Thames river bus buoyed by rising tide of London commuters
Commuting by boat in London hits a major milestone this week with the capital’s river bus service set to carry its 40 millionth passenger.
The landmark figure comes at the end of a bumper summer for MBNA Thames Clippers, in which a combination of hot weather and growing waterside property development has increased passenger numbers by ten per cent, compared with the previous summer.
Enjoying a drink and getting a seat are among the attractions which are luring people away from bus and tube and onto the water, Thames Clippers’ boss and co-founder Sean Collins told City PM
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"You can’t work on a tube, whereas commuters on the river can get a coffee, breakfast, and sit on their laptop working or relaxing – it doesn’t really compare," he said.
"When I first started nearly 20 years ago, someone said I was mad to do this because no one has ever made a river bus service successful. But every time we put another boat out onto the water, it fills up with commuters."
Tim Skipper, who owns a recruitment company in the City, has been using the river service ever since it started running in 1999, when on its first day the service had 80 people.
Today the service sees an average 11,500 passengers per day.
"It is still a secret that hasn't been fully exploited, and the selfish part of me doesn't want to be known about because you can always get a seat" he tells City PM
Skipper adds: "I don’t go on the boat every single day because I don’t have the luxury of a little bit of a longer commute, but in my business of recruitment one thing that is always talked about is having an important work/life balance, and this is a great way of not just piling into work every morning."
Today the water bus service tells City PM that it has begun construction on its 18th and largest catamaran, taking the provider’s investment up to £17m in the last three years.
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However, Collins says that Transport for London (TfL), which runs the service in conjunction with private operator MBNA, is not fulfilling its side of the investment.
"Support is not there from TfL at the moment because of the cuts. Embankment pier cannot cope with services demanded on it…it is frustrating when as a private operator we are investing many millions of pounds into equipment for boats and we’re not getting support with the piers."