Concerns have been raised at City Hall as data suggests only 1,131 Londoners, businesses and charities have applied for discounts to drive through the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels.
Low-income Londoners in boroughs near the soon-to-open Silvertown Tunnel and the neighbouring Blackwall Tunnel are eligible for a 50 per cent discount on the charge to cross the river. Small businesses, sole traders and charities are meanwhile entitled to get £1 off the tunnels’ off-peak charge.
But according to data published by Sir Sadiq Khan’s office, only 904 residents and 227 businesses and charities had applied for the discounts, as of February 17. The application window to ‘pre-register’ for the discounts opened on January 27.
Hina Bokhari, the London Assembly’s Liberal Democrat group leader, said the “low take-up” was “very worrying”, and urged the mayor to “ensure local people are fully aware of the discounts available to them”.
The mayor’s office said Transport for London (TfL) has “launched a comprehensive multi-channel campaign” to raise awareness of the discounts and is trying to reach “as many people as possible”.
The Silvertown Tunnel will open on April 7, and will link Silvertown, close to Canning Town, with the Greenwich Peninsula, south of the Thames. It will cost £4 to use the tunnel at peak hours, and £1.50 at off-peak times. Between 10pm and 6am each night, it will be free to use.
The neighbouring 128-year-old Blackwall Tunnel, which is currently free to use, will have the same charges apply to it from the day that the Silvertown Tunnel opens.
The low income residents discount is available to Londoners living in 13 boroughs north and south of the tunnel who are in receipt of certain benefits. These include income support, universal credit, pension credit or housing benefit, among others.
According to the statistics released by Sir Sadiq in response to a written question from Ms Bokhari, a total of 779 residents had applied for the discount. A further 125 people had applied without providing all of the required evidence - for example, because they may have only recently moved to the area, so may be lacking proof of address.
The off-peak discount for charities and small businesses is more limited, as it only applies to those in Greenwich, Newham and Tower Hamlets, rather than the further 10 boroughs covered by the residents discount. As of February 17, only 53 applications had been received from Tower Hamlets, with a further 73 in Newham and 101 in Greenwich.
It is unclear how many of the total 1,131 discount applications were successful, or how many have already been rejected.
“The low take-up of discounts for low income east-Londoners and local businesses around the Silvertown Tunnel is very worrying,” said Ms Bokhari.
“The mayor doesn’t like talking about the Silvertown Tunnel, which is why we call it his ‘dirty little secret’, but his lack of openness about it means not enough Londoners know about the discounts they could apply for, or even that a toll will exist. It’s simply not good enough.
“The tunnel is an environmental and financial millstone for east Londoners and the mayor should be doing more to own up to the impacts it will have, and ensure local people are fully aware of discounts available to them.”
Sir Sadiq claims the new tunnel will improve air quality and congestion in the area. He has said Londoners should be “incredibly proud” of it - dubbing it a “great piece of infrastructure” which will “transform” lives. But campaigners opposed to the project say it will in fact increase congestion, pollution and carbon emissions - and point to TfL modelling which suggested roughly 100,000 motorists a day will continue to use the Blackwall Tunnel – and 15,000 to 30,000 a day will use the new Silvertown Tunnel.
Speaking at a TfL board meeting on February 5, TfL’s chief customer and strategy officer Alex Williams admitted: “Uptake [for discounts] is not as great as I’d like, so we’re looking at more communication work on that, but it [the applications system] is open and functioning.”
At the same meeting, TfL commissioner Andy Lord encouraged all board members to do their bit to raise awareness of the discounts when talking to east Londoners about the Silvertown Tunnel.
In a separate written response to Ms Bokhari, Sir Sadiq said: “Messaging explaining the low- income and business discount is appearing in local press, radio, and online video, supported by a general discounts message in video on demand channels.
“In addition, over 1.5m leaflets have been delivered to residents in 13 east London boroughs, over 80,000 leaflets have been direct mailed to businesses in Greenwich, Newham and Tower Hamlets where the business discount will be available, and 35,000 leaflets have been printed for face-to-face distribution in high footfall locations such as shopping centres, markets, car parks, supermarkets and builders markets.
“Over 2.8 million emails have been sent to customers on the TfL database including local residents and businesses. Information is also available on TfL’s website.
“TfL is also working closely with its stakeholders including boroughs, assembly members, MPs and those representing low-income Londoners, businesses and disability and accessibility stakeholders, to ensure that messaging around pre-registration and the discounts available reaches as many people as possible.”
