Silvertown tunnel’s TfL cycle shuttle bus remains a flop
Silvertown tunnel celebrated its first birthday last week and that milestone coincided with a recent report on the tunnel uploaded by Transport for London.
One part of the tunnel plan which attracted widespread derision was a cycle shuttle bus given the lack of a safe route through the tunnel. Cyclists would turn up, wait to board and be driven across.
A key issue with the plan aside from having to wait was travesing many dismal streets and areas of public realm around east Greenwich and the peninsula which hardly act as an incentive for cyclists – particularly those who may not confident cyclists and a bit tentative – to venture there from nearby areas.
Given nothing has happened to improve things on that front south of the river it’s little surprise the cycle shuttle saw no growth. Well for the first six months as according to the report before the Silvertown Tunnel Implementation Group consisting of borough and TfL as there’s no sign of subsequent monitoring in the report.
The report was dated February 2026, so why they havn’t included recent figures is odd. But it did show no growth over the first six months aside from initial usage.
Perhaps people used it, saw how bad the infrastructure on approach is south of the river and gave up.
New bridge
Another thing which raises eyebrows is TfL often proclaiming how good the replacement cycle and pedestrian bridge is in Greenwich. TfL continue to portray it as some major improvement though the prior bridge was fine and had a ramp for cyclists.
The issue was never the bridge. It was only knocked down as more road lanes were being added below. The problem was always how bad various approaches are in Greenwich to the bus shuttle which remain as poor as ever.
Tunnel Avenue
Tunnel Avenue remains generally filthy with endless rubbish, broken paving, is often flooded and little more than an isolated, unloved dumping ground.
A recent trip the other day was pretty stadard, where expansive patches of water abound on the shared pedestrian and cycle lane though it hadn’t rained for some days.
When it does rain, extensive flooding across the path is seen.
There’s also massive amounts of autumn leaves six months on from it actually being autumn. It’s clearly not seeing basic cleaning or maintenance.
Cross over the new bridge via rubbish strewing and unmaintained landscaping and Boord Street sees a mass flytip.
Granted this is private land but powers exit to force private landowners to act – or pay.
TfL state more people are using the bridge now compared to before the tunnel opened – though growth from a very small number is still a low number.
Given new homes in the area it’d be amazing if it didn’t see some modest footfall rises. In addition, the years before the tunnel opening saw this area as a building site.
TfL also state it’s busiest between 11pm to 12am when the club next door opens which suggests its not being used by commuters.
As housing developments come and go in the area little to no funding is allocated to improve links across Greenwich on foot or bike.
Some dubious Active Travel surveys have been conducted when planning applications go in for approval, which somehow manage to ignore the worst routes on foot and cycle.
And if Tunnel Avenue and Boord Street are bad, the other option from Cycleway 4 and east Greenwich is under the tunnel approach flyover. If anything this is even more unwelcoming.
Heading to the bus shuttle here means going below the flyover, passing slip roads then turning at the roundabout onto Millennium Way.
You can just imagine someone giving this a go for the first time. Perhaps bringing their child along. Nah, you’re alright. Won’t be back again.
Sivertown mitigation fund
As for specific funding from the Silvertown tunnel migration fund there’s a vast contrast in sums to be spent north and south of the river. Greenwich borough is seeing less than £1 million and none covers the worst areas connecting to the bus shuttle.
It’s a very different story north of the river. Cycle lanes have and are being built across many miles making approaches far better, but only half a job is done overall when looking at how poor streets in Greenwich are such as Tunnel Avenue, Millenium Way, Bugsby’s Way and Blackwall Lane remain.
Newham have allocated £26 million including £2.78m Section 106 income and £5.5m from Community Infrastructure Levy revenue towards street improvements across the board around Silvertown and Canning Town stretching over many miles – and TfL have added millions in funding on top. Last year they went to the Tfl Board for authorisation to spend more for public realm improvements. Imagine that in Greenwich!
In Newham a new cycle lane is also now being built meters from the cycle shuttle bus stop. It’s so vastly different to inaction south of the river.
Will it ever work?
Many would say the idea of a bus shuttle is flawed anyway but still, it may be of use to more people if reaching it was easier and safer for many.
Not all areas in Greenwich are quite as bad when it comes to reaching the bus but most approaches are pretty awful, be it from Charlton, east Greenwich or further afield such as Deptford via Cycleway 4.
To do next to nothing is again such a stark contrast of a lack of desire. Let’s not pretend money is the factor. Many thousands of homes have borough S106 and CIL revenue.
Neither Greenwich Council nor TfL again come out of this looking good. A token bus service is put in and yet years after the tunnel was approved, barely any of the very modest mitigation fund has been spent in Greenwich borough. When it is, none of the major issues will be touched.
