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

  • Elon Musk’s underground movement
    August 3, 2020
    The Boring Company is building tunnels under various US cities – but for what? Kristina Smith delves deep into a project which may (eventually) have real appeal for mass transit providers and transportation agencies
  • Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    January 23, 2012
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
  • Getting more for less from traffic data
    August 15, 2012
    Collection of traffic and transit data has grown significantly, combining with advances in connectivity and computational modelling to good effect. Desire to do more with less – to make budgets go further – has helped create a boom in the collection and study of traffic and transport data. Studies are becoming longer, greater in number and further in-depth as more intelligence is sought, plus, transportation agencies are looking to make processes of data collection less costly, or more efficient.
  • GridMatrix goes back to the future in New York City
    September 25, 2023
    Legacy traffic management infrastructure doesn’t have to be a marker of the past: software upgrades can bring it into the present in a cost-effective and timely way, says Gordon Feller