Paddington Basin. The canal is generally a
bit outside the route of the Circle Line.

It's not really relevant to
compare boat subsidies to the cost of Crossrail - or even the
Thames
Gateway Bridge for that matter (where did you get the £40m figure
from?). Boats won't take you from Thamesmead to Romford, or Abbey
Wood
to Barking.

There is the Ford Works ferry from Thamesmead, unless it has closed
down along with the Ford factory. Barking is on the water - it had a
huge fishing fleet at one time. the Beam River, which heads up to
Romford is, I grant you, about as unnavigable as it can get.

To arrive at Heathrow, and be met by your own canal barge, seems like
a neat service to offer frazzled foreign tourists.

Jeremy Parker