London River Services | |
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Thames Clippers | |
Thames Clippers logo |
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Locale | River Thames, London, UK |
Vessels | 13 |
Length (km) | 0.4km |
Transit type | River bus and tourist/leisure services |
Began operation | 1999 |
No. of lines | 4 |
No. of terminals | 12 |
Owner | Anschutz Entertainment Group |
Operator | Thames Clipper |
Website | official website |
London River Services | |
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Thames Clipper is a water-bus service operating in London on the River Thames. The company offers commuter services between eastern and central London, as well as tourist services under licence from London River Services. At present they transport around 7,500 passengers daily.
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Sean Collins co-founded Thames Clippers in 1999 with partner Alan Woods. During his career Sean recognised the opportunity to build a consistent high-speed commuter and passenger river service. Thames Clippers was then taken over in September 2006 by the American Anschutz Entertainment Group[1], who promised substantial investment into the company to upgrade the services and to provide a more frequent "hop-on-hop-off" between Central London and The O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome), also owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group. In 2007 the company purchased six spacious new catamarans to be used on the Thames Clippers commuter service in order to carry a large number of passengers in a comfortable environment.
Thames Clippers operate under licence from Transport for London. The river boat service is now better integrated into the tube and bus ticketing network. From November 2009, the Thames Clipper services started to accept Oyster Pre-Pay on all of its services, which also provides discounts on the full fares.[2]. Passengers holding a valid Travelcard pay a reduced fare (2/3 of the ticketed price) on all routes.
A River Roamer ticket, valid for one day, is available from Thames Clipper which allows the holder to hop on and hop off along the banks of the Thames between Millbank Millennium Pier and Canary Wharf Pier (including the Canary Wharf - Rotherhithe Ferry). The cost is £12.00 for an adult and £25.00 for a family. It's £5.30 for an adult single trip (or £4.80 if payment is made with an oyster card)[3]. There is a one third discount for holders of travelcards.
Special river service season tickets, valid for either 3 months or 1 year, are also available.
Commuter service is between Embankment Pier (on the north side of the river by Embankment tube station and Charing Cross tube and railway stations) and the Woolwich Arsenal Pier (on the south side of the river in Woolwich. The service runs every 20 minutes during the day, and every 30 minutes in the very early morning and evenings.
Stops include from west to east:
Thames Clippers operates the direct cross river Canary Wharf - Rotherhithe Ferry, between Canary Wharf Pier and the Hilton Docklands Nelson Dock Pier at the Hilton Hotel in Rotherhithe. The service uses smaller boats than the commuter service but runs at a higher frequency of roughly every 10 minutes. The ferry can be used both by guests of the hotel as well as by passengers not staying at the hotel.
Thames Clippers operates a shuttle service between London Bridge City Pier and Canary Wharf Pier. This service operates only on peak AM and peak PM Commuter Hours (Monday-Friday). Offering an additional 10 minute service which coincides with the main commuter service between these piers.
The Tate Boat Service serves visitors travelling between the Tate Modern museum on the South Bank and the older Tate Britain in Millbank across the river.
The O2 Express is an express service serving London Eye, London Bridge Pier and QEII Pier for The O2. The service also provides private charters.
Thames Clippers operates 13 high speed catamarans.[4]
In February 2004, a woman was killed after she was hit, while waiting for a boat, by a mooring bollard which had come loose from the Star Clipper at St. Katherine's Pier.[5]
In October 4th, 2011 at 7 pm an other accident occurred with the Moon Clipper, it hit the Tower Millennium Pier when it was carrying about 50 people.[6]
Thames Clipper vessels have on-board cafes and bars operated by Costa Coffee.
Since May 2006 WiFi has been available on-board, the service is currently run by 'WiFi Hotzone'
A Policy Exchange report advocates significant expansion in river services on the Thames. The aim of the report is to lead to a "river tube line" being created which would lead to easing of current congestion on London's transport systems, and better quality of travel, at a significantly cheaper price than other options. Opponents note that the river capacity, especially at low tide could mean a reduction of tourist boats (especially at peak commuter times), and turn the Thames into urban highway which would be detrimental to London. To be feasible, the report calls for better management of river traffic, improved interchange with other public transport modes and expansion of key piers.[7]
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson is responsible for the River Concordat group [2] group, which is made-up of over forty different organisations including Thames Clippers. His publication, By the River [3], sets out the strategic vision for improving river transport on the Thames.
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