Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 5, 2016 15:12:41 GMT
This lunchtime I went to the river crossings talk at the Building Centre. On idea from the audience to increase the availability of routes across the river in East London was for the fare for travel on London Overground between Wapping and Rotherhithe only to be free (i.e. only for journeys starting at Rotherhithe and finishing at Wapping or vice versa).
The chap from TfL, I didn't catch his name but he's the head of the part that deals with early development of planning for schemes, noted that it wasn't something that had been considered before. His immediate comment was that it would potentially set a precedent for other areas wanting something similar and would be confusing for different parts of the network to have different fares.
The Heathrow free travel zone exists, so there is a precedent and it's obviously technically feasible. How much spare capacity on that bit of the network there is I don't know. I'm sure there will be some comment from folks here though.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 5, 2016 23:08:37 GMT
And just wait for people to demand free travel Embankment to Waterloo Westminster to Waterloo Bank to London Bridge Canada Water to Canary Wharf Canary Wharf to North Greenwich North Greenwich to Canning Town etc etc etc They're all really underused bits of the transport network     Making things free doesn't necessarily result in optimal decision making. The more pertinent issue with the original example are the small stations and low capacity to handle large crowds. Regardless of the financial impact the safety issues would most likely kill the idea if there was a real possibility of the facility being well used. |
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 6, 2016 0:09:19 GMT
Well the rationale for these two stations specifically is that there isn't an alternative way across the river here for pedestrians, which there is with all your examples other than Canary Wharf to North Greenwich. In fact possibly those are the only two rail crossings of the Thames without a nearby alternative for pedestrians?
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Feb 6, 2016 0:15:44 GMT
Can we use the same argument for free travel on the Dangleway?
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 6, 2016 0:21:12 GMT
You could try. The TfL chap did say they need more people to use it in peak times, and that people treat it "more as a leisure activity". Maybe making it free would help?
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Post by kesmet on Feb 6, 2016 1:04:37 GMT
Although it's apparently quite nasty, the Rotherhithe tunnel is open for pedestrians; it's southern exit is quite close to Rotherhithe station.
I'd say that the high-speed tunnel doesn't have a nearby alternative for pedestrians Similarly, the Overground south of Imperial Wharf doesn't have an associated pedestrian bridge as far as I can tell, and the District/Overground south of Gunnersbury is further from Key Bridge than some others.
However, although it's a walk, it's not really too far to walk from Canning Town to Island Gardens, through the Greenwich foot tunnel, then back up the peninsula to North Greenwich; certainly doable if you want a 'free' journey. Although if I'm suggesting that, Tower Bridge is reasonably close to Wapping & Rotherhithe...
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Post by crusty54 on Feb 6, 2016 1:46:03 GMT
The only trouble is it would not be free - others would have to meet the cost.
Thames Clipper service provides a crossing nearby.
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Post by superteacher on Feb 6, 2016 10:25:25 GMT
Can we use the same argument for free travel on the Dangleway? Or at least allow the fare to be part of the daily fare cap. |
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Post by theblackferret on Feb 6, 2016 12:46:31 GMT
How many people are travelling between Rotherhithe & Wapping only (or vv) and, more pertinently, are there hundreds, nay, thousands, deterred from doing so by the present 'cost'?
Why not make any journey between two adjoining stations free? Maybe somebody at suits HQ has actually considered it already and........
Sounds like, as we say in SE5, somebody in the audience was out for a laugh, and possibly after the flaming foreman's job in the ruddy giggle factory.
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 6, 2016 14:42:03 GMT
Well, the person in the audience was seriously suggesting it as something as a quick and simple to implement way to improve cross-river links from Rotherhithe, given that a Rotherhithe-Isle of Dogs bridge is at minimum four years away.
I don't think it stands a chance of being implemented, but it does deserve to be given a serious rather the flippant answer.
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Post by crusty54 on Feb 6, 2016 18:34:52 GMT
Well, the person in the audience was seriously suggesting it as something as a quick and simple to implement way to improve cross-river links from Rotherhithe, given that a Rotherhithe-Isle of Dogs bridge is at minimum four years away. I don't think it stands a chance of being implemented, but it does deserve to be given a serious rather the flippant answer. struggling to think of many reasons to go from Rotherhithe to Wapping |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 20:22:59 GMT
If we make one of these rail crossings free, they'll all need to be free. I would rather see the Blackwall and Silvertown crossings to be kept free, especially as West Londoners don't have to pay for them, especially on the Hammersmith Bridge.
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Post by wimblephil on Feb 6, 2016 21:32:42 GMT
Why should the link be provided free of charge? I don't understand the rationale...?
As already stated, there is a nearby tunnel pedestrian's can use free-of-charge if needs be, with the entrance practically opposite Rotherhite station, though it comes out nearer Limehouse than Wapping. I do have to say though, having used it just the other week to see what it was like, it isn't a particularly pleasant experience, with the traffic just inches from you, and exhaust fumes noticeably filling the air from just a few hundred yards in. You really do feel you are chasing that fresh air for the last leg of it!
With regards to the 'Emirates line', surely the desire to increase patronage in peak times is the need to generate the revenue it requires to run. How would making it free-of-charge achieve that?
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 6, 2016 23:40:41 GMT
I would rather see the Blackwall and Silvertown crossings to be kept free, especially as West Londoners don't have to pay for them, especially on the Hammersmith Bridge. I would rather see the Blackwall tunnel remain free and TfL save money by not building the Silvertown tunnel - there are better ways to achieve all of the things it is attempting to do without further worsening the air quality on the road networks that will feed into it. |
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Post by rapidtransitman on Feb 7, 2016 1:50:15 GMT
Thames Clipper service provides a crossing nearby. That is River Bus route RB4, Doubletree Docklands - Canary Wharf, which is £3.90 Adult one way (hotel guests cross for free). It runs every 10 min at rush hours, every 20 mins off rush. Quite pricy but if one lives in Rotherhithe and works in Canary Wharf, a quite pleasant dash across the water. |
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Post by rapidtransitman on May 2, 2016 14:20:41 GMT
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Post by brigham on May 3, 2016 11:02:16 GMT
Was the Thames Tunnel originally free of toll? Perhaps the railway ought to have maintained a free crossing as a condition of purchase.
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Post by dagdave on May 3, 2016 12:53:42 GMT
Well, the person in the audience was seriously suggesting it as something as a quick and simple to implement way to improve cross-river links from Rotherhithe, given that a Rotherhithe-Isle of Dogs bridge is at minimum four years away. I don't think it stands a chance of being implemented, but it does deserve to be given a serious rather the flippant answer. struggling to think of many reasons to go from Rotherhithe to Wapping I can think of a good reason because I've done it. It makes a good circular river walk / pub crawl using Tower bridge to cross in the West and the Overground to cross between Rotherhithe and Wapping in the East. It's not quite fully riverside walk all the way but there are enough decent pubs on route to make it enjoyable. |
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