Toll-free trap? Lessons from an ancient free ferry for a restored Hammersmith Bridge
‘Freeloaders and the Sat Nav dependent’ might be bad news for users of Putney and Chiswick Bridge - story 87
What links Woolwich Ferry and Hammersmith Bridge - miles apart and socially worlds away - is something deceptively simple: the power of price to shape traffic, and the problem of what happens when one route remains free.
When Silvertown Tunnel opened on 07 April, TfL introduced tolls there and, for the first time, at the Blackwall Tunnel. Early signs suggest the strategy is working. According to TfL figures set to go before the board this week, traffic across the two tolled tunnels has dipped slightly compared to historic flows through Blackwall alone. As the Greenwich Wire reports
A report to go before TfL’s board next week says that while between 90,000-100,000 vehicles per day used the Blackwall Tunnel before its neighbouring crossing opened, this number had fallen to an average of 88,000 across both tunnels by May 11.
Of more interest to those who currently use Putney, Chiswick and previously Hammersmith Bridge is the data about the Woolwich Ferry
Inspired by London Centric reporting, I suggested here and here, the availability of one free crossing could distort the use of others close by.
Data just released confirms this is now happening in east London.
The TfL board data shows the Woolwich Ferry, a free and litrerally ancient service, had an extra 1,800 vehicles using on average each day. The Wire points out,
No comparison is given with past figures, but that would represent a 46 per cent increase on the nearly 3,900 crossings (including pedestrians) reported on the ferry’s busiest day in June last year, after a regular two-boat service was reintroduced.
Notes & thoughts
Three crossing: two charge tolls and one is free. Traffic might be falling on the former and increasing on the latter. Now imagine that model in west Lodon. If tolls only apply to Hammersmith Bridge, what is the likelihood of traffic demand falling over Chiswick and Putney?