Thames may offer solution to London traffic jams, as Square Mile turns to pawn

LONDON BRIEFING:Riverboat services are to be integrated into London's overburdened transport system, writes FIONA WALSH

ANOTHER DAY, another demonstration. Or that’s how it seems in London at the moment as still more protesters take to the streets, exercising their right to freedom of expression – but in the process creating chaos for the capital.

The demonstrations yesterday and on Monday by activists calling for an end to the civil war in Sri Lanka were more peaceful and on a smaller scale than the G20 protests the previous week. The end result was similar, however – roadblocks, riot police, and major disruption to London’s transport system, with the roads around Parliament closed and Westminster tube station shut down as Westminster Bridge was blocked by thousands of Tamil protesters.

With the capital’s roads grinding to a halt once again, plans unveiled by Mayor Boris Johnson to revive boat services on the Thames were certainly timely and, if successful, could provide some relief to long-suffering commuters.

The Thames once played a vital role in London trade as an efficient and much-used transport system. That was decades ago, however, and these days activity on the river is largely restricted to sightseeing tours, party boats and the occasional police launch.

Now Johnson wants to restore the river to something approaching its former glory, integrating it with the wider transport system and making it a viable alternative for commuters. He also wants to make full use of the Thames in 2012, using it to ferry spectators to Olympic venues such as the O2, the former Millennium Dome, in Greenwich.

Some commuter boats do operate on the river – passengers can travel from Greenwich in southeast London to the Canary Wharf financial district in Docklands, to London Bridge in the City of London, Tower Bridge and Embankment Pier near Trafalgar Square.

But riverboat services in London have never taken off as they have in Paris, Hong Kong or Sydney. The tides work against it for a start, making it difficult to keep to a timetable. And then there are the numerous twists and turns in the river, which make for lengthy travel times.

But from November, commuters will be able to use their pre-paid Oyster cards to travel on the Thames, integrating the waterway into the wider transport system. This follows an agreement to support and promote river travel signed by Transport for London, the Mayor’s transport organisation; by boat operators, pier owners and the boroughs through which the river flows.

For commuters, the electronic Oyster payment card will reduce the normal price of the journey, just as it does on the tube and the buses. First introduced in London in 2003, the pre-paid Oyster card was initially dismissed as a gimmick with a silly name. Now, however, more than 10 million Londoners use their cards instead of cash, with more than 80 per cent of all journeys on the tube and bus network paid for with Oyster cards.

The discount will cut the cost of a river commute by a third, pricing a single trip along the Thames at about £3.35, and putting it more on a par with the road and rail system. Thames Clippers, which runs most of the existing commuter boats, will offer services at 10-minute intervals during rush hour.

Commuters wanting to get from home to work via the most direct route will still probably opt for road or tube. Even if the scheme succeeds, it won’t solve London’s dire congestion problems, but it could take some of the pressure off the overcrowded transport system.

It might not solve the problem of demonstrations, however. Although they can’t walk on water, they can throw themselves into it, as the Tamil protesters threatened to do en masse yesterday.

YOU KNOW we’re in a recession . . . when a pawnbroker opens its doors for business in the City of London for the first time in almost 100 years.

Located above a sandwich shop in the Square Mile and in premises once occupied by a recruitment consultant, Nikolas Michael is doing a roaring trade from City types fallen on hard times. At £1,000, the average loan given out at Nikolas Michael is about 10 times the amount loaned by a typical High Street pawnbroker, with the most popular items pledged being the expensive Rolex watches and diamonds bought by traders with bonus money from better times.

Fiona Walsh writes for the Guardiannewspaper in London