London River Services

This article is about the governmental body responsible for public transport services on the River Thames. For the organisation responsible for canals in London, see Canal and River Trust.

London River Services
LocaleLondon, England
WaterwayRiver Thames
Transit typeCommuter boats, ferries and tourist/leisure services
OwnerTransport for London
OperatorVarious boat companies
Began operation1999
No. of terminals25 (8 managed by TfL)
Websitehttp://www.tfl.gov.uk/river

London River Services Limited is a division of Transport for London (TfL), which manages passenger transport—leisure-oriented tourist services and commuter services—on the River Thames in London. It does not own or operate any boats itself, except those of the Woolwich Ferry, but licenses the services of operators.[1]

River service had been a common means of transport in London for centuries, but died off in the early 1900s, as transportation was enhanced (and river traffic somewhat blocked) with a proliferation of bridges and tunnels. With these numerous north–south crossings of the Thames, which is generally no more than 300m wide as it runs through central London, the revival of river boat services in London therefore mostly travel east or west along the Thames rather than across it; the only major cross-river ferry services are to be found further downstream where the river is wider, and there are far fewer bridge/tunnel crossings.

The decision to revive London's river service network moved forward in 1997 with the launch of "Thames", a £21-million project (£48 million today) to regenerate the River Thames and create new passenger transport services on the Thames. While the service is not as extensive as those of Hong Kong or Sydney, it has been growing: in 2007, more than 700,000 commuters travelled by river on Thames Clippers services, one of the operators on the system;[2] in 2013 the Thames Clippers service had grown to 3.3 million, as it had become more integrated into the tube and bus ticketing network;[3] in 2014 their figure was 3.8 million;[3] in 2015 it was forecasted that their ridership would increase to 4.3 million by 2016, supported by the addition of new Clipper boats.[3] By 2018, there were 21 different operators carrying daily commuter, leisure, charter, or sightseeing passengers to various combinations of the 33 piers on the system.

  1. ^ Transport for London. "About London River Services". Retrieved 1 April 2008.
  2. ^ London, Thamesclippers. "ThamesClippers: Surf the Thames!". Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ a b c "London celebrates arrival of two new commuter boats after 15,000-mile journey from Australia". MBNA Thames Clippers. 19 October 2015. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.