It’s smooth, speedy and won’t cost a penny for at least a year. But are cyclists going to use the Silvertown bike bus?
I caught one of the first bike buses to depart on Monday from the “north of the river” cycle stop, near Royal Victoria DLR station in Seagull Way.
Transport for London is spending almost £2m on a three-year contract to operate the new cycle shuttle service.
It is being provided because cyclists are not permitted to ride through the new Silvertown tunnel – much to their annoyance and to the frustration of campaigners who believe the tunnel, which opened just after midnight on Monday, should have been for “active travel” not private motorists and HGVs.
Also on board the bus were Caroline Russell, the Green party London Assembly member, and Tom Fyans, chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign.
Prior to boarding, I’d seen another cycle shuttle head south to North Greenwich without a cyclist on board. Another heading north only had one cyclist on board.
My Specialized road bike was easily stowed midway on the bus, though I inadvertently used a space set aside for cargo bikes or adapted cycles.
But Ms Russell struggled to lift her Brompton onto the “toast rack” waist-height metal cage - which can hold three foldable bikes - near the front of the single-decker bus.
The bus appears able to transport one cargo or adapted bike, four conventional bikes and three folding bikes, though the exact number may depend on the mix.
There are three shuttle buses – all battery electric – and they will operate a five buses per hour frequency, between 6.30am and 9.30pm, seven days a week.
That’s a 12-minute wait between services - which may be too long for people who typically prefer travelling by bike to avoid having to wait for public transport.
There’s also the issue of the bus not taking them exactly where they want to go. For those heading to Canary Wharf, the drop off point is several hundred yards in the wrong direction.
So how was the trip? In a word: quick. The journey through the mile-long tunnel took barely two minutes, plus a minute or two at either end of the tunnel.
But it was the first day of the Easter holidays, with few other vehicles on the road – and with many motorists no doubt unclear about the Silvertown tunnel, probably wondering where it goes and how much it will cost.
For me, it was a fun free ride – should I ever want to end up in a relatively isolated part of the Greenwich Peninsula.
Those heading to or from Abbey Wood or Thamesmead by bike may be better advised to load their cycle onto the Elizabeth line, assuming they can travel off peak.
Alternatively there is the cable car, but that is only free to cyclists in the morning (and is pretty pricey at other times).
The bike bus is the only way to transport an e-bike under the river using public transport - despite the known fire safety concerns. That’s not much of a unique selling point.
How long the bike bus remains free – or indeed continues to operate – is unknown. TfL has only committed to keeping it free for the first 12 months.
Lorna Murphy, TfL’s director of buses, denied the bike bus would be quickly axed if it proved unpopular with cyclists. “We will make changes as we need to,” she said, pointing out that the contract is timed to run for three years.
“For safety reasons, cycling and walking is not [permitted] in the tunnel. “We have the cycle shuttle available to get people across safely,” she said.
It’s not the only bus that will use the Silvertown tunnel – but it is the only one that will carry bikes.
The extended 129 bus and the new SL4 Superloop will also be free for the next 12 months. “We really want to encourage people to use public transport in this part of the world,” Ms Murphy said.
Ms Russell wasn’t hugely impressed with the cycle bus. “It’s a very clunky way to get across the river with a bike, and it feels like an afterthought,” she said.
“There is not a lot of space [on board] and I can’t see how people are going to build it into their everyday journeys.
“It would be so much easier if there was a route that people could cycle through under the river.”
Mr Fyans also had his doubts. He said it was “an OK ride, but pretty cramped with not much space for bikes”.
He said: “It was a bit of a strange experience. I have a feeling that cyclists are not going to wait for a bus that comes every 12 minutes – we want to get going.
“We should have been able to go through the tunnel on our bikes. It would have been much better, much faster.”
He said that TfL had chosen to prioritise car drivers over “active travel” in deciding who got to use the tunnel, “which is a bit ridiculous in this day and age”.
He added: “I think it’s going to struggle capacity-wise. If it’s popular and gets used, it’s going to struggle [with capacity] and people are going to have to wait - or it’s not going to get used at all. Either way, it’s not going to be a great experience for cyclists.”
