Drivers are expected to pay more than £100million a year to use the Blackwall tunnel and new Silvertown tunnel when tolls are introduced next Spring, Transport for London has revealed.
But TfL itself stands to make only about £3m a year “profit” from the tunnel tolls – and £180 penalty fines for drivers who fail to pay – because the cost of repaying the £2bn Silvertown scheme is so huge.
The TfL board took just 42 minutes on Wednesday to unanimously approve the new tolls, which will charge car and van drivers £4 at peak times and £1.50 off peak for each journey under the Thames in either of the tunnels.
It will be the first time that tolls have been introduced at Blackwall tunnel, which links the A12 and A12, in its 130-year history.
The Blackwall tunnel is being tolled at the same rate as the new Silvertown tunnel as their access roads are adjacent to one another in North Greenwich, and failing to do so would not solve the primary problem of the lengthy delays that motorists face using the Blackwall tunnel.
Documents presented to the TfL board reveal that revenue is expected to increase from £3.1m in 2024/25 – suggesting the Silvertown tunnel will open in mid-March – to £103.8m in 2025/26, increasing in subsequent financial years to £111m, £115.4m, £119.5m and £123.7m by the end of the decade.
But with TfL having to repay the Silvertown contractor Riverlinx £70m a year in addition to other operating costs, this leaves TfL making a “loss” until 2026/27 – and then only an annual profit of about £3m a year to reinvest in other public transport schemes.
Arthur Kay, an entrepreneur and new member of the TfL board, said: “It seems like an awful lot of revenue for three per cent profit in business terms.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan inherited the Silvertown tunnel proposals from his predecessor as mayor, Boris Johnson, but decided to press ahead with a slightly modified scheme, in the face of objections from environmental campaigners and some Labour councils.
He told the TfL board that “the general idea is a good one” and that increasing river crossings in east London was an “issue of social justice”.
A date for the opening of the Silvertown tunnel, which has its northern entrance/exit near Canning Town and the Royal Docks, has yet to be announced.
TfL said it would embark in the New Year on a massive public information campaign, including face-to-face contact with drivers in east London and south-east London.
Alex Williams, the TfL director who has overseen the Silvertown project, said: “This is critical infrastructure project for London [and] a really big change to the east London highway network.
“A lot of people don’t know it’s coming. It will lead to quite a few changes in [driver] behaviour in the whole of east London, in my view.”
Mr Williams said Southwark council had raised concerns that Rotherhithe tunnel could be used by motorists looking to avoid the new charge at Blackwall tunnel.
Similarly, the City of London Corporation fears a knock-on impact on Tower Bridge, while National Highways is concerned that more traffic may used the Dartford Crossings on the M25, which at £2.50 per crossing will be cheaper than the Blackwall and Silvertown crossings at peak times.
The £4 peak charge at Silvertown and Blackwall, which will apply between 6am to 10am on weekdays for northbound journeys and 4pm to 7pm for southbound journeys, will account for about 20 per cent of all trips.
A Conservative spokesman said: “Sadid Khan’s TfL is milking drivers for everything they have got.
“Time and time again, Sadiq has been told to stop his war on outer London and he isn’t listening. These tolls must be abolished.”
TfL said that without a peak charge the tunnels would not be able to improve traffic flow. It claims that drivers travelling at peak times will see their journeys reduced by 20 minutes.
