please empty your brain below
Route 108, running for decades. Accurate, but somewhat understated. It has been running since 1914, more than a century.

Malcolm of Kent | 05.06.25 - 7:15 a.m. | #

Was there any mention of traffic in the Rotherhithe tunnel?

100andthirty | 05.06.25 - 7:35 a.m. | #

Good to have some data, another fascinating post.
Regarding the 77/23 split of traffic volume between the tunnels. Given that one lane in the new tunnel is a bus lane, that leaves two lanes (each direction) by Blackwall and one via Silvertown. So 66/34 in capacity but 77/23 in usage, not too out of balance.
* i know I'm ignoring bus traffic with my figures, but approximately 20 buses per hour don't affect my numbers too much.

IslandDweller | 05.06.25 - 7:38 a.m. | #

So the relatively minor cost of introducing a toll has had a much greater effect on improving congestion than the huge expense of the tunnel.

Ian | 05.06.25 - 7:43 a.m. | #

It will be interesting to see how the Silvertown / Blackwall split changes in a year’s time. Some drivers will have been choosing the Silvertown tunnel just because it is new. Conversely some will be choosing the Blackwall tunnel due to habit or because their satnav didn’t know about the Silvertown tunnel. Ultimately, though, perhaps connecting directly to the A12 is more useful than connecting to a chain of roundabouts near Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Dan | 05.06.25 - 8:05 a.m. | #

I'm guessing that a proportion of the free bus journeys are for trips that don't even include the tunnels at all?

dg writes: 65%

Carllo | 05.06.25 - 8:43 a.m. | #

Obvious conclusion. Close one of the bores and have it exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists. As it should have been in the first place.

tomb | 05.06.25 - 8:48 a.m. | #

As someone living near the southern Blackwall Tunnell portal I can say there has been a decrease in traffic here. I'm sure this is down to the toll.

My in-laws live in Dartford and they say traffic has increased there so some must be diverting to a cheaper toll or not bothering with the Blackwall short cut now.

Remember there is only one extra road under the Thames, not two. And the thing is it goes where most people don't really want to go! Most traffic heads north.

Cycling is a busted flush. Despite councils' efforts to get people to cycle, by far the majority don't. I knew the free trips would be a waste of money and they are.

Chris | 05.06.25 - 8:53 a.m. | #

The London Cycling Campaign gives the Silvertown cycle shuttle bus a 2/10 rating for usability. The Greenwich foot tunnel (where you have to use a lift, if it's working, at both ends and walk your bike through the tunnel) gets 7/10 and the Woolwich ferry 6/10, both of them very inconvenient by normal standards. So the shuttle bus must be very inconvenient.

Cyclists still have no reasonably convenient way to cross the Thames in East London while we have spent £2.2bn for not a very great benefit to motorists.

Tony | 05.06.25 - 8:56 a.m. | #

It woutd be a lot simpler if people just stayed on their own side of the river.

kev | 05.06.25 - 9:11 a.m. | #

Chris - I think your conclusion is completely off. Cycling is massively up in areas of London where quality infrastructure has been provided.

If other cyclists are like me, this shuttle has poor uptake because it's not a convenient option at all. I've used it 4 times so far, and in the time I've spent sitting on the bus waiting for it to start moving, I could have already crossed the river if only I were allowed to. The Greenwich foot tunnel at least allows me to move on my own terms (even if I do have to push).

tomb | 05.06.25 - 9:22 a.m. | #

How much are the benefits due to the opening of a new tunnel, compared to the imposition of tolls? I suspect that if you'd just toll the Blackwall Tunnel, you'd get a similar decrease in traffic, although you wouldn't be able to run double decker buses through it.
I think this data strengthens the argument for reserving at least one of the Silvertown tunnel bores for electric buses and cyclists.

TW | 05.06.25 - 9:24 a.m. | #

People cycling do have a more convenient way to cross the river hereabouts, it’s just quite expensive and has limited hours. 🚡

And dumps you in the same wrong direction as the SCS.

Graham | 05.06.25 - 9:36 a.m. | #

Any data about the journeys over Tower Bridge?

Bob | 05.06.25 - 9:58 a.m. | #

Cyclists in Greenwich foot tunnel have to push their bikes.

Well yes officially but how many actual do?

Mark | 05.06.25 - 10:01 a.m. | #

The Blackwall Tunnel is still more popular because the northern end has better road connections.

If you need somewhere near the northern end of the Silvertown Tunnel then the free Woolwich Ferry is a viable alternative.

Still Anon | 05.06.25 - 10:09 a.m. | #

The new tunnel goes nowhere useful at the north end, so I'm not surprised it's pretty empty most of the time. It'll be really handy the next time a Blackwall tunnel is closed overnight though.

