Save The Woolwich Free Ferry!

There has been a free ferry running here for over 100 years and an established ferry service on the route since the 14th century, with mentions of one in the Doomsday Book. London has many traffic congestion problems, but the problems of the Woolwich Ferry are not it's own; it is an effective and much used (2,000,000+ journeys per year) piece of infrastructure in its own right.

The problem of the Woolwich Ferry are in reality the problems of the Blackwall Tunnel and it is only when the Blackwall Tunnel fails that the area around the Woolwich Ferry becomes overly congested. To close one thing that works well because something else does not is evidence of poor strategic thinking. Even if a new bridge or tunnel are built as proposed by TFL, congestion is only going to increase year-on-year in East London. this means that the Woolwich ferry does not stop being relevant or strategically important, both as a crossing in it's own right or as an additional means of easing congestion when a single car or lorry (inevitibly and regularly) breaks down in the existing tunnel (or on a new bridge) and brings this part of the capital to gridlock. If East london actually needs additional crossing capacity, why dispense with this vital piece of existing infrastructure?

There is a historic precident for the Woolwich Ferry and currently TFL has an obligation to provide this service. This obligation should remain for the benefit of both vehicular and pedestrian transport, the latter of which would be severely disrupted by the provision of vehicle only crossing points. Furthermore the obligation to continue the service is important because a FREE ferry service is the only egaliarian means of river transport in East London- it's dissapearance would mean that all traffic on the river would become a privatised, fee paying entity. In an area which has so much maritime heritage, this you be a tragic development and a loss to future generations.