Given all that the bus service sees empty vehicles criss-crossing the river.
To encourage cycling takes more than a gimmick. Good quality infrastructure is a must – and particuarly if culture change and persuading people to give cycling a go is a key aim.
Without that it’s empty gesures. And given little sign of real improvements on Greenwich peninsula remain, it can’t have too long left.
Hey it could have grown massively in recent weeks! I josh of course. It’s dead in the water and perhaps deliberately so.
My anecdotal experience is not one that suggests much growth even in better weather. I’d expect some increases due to spring time, warm days and new tower blocks nearby now looking finished but even then if it’s only really used by those in the immediate area – owing to less than ideal routes on various streets – that’s not much of a success. It could have seen a new lane linking to Cycleway 4 from Trafalgar Road up Blackwall Lane under the bridge then left to the stop. Even if interim and done cheaply it would show some willing but not a thing has been installed.
Public realm is dismal around this area of Greenwich as it is across the whole of the Borough of Greenwich
Greenwich Council need to invest in improving public realm and then make sure the public realm is well maintained and roads cleaned regularly as rubbish builds up..
Pavements pedestrians crossings and lighting also needs to be improved to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists..
If cyclists continue not to use the cycle shuttle bus. Then TFL could concert the shuttle bus back to a normal.bus for normal passenger service by replacing the seats and continue operating the route through the Silvertown Town providing a new bus link to Kidbrooke/Eltham via Charlton Station or to Woolwich/Thamesmead..
I do agree that part of the problem the cycle shuttle bus route was so poorly used by cyclists is down to the poor access via poor road layouts crossings and public realm which all needs improving..
There were also changes to the 108 bus service due to Silvertown Tunnel which no longer serves East Greenwich adjacent stops (Boord Street when travelling South and Tunnel Avenue when travelling North). I’ve been hugely affected and now have to walk these horrible routes photographed to the peninsula only to be driven back the way I’ve walked. Lime bikes share narrow single pedestrian routes, there is swathes of dust and litter, the yellow bounding boxes under the bridge haven’t been painted in the 10 years I’ve been doing the route.
The only improvement is there is less traffic queuing to get into Blackwall tunnel approach since the tolls were introduced. Drivers used to jump red lights and queue over the pedestrian crossings.
I think it’s very strange to see a cycle bus shuttle that was introduced since the Silvertown Tunnel was built. Obviously passengers can’t use it unless they have a bike and want to cross from one side to the other via the Silvertown Tunnel.
I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments here. We were let down by Riverlinx Consortium and TfL
And the Mayor of London.
Newham is wasting a lot of money building cycle lanes very few uses and they causes more congestions and there are very few buses. If you want to go from Royal Victoria to Charlton the fastest way is by the cable car, but it is expensive. The DLR is infrequent and then you have to change to Jubilee. You will spend more time waiting then riding. Then there is extreme congestion on the roads from North Greenwich station. As for the northern exit of the tunnel it looks nice, but it is terrible designed. There are accidents almost every week. And finally the shuttle. It frequently runs empty. Sometimes it carry one person.
They will be well used if part of a cohesive network.
Also there’s about 10k mostly car free homes being built in the vicinity of the lanes. It’s an investment so infrastructure is there as further developments complete.
The cable car isn’t too expensive if used regularly. Works out at £2 a journey which isn’t much more than a bus (particularly if/when bus fares rise this summer).
Then maybe developers should build more parking spaces and less gyms, coworking spaces and “cinemas”. These non residential spaces in the development near Canning Town station are empty and I expect they will remain empty. The prices are so crazy high, people accept mediocre solutions.
The cable car itself is £20 for the 10 journeys but if you need to go any further by bus you need another £1.75 for the bus, while for the £1.75 you can change buses within one hour. What I would like to have is a bus ride for £1.75 from Royal Victoeia to Bugsby’s Way.
Also the super loop is a weird one. There is very long gap between stops on each side of the tunnel, and then there it does a loop around a roundabout to stop under the Lea bridge and then it has another few stops each a few hundreds yards apart.
So yes there are thousands of flats and more being build, but not a single bus line. And not a decent shop.
By the way when they were building the Crossrail, they should build the tunnel wider and have the DLR in the tunnel or at least a trench like between Beckton Park and Cyprus.
What is going on with that double loop around the roundabout??? Makes my head spin tbh. Can’t help thinking that single stop had a lot of arguments over it.
They came up with a terrible idea, did a consultation where many respondents told them it was a terrible idea and pushed ahead with it anyway. After the initial period, they will get what they wanted and cancel the bus because unsurprisingly, no one is using it.
