Critics say Silvertown Tunnel buses are ‘greenwashing’ after cycling and walking is banned

The Silvertown Tunnel opening soon with a £4 charge has been accused of failing to meet transport targets as cycling and walking in it is banned.

Campaigners have raised concerns over the upcoming Silvertown Tunnel in southeast London, saying installing a cycle shuttle bus instead of allowing walking and cycling is an ‘afterthought’ that is ‘set to fail.’

Silvertown Tunnel underneath the River Thames connecting the Greenwich Peninsula and the borough of Newham is due to open within months on April 7.

Cycling and walking in the tunnel is not allowed for safety reasons, TfL said. Instead, a dedicated cycle shuttle bus will operate every 12 minutes, along with three regular passenger bus routes which will be free for the first 12 months.

The cost of each Silvertown crossing by car will start from £4 and the new charges will also apply at the nearby Blackwall Tunnel from April 7.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has heralded the new tunnel as a way to relieve congestion and pollution at Blackwall Tunnel which opened almost 130 years ago.

However, not everyone has welcomed the £2 billion infrastructure project with open arms.

Caroline Russell, the leader of the Green Party in the London Assembly, claimed the Silvertown Tunnel will leave Londoners ‘with debt that will go on for years.’

She said the Mayor, who inherited the project in 2016 from the previous leadership, missed an opportunity to build a crossing that would have made it ‘easy and convenient to use a bike.’

She told Metro: ‘He inherited the project, but he signed off the consent in 2018. The fact that the car tunnel is going ahead and that it is threatening his climate target, that’s on him.

‘It seems extraordinary when the Mayor says he is the greenest Mayor ever, yet he is enabling a new piece of road that even at the outset they have to try and reduce the number of traffic on it.

‘Then they have the bike bus going through the tunnel, which is an incredibly clunky system.’

A spokesperson for the Mayor said: ‘Plans for the Silvertown Tunnel were first announced in 2012 and, once open, it will reduce journey times, help manage air pollution and allow for better cross-river public transport.’

The cycle shuttle bus will be free for the first 12 months, but campaigners fear it will be axed after the first year if uptake is not high enough.

TfL will spend almost £2 million on the bike shuttle bus in the first year, with the contract awarded to Stagecoach East London, figures obtained by The Standard reveal.

Ms Russell said that while £2 million is a ‘drop in the ocean’ in the overall project, TfL should have thought ‘how to allow people to get through the tunnel on foot and bike to not have to think about that.’

‘It is not acceptable to this close to 2030 to bring in a new tunnel that people cannot through on bike,’ she added.

Simon Munk, a spokesperson for the London Cycling Campaign, said: ‘Silvertown will almost certainly lead to increased motor traffic across east London. The extra bus provision and the cycle shuttle bus in that context are greenwashing.

‘We have been clear from the start that the cycle shuttle is unlikely to be well used – most people who cycle aren’t going to wait to load their bike onto a bus, much less a cargo bike or trike.’

Ms Russell said the recent publication of a map showing the cycle shuttle bus stops on Seagull Lane the Royal Victoria DLR station in the north and Millenium Way in Greenwich ‘makes it look like a real afterthought.’

While London needed more safe walking and wheeling river crossing, Silvertown ‘even with a shuttle bus is not one,’ Mr Munk said, adding that it is a ‘road for more lorries and cars that goes directly against the Mayor’s own transport priorities.’

Ms Russell called for action to help reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution caused by road traffic tyre wear, saying that the leadership has to ‘make sure the city works’ for people using bikes and cargo bike

TfL said the modern tunnel will ‘reduce journey times and help manage air pollution,’ making journeys 20 minutes quicker at peak times.

However, Dominic Leggett, a campaigner with the group Stop Silvertown Tunnel, claimed that Silvertown Tunnel could send between 25,000 and 30,000 new polluting vehicles every day to Newham through the north portal.

He said that despite the ‘eye-watering price we are paying for this tunnel, Londoners will see very little benefit, if at all,’ adding that Blackwall Tunnel users will ‘only see disbenefits’ due to the introduction of the charge.

In 2020, TfL installed dozens of tubes and three monitoring stations to record nitrogen dioxide levels across five boroughs along with PM2.5 monitoring in Newham, and Metro understands that monitoring will continue.

A TfL spokesperson said: ‘It will also support economic growth and allow TfL to increase the number of buses able to cross the river in this area from six to 21 buses an hour in each direction during the busiest times – all of which will be zero emission at the tailpipe.

‘Due to the proximity of the tunnels to each other, without the introduction of a user charge at both tunnels, there would likely be high levels of traffic and congestion which would lead to detrimental air quality impacts, as well as longer journey times.

‘To help residents and businesses, a wide range of concessions and discounts will be available, including a 50 per cent discount which would be available for low-income residents in surrounding areas.

‘The Rotherhithe tunnel and Woolwich ferry will also still allow drivers to cross the river in east London without paying a user charge and buses using both crossings will be free for at least the first year.’

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