The number of people switching to Dartford is a key question. Are people instead of driving in along the A2 and crossing at Blackwall, now crossing at Dartford and driving in on the A13?

Mikey C | 05.06.25 - 10:18 a.m. | #

I am planning to cycle out and use the bus later this month just to try it out. Figure it will be my one and only time.

Greg | 05.06.25 - 11:21 a.m. | #

The anecdotal evidence from my my in-laws is that the Dartford is indeed busier. He is a professional driver so does know the roads leading up to the tunnel there.
tomb- in hilly Greenwich's case, spend loads and they don't come, but traffic more congested as a result of cycle lanes used by 3-4 percent of travellers.

Chris | 05.06.25 - 11:22 a.m. | #

I went on a bike ride to use the SCS just for "fun" about a month ago, on a Sunday morning.
Lovely chatty driver.......I was the only passenger!!!

MikeK | 05.06.25 - 11:53 a.m. | #

If my experience is anything to go by (it isn't - Ed), there's been a lot of initial use of the 129 and SL4 by those who just wanted to see the tunnel for themselves. Actual usage may take some time to settle. I will admit, as someone without a Travelcard or concession, I have adjusted my journeys to use the free travel and not necessarily through the tunnel. It would be interesting to know the actual level of abstraction from parallel bus routes: I'm not getting a 199 if I can get a 129 for nothing.

Ned | 05.06.25 - 12:18 p.m. | #

I think Dan is spot on. Lots of people have the routes they're used to using and satnav takes a while to catch up. Whilst these figures are interesting, it's too soon to tell whether it's been a success or failure (or probably a mix of both)

Anders | 05.06.25 - 1:34 p.m. | #

Occasional user of the Blackwall Tunnel, and one-time user of the Silvertown southbound.

Definitely less traffic. Used to avoid going north on a weekend unless I went through before 10am. Went through Blackwall twice in the last fortnight around lunchtime and went straight in without stopping - unheard of before the new bores. Can't speak for weekdays.

Subjectively, the charge is putting off people who previously might have diverted from Dartford because for their journey it was much of a muchness and they didn't want to pay the Dartford charge. Now that it's pay either way, they'll just use Dartford. And that's fine with me - puts all the naysaying about the increased congestion that the new tunnel would supposedly cause in its place.

Interesting to read that the Woolwich Ferry is now much busier - obviously because you don't have to pay. But the elongated travel time strikes me as a weird trade off to make - time is money, after all.

On the tunnel itself, unsurprising that it's less busy because it chucks you out at the north side in a weird place that isn't set up for accessing the A13 eastbound at all well, and is pointless if you want to continue north on the A12. The best use case is actually going west into the City on the A13 vs the Blackwall tunnel IMO.
Southbound, it has helped my particular regular journey, however. Can't ever see me going north in it, but I'm a car user who can fit in Blackwall, so I get a choice, unlike an HGV or double decker.

Spark | 05.06.25 - 4:41 p.m. | #

It takes a long time for commuting habits to change. I wouldn't bet against some contingent of motorist deciding they can use the current excess capacity to live/work/shop/etc slightly further away for a modest fee.

(modest in the context of everything else about car ownership, obviously)

Graham | 05.06.25 - 5:03 p.m. | #

If traffic is being displaced to the Dartford Crossing and increasing the congestion there, then that probably enhances the business case for the Lower Thames Crossing.

Steven Saunders | 05.06.25 - 7:21 p.m. | #

Having questioned the usefulness of the Silvertown Tunnel it actually makes more sense for my infrequent journeys from Kent to King's Cross. It gets you on to the A13 relatively quickly unlikely Blackwall which takes you up the A12 and then a fiddly route via Victoria Park (assuming in both cases you wish to avoid the Congestion Charge).

Jaco | 06.06.25 - 8:36 a.m. | #

I had to cycle from Woolwich to Stratford in the morning peak this week and it struck me as I was approaching North Greenwich that I could use the Dangleway for free instead of the shuttle bus. As a cyclist it's much more conveniently located, and you know you'll just hop on and ride. It was my first time using it in the morning and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few travelling in the same way in the opposite direction (no riders without a bike).

The issue with the shuttle is firstly access - the stop is in a ridiculously bad location for cyclists approaching on nearby cycle infrastructure. And secondly, you might arrive and have a 10 minute stationary wait. As a cyclist that's so unappealing, especially if you're commuting with time pressure.

On the Silvertown vehicle numbers, capacity under the river hasn't doubled since there's only one general traffic lane (yes, I realise HGVs can use the bus lane). So I think it's unfair to assume their should be a balance. I would expect once things settle for Silvertown to be at a 30% share.

Jordan | 07.06.25 - 7:18 p.m. | #











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