Skip to main content

Thames Vision launched

The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently launched the Thames Vision, a framework for developing greater use of the River Thames over the next twenty years. The Thames is already the UK’s busiest waterway for passengers and freight, home to the UK’s second biggest port and a hub for tourism, recreation and sport. Developed by the PLA and river stakeholders over the last 18 months, the Vision sets out six goals for increased river use. They include the busiest ever Port of London, more goods being
July 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently launched the Thames Vision, a framework for developing greater use of the River Thames over the next twenty years.

The Thames is already the UK’s busiest waterway for passengers and freight, home to the UK’s second biggest port and a hub for tourism, recreation and sport.  

Developed by the PLA and river stakeholders over the last 18 months, the Vision sets out six goals for increased river use.  They include the busiest ever Port of London, more goods being moved by river, double the number of passenger trips and greater participation in sport and recreation.

Actions already underway include: recruitment of additional PLA pilots to meet growing customer demand; the Thames Skills Academy taking on its first group of students; work on Thames Tideway Tunnel starting in earnest; and a study into the levels of participation in sports on the river and its banks.

The Thames Vision Goals include: the busiest ever Port of London, handling 60 to 80 million tonnes of cargo a year; over four million tonnes of goods and materials to be carried by water every year – taking over 400,000 lorry trips off the region’s roads; double the number of people travelling by river – reaching 20 million commuter and tourist trips every year; and greater participation in sport and recreation on and alongside the water.

Related Content

  • Better liveability through more micromobility
    November 1, 2022
    Shared and micromobility offer new options, weaning urbanites off their cars, stitching existing mass transit combinations together. Andrew Stone looks at a report on transforming our cities
  • Transport can build legacy of hope
    November 30, 2020
    Racial and social injustice has come to the fore this year. Samuel Johnson, IBTTA president and Transportation Corridor Agencies CEO, explains what the industry can do to build ‘a legacy of hope and progress’
  • Communication: the future of machine vision
    May 30, 2013
    Jason Barnes asks leading machine vision industry figures what they consider to be the educational barriers to the technology’s increased uptake by the ITS sector. The recent rush by some organisations within the ITS sector to associate themselves with the term ‘machine vision’ underlines just how important the technology has become in a relatively short space of time. However, despite the technology having been applied in certain traffic management applications for some years, there remains a significant s
  • Wireless technology aids city-wide traffic management
    October 10, 2012
    An extensive hybrid communications network in the County of Los Angeles is proving the capability and benefits of modern wireless technology for traffic management across wide areas. Wireless communications technology has found a welcoming test bed for use in traffic management systems, in the County of Los Angeles. The county has long running programmes synchronizing and monitoring traffic signals over large areas. In the process, combined with installation of advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), th