On Wed, 23 Mar 2005, Dave Arquati wrote:

Aidan Stanger wrote:
Dave Arquati wrote:

Matt Ashby wrote:

So my question is, would it be possible to integrate the river
services into the rest of the TfL system? And if it was possible,
would it make economic sense?

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.

Yet they're eager to spend far more on infrastructure projects like the
£40m bus lane on the Thames Gateway Bridge, and the Canary Wharf branch
of Crossrail, which would cost far more than subsidies for boats ever
would.

Can you get from Heathrow to Canary Wharf by boat?

Yes, once the Heathrow Ship Canal is open.

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

Can you get from Chelsea Harbour to Canary Wharf by Crossrail?

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.

Embankment, Blackfriars, London Bridge and all the other stations on the
river seem to do all right, though. Remember that a pier by a bridge
serves both banks pretty effectively.

tom

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