Transport for London (TfL) has said a planned replacement ferry service for the closed Hammersmith Bridge is unlikely to begin operating before the summer and will charge passengers.
Potential operators City Cruises and Uber Boat by Thames Clippers have submitted detailed bids to run the service, while vital repairs and refurbishment works are carried out on the bridge.
TfL said the winning bidder is due to be announced in March but that additional time requested by some of the firms taking part in the procurement process means it is unlikely that the ferry will begin operating before the summer.
Despite this, David Rowe, TfL’s head of major projects sponsorship, claimed that it was ‘working at pace to get a temporary ferry operating to ease the upheaval and inconvenience caused by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge’.
He said: ‘This ferry will restore the vital cross-river connection between Hammersmith and Barnes, and allow repair work to be done on Hammersmith Bridge at the same time.’
The ferry will run between 6am and 10pm on weekdays, with an off-peak service on weekends. The service is expected to have a minimum capacity of around 800 passengers per hour at peak times.
Fares ‘are expected to mirror buses at £1.55 with a Hopper option and the same concessions accepted, subject to necessary approvals,' TfL said. It stressed that the contract award and delivery of the ferry service is dependent a commitment of financial support from the Government.
It added that it is working with other members of the Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce to agree a long-term solution that would fully reopen the bridge to all road users and has already spent £16.7m on investigations, feasibility, design, monitoring and early works, with a further £4m committed to repair work that is now underway.
Current estimates for the full cost of the repairs to reopen the bridge to all users run to around £140m.
In addition, TfL said, improvements to traffic lights and local buses are helping keep people moving in areas affected by the bridge closure.
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