Richard Tracey talks river transport on BBC's The Sunday Politics

Richard Tracey AM, Mayor's River Ambassador and London Assembly Member for Wandsworth and Merton, appeared on Sunday morning 3rd March on the BBC politics programme to talk about the Mayor's River Strategy and its significance for Putney and Wandsworth.

Richard explained: " From 2nd April there will be considerably more peak time river taxis from Putney Pier and Wandsworth Riverside Quarter downstream towards Westminster, Blackfriars, and the City and the same returning at the evening peak. The Mayor's target is to increase the current 6 million journeys a year on the river to 12 million in 2020. Ridership has increased by 25% in the past 4 years, We have worked on the model of the Brisbane River in Australia which winds in a similar way to the Thames and where 10 million people use it to travel to work. In Brisbane the same sort of catamaran boats are used. In our area we have found considerable demand for more river services."

Richard said that previously Transport for London have not had a River Strategy, but now it will fit in alongside buses, Underground, and roads in travel planning. He also saw a prospect that boat services will appear fully on the London travel map, and there will be live information available and on the online Journey Planner. Boats will further help relieve travel across north Wandsworth where there is no underground line and where commuters must rely on main line trains and buses. The next stage of the programme is to look forward to a new pier at Plantation Wharf/Battersea Reach which it is hoped will be in place by the end of 2013.

He also spoke about fares for river transport when challenged that they will be more expensive than the underground or the bus services, and outlined the scale of charges as set out here -

Putney Service Fares:

February 25th 2013