The most galling thing it there are two ridiculously wide access pavements through the tunnel, the space for which could have been used better to provide the cycle lanes the area actually needs.
Failed by the politicians and corporates again. Remember this when local elections come round.
Why not just have a cycle line through the tunnel?
Because there is no space for it. This tunnel is generally a pathetic design. It’s location, its size and its connection to the other roads. They should have build a three lane each way tunnel to replace Woolwich ferry and have a pedestrian ferry where the current tunnel is.
If no one isn’t it as much then why was it introduced in service in the first place. Anyways I still think that it should be scrapped but I think it should continue to operate.
My other suggestion would be if a tunnel was built next to Silvertown Tunnel that would allow pedestrians and cyclists to use to get from one side to the other.
Good point though I would say the tunnel proposal at Thamesmead would have been better as it would have a bit less of a congestion impact at Woolwich. Maybe another tunnel opened up in charlton later on too, again to minimise congestion in Woolwich which is densely populated and too busy on the roads already
Perhaps Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle bus should be scrapped if no one isn’t using it. I can see it getting scrapped but I don’t think it will.
Thule bike bus is 1000 times worse than just getting the Woolwich foot tunnel lifts if they worked. They haven’t worked for maybe 4 years now so for those unable toncarry their bikes it’s a rubbish substitute. A much better, cheaper and less complex idea would be to extend the cable car bring a bike and you get on for free rule from the 9.30am cut off to all day. In ADDITION to FIZING THE LIFTS AT WOOLWICH!
A Thamesmead or Belvedere crossing would have been so much better as roads each side would have the capacity. Silvertown was always in the wrong spot as there was no space for more roads in Greenwich so I’m still stuck in traffic every day when heading to Eltham. Cross in the new tunnel is all lovely then bam straight into a long and slow moving jam from the flyover all the way to Bexley. Nothing about this project is optimal be it for people like me (a van driver) or cyclists or pedestrians. It helps in places but for the money spent it should be a dam site better planned.
Despite its a flop. I still think that the cycle shuttle bus will continue to operate. I can’t see it getting scrapped since it was introduced few years ago when the new Silvertown Tunnel was built.
I agree with you. I think that TfL wouldn’t want to get rid of the Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle bus and to see it continue. Same with the Woolwich Ferry.
More oassenger bus services need to operate through the Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnels linking more areas of South East London with more areas of East Lindon.
Sadiq Khan Mayor of London and TFL should never have cut the proposed bus routes to serve the Silvertown Town from 5 bus routes to 2 bus routes (129 and SL4). After they lied to get the tunnel approved after huge local opposition to the tunnel in Greenwich and Newham Boroughs.
I do need agree London needs more cross river crossings with a new tunnel at Thamesmead/Belvedere.
The Woolwich Free Ferry is a major part of Woolwich’s history. It has been operating for decades and has long has I can remember and i am 75. Any plans to charge a toll to use the Ferry or scrap the Woolwich Ferry completely. The Mayor of London and TFL would see a huge backlash from people hige both sides of the river and any plans to do this would end the Mayor Of London’s time at City Hall.
The cycle bus through the Silvertown Town Tunnel as never been successful and is costing TFL a huge amount of money to.operate it. TfL shouldn’t put the seats back in to the electric single decker buses and run a new passenger bus route through the Silvertown Town to Kibrooke/Eltham/Lewisham via Charlton or to Woolwich/Thamesmead via Plumstead and Abbey Wood. Increasing the number of bus services serving the new Silvertown Town Tunnel.bavk to the original proposed 5 bus routes instead of just two has now.
The Blackwall Tunnel could also do witb a new bus route through the tunnel linking more areas of South East London and East London. Major developments are taking place both sides of the river creating thousands and thousands of new homes.
Another Tunnel around Thamesmead or Belvedere would make a huge difference has traffic congestion in South East London and East London particularly around the Tunnels are getting worse witn journeys taking la lot longet at times
So TFL the Mayor Of London and Local Authorities to need to look at this again. With tbe view of improving bus services and other public transport infrastructure..
@ KM You are alright. The Woolwich Free Ferry started operation on the 23 March 1889 so is vety much a major part of Woolwich’s history and long may it continue as a free to use Ferry for decades to come.
@ KM You are alright. The Woolwich Free Ferry started operation on the 23 March 1889 so is vety much a major part of Woolwich’s history and long may it continue as a free to use Ferry for decades to come.
How comes that the Silvertown cycle shuttle bus remains to be a flop whilst many people with bikes are still using it. It can’t be that bad if the cycle shuttle bus hasn’t been used much and there are other ways to get around. Has the Mayor of London ever used the cycle shuttle bus when it was first introduced after the Silvertown Tunnel was built.