Sadiq Khan on Tuesday rejected calls for the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnel tolls to be scrapped as a public consultation on the proposed levies entered its final day.
Under draft plans published in July, motorists will be charged £4 to use either tunnel at peak times, and £1.50 off peak and at weekends. There will be no charge between 10pm and 6am on any day of the week.
The charges will be imposed from Spring next year – a precise date has yet to be announced - when the Silvertown tunnel opens.
At present, the Blackwall tunnel, which is used by about 100,000 motorists a day, is free, and has been since it opened in 1897.
Mr Khan, speaking to the Standard ahead of the close of the Transport for London consultation on Tuesday night, said the tolls were needed to pay back the £2.2bn cost of constructing and operating the Silvertown tunnel under a PFI scheme.
The Silvertown tunnel connects North Greenwich with the Royal Docks and should make journeys “up to 20 minutes quicker” by halving pressure on the adjacent Blackwall tunnel. The Silvertown project began life under Mr Khan’s predecessor as mayor, Boris Johnson.
Mr Khan said: “Boris Johnson… was quite clear that the cost of the tunnel be paid for by users. That is a principle I support. That is how we are going to pay for this tunnel.
“It’s not going to be paid for by bus users or Tube users or taxpayers – it will be paid for by future users of the tunnel.”
He said the eight-week consultation, which has attracted a “high level” of response, was designed to ensure the scheme “is the best it possibly can be”, with free bus and DLR journeys for people crossing the Thames at Silvertown and discounted charges for low-income Londoners and small businesses in east and south-east London.
Under the draft plans, the £4 levy would be imposed on northbound trips from 6am to 10am and southbound trips from 4pm to 7pm on weekdays – meaning £8 a day for a typical “round trip” in and out of central London.
Liam Davis, whose Change.org petition opposing the proposed £8 charge for a peak hours return journey has been signed by 30,000 people, said he was “incensed” the charges were not made public prior to the mayoral and general elections.
Some opponents have described the tolls as “ridiculously high” and say they will be forced to change jobs, he said.
Mr Davis, who said it was unfair to toll river crossings in east London but not west London, said: “The announcement of tolls seems to have come as a shock to most petition respondents.
“For most people, the establishment of a toll on the Blackwall tunnel was unacceptable, given that it has held a free usage status in the modern era.”
Caroline Russell, a Green party member of the London Assembly, supported the use of charges that varied by time and vehicle.
But she raised concerns about how a proposed shuttle bus for cyclists – who will not be permitted to cycle through either tunnel – will operate, and how refunds for DLR passengers would be obtained.
Ms Russell said: “The public transport, walking and cycling proposals alongside this road tunnel are not in keeping with the scale of investment that has been made in new motor traffic infrastructure.”
* The southbound Blackwall tunnel will be closed this coming weekend, from 00.01 on Saturday until 5am on Monday, to allow construction work to integrate the Silvertown tunnel with the existing road network to be carried out.
