Silvertown tunnel cycle shuttle forces diesel buses onto existing electric route
Plans for a cycle shuttle bus across the Thames using the forthcoming Silvertown tunnel will take existing electric buses from another route that will revert to diesels.
In an announcement of bus changes the 323 from Canning Town to Mile End which currently uses electric buses will no longer.
It’s the latest measure which suggest for all TfL’s talk of sustainability regarding the tunnel, the reality appears somewhat different.
Last week they revealed that a cycle shuttle bus stop’s location in Greenwich will be in an area that’s pretty dire to actually reach by bike from many populated areas south of the Thames such as west and east Greenwich.
Bus lane
Transport for London have previously made much of the bus lane within Silvertown tunnel, though it’s actually a shared HGV and bus lane. The tunnel will permit lorries currently prohibited from the Blackwall tunnel.
In addition the “bus” lane starts and ends immediately at each tunnel mouth so buses will have to contend with general traffic and congestion immediately before and after.
In the above image Silvertown tunnel traffic ascending on the right will meet existing traffic exiting the Blackwall tunnel. No bus lane will be here.
Not exactly the green revolution PR suggests.
Tunnel impact
So what do we have overall right now as things stand with this project?
Firstly, a tunnel that sees traffic from the new crossing meet existing traffic in Greenwich on the same congested roads.
A tunnel which will see traffic levels increase southbound through Greenwich borough according to modelling which TfL quietly revealed last year in a report before the Silvertown Tunnel Implementation Group.
A bus lane of short length shared with lorries that ends as soon as leaving the tunnel and meets not only Silvertown traffic but Blackwall traffic.
A proposed cycle bus that sees an existing bus route lose its own lose electric buses. A route that puts polluting diesel buses back into an area of thousands of new homes to boot at Canning Town.
A proposed cycle bus where a stop in Greenwich is in a dismal spot to reach by bike that hasn’t seen any improvements from TfL or Greenwich Council who’ve done well from thousands of new homes built in the vicinity.
Then just two new general bus routes through the new tunnel and half of what was once suggested in terms of buses per hour when the tunnel was proposed.
There’s so many gaffs and rollbacks one wonders if TfL have much of a clue what they’re doing.
It’s claimed they’ll monitor traffic but given so far almost all effort is on the north of the river (public realm improvements are underway there) what’s the chances they’ll do very much of anything if Greenwich traffic levels increase while north of the Thames they remains stable or reduce in the short term?
Of course it’s not all rosy north of the river either as more traffic will use the Lower Lea Crossing near thousands of new homes and routes like the 323 go back to diesel.
Even the cynics may have thought TfL would invest a token sum on public realm and street improvements in Greenwich across some very poor quality streets such as Millennium Way and Blackwall Lane alongside the local council. Nope.
Or have a new cycle bus not displace electric buses from existing routes serving many new homes forcing pollutants onto residents. But again, nope.
For every potential small PR victory, right now TfL are managing to snatch defeat time and again.
I’m fairly certain that Greenwich council has a desire to be included in Reddit’s ‘who approved this design’ thread. This latest development reminds me of the photos of Russian wheelchair ramps you see on the internet (do a Google picture search, half of them would easily fit in Greenwich).
It may be that this reallocation is to ensure that the Silvertown Tunnel routes start with electric buses. The route was awarded at too short notice to order new vehicles, and the vehicles will need to be adapted and presumably rebranded for operation as bicycle carriers. It’s also possible that legally it is easier to modify registered vehicles, than to have the manufacturer gain new vehicle type approval for a few buses. For TfL, the optics of saying “all buses will be electric” and then having a few diesels on for 6 months is worse than, for example, the 323 being temporarily without electrics while new electric buses (which would have otherwise been for the tunnel) are built and reallocated to the 323. Whether absolutely-must-be-electric is down to the Mayor’s ego or some contractual funding requirement, I don’t know.
Yep TfL are trying to avoid the PR problem of diesel buses through the tunnel but simply create another problem elsewhere.
They’ve had many years to plan this. Seven years between tunnel approval and opening.
TfL know that the bike bus is doomed to failure, I mean, just look at what they’re suggesting people with bikes do, it’s just not going to happen. It is literal greenwashing, I guess they’ve done the maths that it’s worth blowing cash on this greenwashing.
It’s just possible that such a service could be successful if they ran it to and from actually useful places rather than under a dirty flyover in the middle of no-where. A bike bus from Greenwich town centre using the tunnel may be used – may also solve the issue with the stupid permanently broken Greenwich tunnel lifts (hint hint)
One interesting impact to measure will be on the woolwich ferry, it’ll be the only free crossing this size of Tower Bridge. Going north it’s barely usable with wait times at the moment, I wonder if the same will happen going south, and how the approach routes will cope. suspect they won’t..