Route used by 100,000 cars a day to introduce £4 charge at peak times – after being free for over 120 years
A ROUTE used by 100,000 cars a day is to introduce a £4 charge at peak times after being free for 120 years.
Motorists will be slapped with the levy to use the Blackwall tunnel or the upcoming Silvertown tunnel from spring next year, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.
The fee will be imposed on northbound trips from 6am to 10am and southbound from 4pm to 7pm on weekdays.
This means a round trip in and out of the centre of the capital will cost £8 a day.
Meanwhile, an off-peak charge of £1.50 will be introduced at all other times between 6am and 10pm, including on weekends.
There will be no charge between 10pm and 6am on weekdays or weekends.
The two-lane Blackwall tunnel has been free to use since it opened in 1897.
The new costs will coincide with the opening of the Silvertown tunnel, which is ahead of schedule, though an official date of beginning of service has not yet been announced.
The levies are identical for both tunnels.
However, TfL is proposing to halve these charges for low-income local residents in east London to use either of the road tunnels under the Thames, as well as exempting buses, black taxis and zero-emission cabs.
Standard off-peak journeys will cost £1.50 for car drivers paying automatically, TfL said, as an eight-week consultation over the proposals opened on Wednesday.
The tolls could also rise in the future to keep in line with inflation, TfL’s director of strategy Christina Calderato has admitted.
The tolls could rise in future years to keep track with inflation and maintain their deterrent effect, said TfL’s director of strategy Christina Calderato.
She told the Evening Standard: “The primary objective of the charges is to make sure we meet the objectives of managing traffic and congestion. We need to keep them under review to ensure those [objectives] are still being met.
“That might mean that, in future years, they need to increase. We need to keep that under observation.
“As inflation increases, if we don’t increase charges from time to time, that deterrent effect is decreased.”
Drivers who register their vehicle with TfL’s free “Auto Pay” system – already in use for the congestion charge and ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) – can obtain an off-peak discount.
Those who fail to pay the correct fee face a £180 fine.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has pushed ahead with building the Silvertown tunnel in the face of criticism from eco activists, to ease delays on approach roads to the Blackwall tunnel – though critics argue it will only increase traffic.
The Silvertown tunnel, which will cost about £2.2bn in construction and loan repayment fees, connects with the Royal Docks on the north side of the Thames.
It was first announced while former PM Boris Johnson was Mayor of London.